Newcomer
Welcome Home!
Welcome to Overeaters Anonymous & to our Intergroup, OA Central Florida!
To start, we highly recommend watching the video below called OA Newcomer Orientation to learn more about how Overeaters Anonymous can bring you physical, emotional, and spiritual recovery and serenity by following the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of OA. Here is Our Invitation To You.
Now, to really get started – just attend your first meeting, that’s it! Please note, due to Covid-19 many of our in-person meetings have converted to online Zoom meetings. All who suffer from compulsive eating and compulsive eating behaviors awe welcome to attend our meetings. Please click the find a meeting link to learn more about available online meetings near you.
Read more about what the OA program is about and who belongs to OA, on OA.org. Here’s what you can expect at a meeting.
What is a sponsor and how do I find one? Sponsors are OA members committed to abstinence and to living the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions to the best of their ability. Sponsors share their program up to the level of their experience and strengthen their recovery through this service to others. To find a sponsor, attend a variety of meetings to talk and listen to other compulsive eaters, and speak to as many people as you can asking how they are achieving their recovery. The more members you speak with gives you a better understanding of how each of us work our programs.
What to look for in a sponsor? The OA program of recovery is threefold – spiritual, emotional, and physical. Find a sponsor that has had a spiritual experience and continues to improve their connection to their chosen Higher Power. You’re encouraged to find a sponsor that has and is working towards the emotional recovery that you want to achieve for yourself; someone that has accepted their powerlessness and is living a life in God’s will so they can better bring you towards the same. Finally, and perhaps what most folks come to OA for, before realizing there is so much more to benefit from, is physical recovery. It is not required to find a sponsor that has the exact same physical stature, weight loss, or maintenance as you have or wish to have; any sponsor with great recovery can help guide you through this program with great success. It may be helpful to consider a sponsor that has direct experience with your specific weight and body type struggles and goals, for example: 100-pounder, anorexic, bulimic, etc.
You probably still have a few more questions, and that’s to be expected. We were all new to program once and had many questions of our own, too. Check out this video that will provide you with a brief overview of Overeaters Anonymous and the solution that has freed over 50,000 of us from compulsive eating, bingeing and purging. You are welcome to email your questions to contactus@oacfi.org
