Excerpted from the Welcome Pamphlet
©1997 The Augustine Fellowship, S.L.A.A., Fellowship-Wide Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
Many different terms are used during S.L.A.A. meetings. While many terms are used differently in various S.L.A.A. Groups, we will attempt to define a few of these terms as commonly used in S.L.A.A.
Abstinence #
A change in our behavior that involves stopping the addictive pattern – one day, sometimes one minute, at a time. Abstinence is a beginning point in sobriety.
Acting Out #
To engage in addictive behavior. Engaging in a behavior which is one’s bottom line, is often referred to as having a slip.
Anorexia #
The compulsive avoidance of giving or receiving social, sexual, or emotional nourishment.
Bottom-Line Behaviors #
Generally, self-defined activities which we refrain from in order to experience our physical, mental, emotional, sexual, and spiritual wholeness.
Boundaries #
Self-defined, self-protective limits we use for interaction with persons, places, things, or activities.
Cross-talk #
Sometimes known as “feedback”. To respond directly or indirectly to what someone has shared in a meeting; for example, to offer someone answers to his or her problems, or to engage in dialogue during the meeting.
Group Conscience #
A process of decision-making by the group. S.L.A.A. encourages all members to express their views.
Inventory or “Moral” Inventory #
A list of qualities within a person, both positive and negative, discovered through self-examination. Also to take someone else’s inventory: to judge another person’s life or sobriety.
Isolation #
To withdraw from the help and healing process of others, program support, or our Higher Power. Isolation often leads to or accompanies a slip. Isolation may also be a form of acting out for anorectic members.
S.L.A.A. Member #
Any S.L.A.A. participant who has a desire to stop living out a pattern of sex and love addiction.
Sobriety #
Initially, a state of abstinence from addictive bottom-line behaviors; often accompanied by the return of sanity, choice, and personal dignity that comes from abstaining from bottom-line behaviors.
Sobriety Date #
Generally, the date we stop engaging in our bottom-line behaviors.
Sponsor #
A person who works closely with another member to provide individual support and guidance in applying the S.L.A.A. Twelve Step/Twelve Tradition program. A sponsor should be a person we are not in danger of acting out with, nor are likely to find intrigue with.
Trigger #
A person, place, thing, or environment that sets off an urge to act out.
Withdrawal #
The physical, mental, emotional, and often spiritual upheaval which generally accompanies the break in our addictive pattern.
13th-Stepping #
Manipulating another person in recovery, especially a newcomer, into a sexual, emotional, or romantic relationship.
Open or Closed Meeting? #
S.L.A.A. members highly value our tradition of anonymity. Group conscience determines whether a meeting shall be open or closed. In general, the following guidelines are used:
Open Meeting
A meeting open to anyone who wishes to attend, no matter their reason.
Closed Meeting
A meeting open only to those seeking help for sex and love addiction.
