A Guide to Service

One of our strongest tools in recovering is being of service to other addicts, as well as to our wider communities. ITAA is entirely a volunteer organization, with no paid professionals. Below are some suggestions for how you might be of service in ITAA. You can also find see our currently open service positions for more opportunities to be of service.

Ways to be of service in ITAA:

  1. Welcoming newcomers. Help newcomers feel safe, welcome and valued as a human being, no matter how badly they might feel trapped inside their internet and technology addiction. Supporting others and remembering what it felt like to attend your first meeting can be an aid in maintaining an “attitude of gratitude”, which is of great support in maintaining daily sobriety.
  2. Chairing an existing meeting. All our leaders are but trusted servants, they do not govern (tradition 2). You just have to be yourself, “suit up and show up” at the meeting for the duration of your commitment to being chair (or, if you know you can’t make it, ask another member to take over for you) and read the meeting script.
  3. Start a new meeting! Anybody can start a new meeting. You can look at our meeting schedule to see gaps in which a new meeting could be added. It can be helpful to find a dedicated co-chair or meeting buddy so you’re not alone. If you start a new meeting, just send an email through the contact form and we can add it to the calendar. Here are some more suggestions for starting new meetings.
  4. Outreach. Consider reaching out to other members. Sharing about your experience, strength and hope and giving another member the chance to offer service by asking them for help in overcoming struggles, slips and relapses is a great form of service. After sharing, asking how your fellow is doing is also a way to be of service.
  5. Co-sponsorship/ accountability partner. You could consider being somebody’s co-sponsor or accountability partner. You could also attend a co-sponsorship meeting or a literature-discussion meeting, or you could set up a new step-work meeting. Here are some notes on sponsorship and co-sponsorship.
  6. Sponsorship. If you have sobriety and experience in working the steps, consider sponsoring another member. It’s often recommended to wait until you’ve taken step 3 before you start sponsoring newcomers. Sponsorship is a great way to help others, and it is often equally as helpful for your own recovery as well. “We only keep what we have by giving it away.”
  7. Join our monthly International Service Meetings, where we discuss administrative issues for the good of the fellowship. Every member of ITAA has an equal voice. If you have an opinion that can help build a strong group conscience and make the collective in ITAA stronger and wiser, make it known in the ISM when people are forming a group conscience about a certain topic to reach an informed decision. Similarly, each individual meeting occasionally holds business meetings to discuss issues pertinent to that group, and participating in these is also a great way to be of service. If you have questions about what something means or how business meetings work, you can ask during a business meeting and more experienced members can help you understand.
  8. You can join one of our service committees, which are groups dedicated to a special service responsibility, such as literature writing. You can find committee opportunities on the open service positions page.
  9. You can send in a short story of about 250 words describing how things were, what it was like in active addiction, how you got to ITAA, and what gems you have found so far in recovery. This will help us to start building a daily reader. 
  10. If you have long-term recovery in ITAA and want to share your recovery story, we can add it to our Recovery Stories page. Suggested length is 2500-5000 words.
  11. You can donate to the fellowship. Our 7th tradition states: “Every group ought to be fully self supporting, declining outside contributions”.

You can also be creative in thinking of other ways to be of service. Feel free to reach out through the contact page about any way in which you’d like to help carry the message to addicts in need.