Outreach Resources

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OUTREACH DESCRIPTION

The Public Info & Outreach committee:

Increases the public awareness of Co-Dependents Anonymous.
Responds to inquiries from business, government, media, private, and professional organizations who request CoDA information, but who are not necessarily seeking to participate in CoDA as members.
Manages the committee's current budget and submit a new budget for the next year.

Anyone in CoDA can join as a committee member. Chair needs 1 yr active in CoDA working the 12 Steps and a working familiarity with the Traditions. To join, email info@lacoda.org.

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OUTREACH PRINCIPLES

This committee follows the 12 Traditions. We look to the 12 Steps, the 12 Service Concepts, and other CoDA-approved literature for guidance on how to be of service in a healthy and loving way.

We become familiar with the resources below, to the best of our ability, before engaging in committee duties and refer to them as we participate.

When doing outreach, we use an anonymous email, only share our first name and first initial of our last name, and refrain from posting about CoDA on social media. See Service Guidelines below.

All resources are from CoDA International

unless otherwise stated:

Outreach Resource Guide
- - Service Guidelines - "The use of social media with any personal identification of CoDA members, directly or indirectly, breaks anonymity if people can now identify one another as CoDA members. Choosing to break your own personal anonymity by full name or face is a conflict with our traditions. It is our responsibility to not break our anonymity to people outside of CoDA, with a few exceptions, such as sharing with a friend or family member... One purpose of anonymity is that although we can share our experience, strength and hope, no one person speaks for CoDA. By not having “faces” and names to CoDA, we continue to respect that we are a collective as a fellowship, equal individuals with a Higher Power guiding us."
  - Attracting Members
  - Supporting Members
  - Connecting Members
Getting the Word Out LA CoDA newsletter p.2
- "...Our 12th step states: 'Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other codependents, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.' Per our 5th tradition, 'Each group has but one primary purpose: to carry its message to the codependent who still suffers.' Our 11th tradition also states, 'Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.' However, for the suffering Codependent to be attracted to us they need to know we exist! ...Attraction only becomes promotion with claims that CoDA is 'right' for someone or that it will 'cure' them."
12 Steps & 12 Traditions Green Workbook, Tradition 11
Service Safety materials on LACoDA.org's Service page
More service support LA Intergroup (a place to ask members to share their experience if you have a question, or to hear many interpretations of the Traditions)
Below are additional outreach principles written by Los Angeles CoDA. This committee has voted via group conscience to use these principles to the best of our ability. To members outside of this committee, they are only suggestions and have not been approved by CoDA International.

TRADITION 3

Tradition 3 Principle: Avoid giving one definition of codependency, instead consider sharing CoDA's Patterns & Characteristics or share Tradition 3.

Tradition 3~ The only requirement for membership in CoDA is a desire for healthy and loving relationships.

Co-Dependents Anonymous doesn't define codependency, but instead offers the Patterns & Characteristics and lets each person self-evaluate.

By not defining codependency in Outreach... CoDA can be welcoming to the codependent who is avoidant & isolates, the people-pleasing, compliant codependent, those who swing from one to the other, and all shades of codependency in between.

This equality brings unity and belonging.

TRADITION 11

Tradition 11 Principle: Don't make guarantees or speak in absolutes about the future.

Tradition 11~ Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television and all other forms of public communication.

Tradition 11 reminds us that our public relations policy is attraction rather than promotion. Each person's future path to recovery is unknown. What works for one person, may not for another. Some members receive clarity from the phrase "CoDA is for people who want it, not for people who need it."

STEP 3

Step 3 Principle: Share your experience using "I" statements without trying to change anyone.

Step 3~ Made a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of God as we understood God.

In recovery, we avoid giving unsolicited advice. In Outreach, we may be contacting people who didn't ask for our information. We remember they can say no to receiving it. We practice trusting we don't have to save anyone. Another way to avoid advice is to replace, "You should do this" with "This worked for me." We share our experience without an expectation or underlying goal attached to it, without being in results. This can be a practice of Step 3.

TRADITION 12

Tradtion 12 Principle: Share the resource or experience objectively and let that be enough.

