Please let us know of any sit-down meetings that we can add to our meetings lists! Here are some instructions previously available from the founder of Love Addicts Anonymous:
Start Your Own Meeting
Thank you for your interest in starting a Love Addicts Anonymous meeting! There is no perfect way to start a meeting. You just need the willingness to start small and build on what you have. Remember that LAA is a 12-Step program and that you have a Higher Power to guide you.
Location
To start, you must select a time and place. The place can be anywhere. Some people start in their living rooms. Some people find a donated space in a church or hospital. Others pay rent.
Having said this, I must warn you that meetings which are not linked to some kind of local community recovery center do not last more than six months (the tenure of the founding secretary). This is because the word is not getting out. Most cities have some kind of recovery center that houses other 12-Step programs. This is ideal. Flyers can be posted in a location where they will be seen constantly.
Advertising
Once you find a time and location, you have to advertise the meeting. You can post flyers all over town. In the first LAA meeting in Oakland we put flyers in an Oakland Recovery Center, where all kinds of 12-step programs met, and that is how we got our first members. Currently, we will announce your meeting on WhatsApp and the Message Board. The email list on the message board has over 8,000 recipients.
Our early members also spread the word at other 12-step meetings they attended like AA, OA and CODA. Keep your flyers handy and pass them out to everyone you meet, or make up some inexpensive business cards to pass out.
Meeting Format
The Suggested Meeting Format has evolved through trial and error. We will provide you with an electronic version if you want. If you are unhappy with this format, you can create your own. We recommend keeping the 10-minute reading. We have found that the discussion following the reading is rich with emotion and insight because of what has been read. Choose any book you want from the Annotated Reading List.
Note
LAA was founded to give love addicts their own home. If you are new to recovery for love addiction don’t worry. If your meeting follows the suggested format, you will see that you are reading from a book for 10 minutes and that this will be the topic. So you learn and discuss at the same time. So even if the meeting goes off topic you will always be learning and not just venting.
After months in the program you will understand love addiction. This is how I studied the book of Alcoholics Anonymous. I learned a new page every week at the literature meeting. That is about the right absorption rate for me. A little bit at a time.
Don’t forget to notify us of your meeting!