Tradition 12~ Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions; ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

World CoDA says: "For the suffering Codependent to be attracted to us, they need to know we exist!" On the Outreach Committee, we simply share that CoDA exists, what it offers, and who we are. We let people decide if CoDA resonates with them. We do not get our worth based on the outcome. Tradition 12 says "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions." This can mean that us simply existing is enough to give us worth.

TRADITION 2

Tradition 2 Principle: Ask for consent before talking with someone, using their space, or continuing to contact them.

Tradition 2~ For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority -- a loving higher power as expressed to our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

In order for us to not "govern" during an outreach interaction, we can have a mini-group conscience by asking for consent.

Doing things without consent walks us into old patterns of manipulation and scarcity mentality. If we find we're trying to get people to think a certain way, or we do things with an expected outcome in mind, we may need to journal, call our sponsor or a CoDA fellow, meditate, pray, be in nature, participate in a group conscience or use other tools to connect with Higher Power.

TRADITION 5

Tradition 5 Principle: Only spend time and energy on group-conscience approved service.

Tradition 5~ Each group has but one primary purpose -- to carry its message to other codependents who still suffer.

We remember we are one of the codependents who still suffers and that our primary purpose is our own recovery.

Before doing outreach service work, for safety, please let the Outreach committee know your intention and have a group conscience discussion and vote with them. This can bring in Higher Power, keep us grounded and create boundaries that nurture our inner child, avoiding burn out and governing. This practice can also help us learn to trust our own instinct.

EXAMPLES

COMBO OF TRADITIONS 3 + 11 + 12: Instead of writing "This will be a great event for all!" on a flier, we list what is true: the day, time, subject, and details of the event. We don’t decide how easy it is for someone to attend, how much recovery they’ll receive, or how well the event will go. We share the info and let the person experience it in whatever way is true for them.

Instead of writing in an email, “This service event is a great way to make friends,” we don’t say members will make friends, as this can be confusing for codependents, like promising spiked punch will be served at an AA event. Recovery is the focus. Fellowship, connection and authentic outreach are tools, and friendship may organically happen, but advertising it can be a detrimental distraction and false promise.

TRADITION 2: Instead of trying to share CoDA with someone who has not asked for help (aka our friends & family), we can send GC-approved emails to therapists who are looking to share CoDA resources. We also hang the fliers in public places where we've asked for, and received, consent to post something.

EXPERIENCE, STRENGTH & HOPE

Sharing our truth with someone who asked, sans expectation, can be the most nourishing type of outreach for all involved.

OUTREACH IDEAS

SEND MAILINGS Email or mail CoDA info quarterly to therapists, hospitals, help-lines, libraries, community centers, and colleges etc. near meetings. Info might include the newsletter, updated meeting lists, upcoming event flyers & pamphlets.

HANG FLYERS With permission, hang CoDA flyers with meeting information in the community. Some suggestions for locations: religious centers, supermarkets, community center bulletin boards, libraries, salons and barbershops, doctor and wellness offices, hospitals, coffee shops, restaurants, gyms or fitness studios, parks, veteran organizations, colleges, the local chamber of commerce, Alano clubs, rehab centers and sober houses, mental health organizations.

ORGANIZE BOOTHS Organize & manage booths/ tables at conferences and health fairs.

GIVE TO LIBRARIES Donate literature to libraries and little libraries.

PROVIDE MEDIA Provide Public Service Announcements or press releases to media outlets. More info in Reaching Out to All.

CONTACT NEWSPAPERS Use the Press Release sample in the Fellowship Service Manual (FSM) to contact local newspapers. FSM (Part 2 p.15)

MORE IDEAS More ideas and discussion of Outreach & Tradition 11 are in the Outreach Resource Guide

THERAPIST EMAIL SAMPLE

Feel free to use the sample, modify it, or write your own

Copy & paste from this Google doc

If you share CoDA resources with a therapist, please write to outreach@lacoda.org and let us know. Not only because being part of the group conscience process can be vital to recovery, but also so we don't double-send to them and can potentially follow up to share current events & info.