Topic Meeting Script
Topic meetings are available daily at various times (see meeting schedule). A topic is chosen from COSA approved literature and presented at the meeting – all materials are supplied to you. Participants are then invited to share their ESH (Experience, Strength and Hope) on the topic with others in the group. Some of the meeting are tailored to specific group such as the “Divorce Hope and Help Meeting”.
Topic meetings are appropriate for newcomers and all are welcome.
COSA Diversity Statement
- COSA Diversity is consistent with the Third Tradition of COSA, which states that the only requirement for COSA membership is that our lives have been affected by compulsive sexual behavior.
- The COSA Fellowship welcomes all genders, all varieties of relationship to the addict, all religious and spiritual preferences, all employment statuses, all marital statuses, all ethnicities, cultures, and languages. COSA does not discriminate on the basis of class, financial status, sexual orientation or gender identification, physical or mental challenges, race, or national origins.
- In COSA, we find hope whether or not there is a sexually addicted person currently in our lives.
- COSA Diversity is consistent with the First Tradition of COSA, which states that our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon COSA unity.
- Closed Caption is available for this meeting. Click on “Show Captions” at the bottom of your screen to enable the written transcripts.
Welcome
The Host asks for a volunteer to lead the meeting.
The Host is able to screen share while the Lead reads the script.
The Lead chooses a version of the Serenity Pray for the group to read in unison to open the meeting.
Optional:
Introductions may be done at the start of the meeting or after the topic is introduced.
If you are available for or seeking program calls or texts, please put your contact details and time zone in the chat
Welcome to the COSA Zoom Room. My name is _________and I will be doing service for this meeting.
Before we begin, please unmute your audio to join in saying the _________ version of the Serenity Prayer:
The Serenity Prayer
Me Version (Short Version)
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
We Version
God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change,
Courage to change the things we can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
The Serenity Prayer (Long Version)
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
Patience for the things that take time,
Appreciation for all that I have,
And tolerance for those with different struggles.
Freedom to live beyond the limitations of my past ways,
The ability to feel your love for me and our love for each other,
And the strength to get up and try again even when I feel it is hopeless.
We welcome you to the COSA Zoom Room Fellowship and extend to you our support and friendship. COSA is for people whose lives have been affected by compulsive sexual behavior. COSA is an anonymous Twelve-Step recovery program for spiritual development, no matter what our religious or philosophical beliefs.
COSA offers hope whether or not there is a sexually addicted person currently in our lives.
In COSA, we begin to experience relief from our isolation in the safety of an anonymous gathering with others who share our stories. Everything that is said in the group meetings and between members must be held in confidence. This promotes open and honest sharing of our experience, strength, and hope, creating a trust level that many of us have never before experienced.
By working the Twelve Steps in COSA, we gain a new perspective on ourselves and our lives. If you decide you are one of us, we welcome you with open arms.
Welcome Newcomers
If you are attending a COSA meeting for the first time, will you please unmute and tell us your first name?
This is not done to embarrass you, but so we may welcome you.
In a face to face meeting it is appropriate to thank each speaker after their share. In the Zoom Room, we borrow the applause sign from American Sign Language as an alternate way of expressing our gratitude. (demonstrate ASL sign)
There will be open chat after the meeting if you have any questions about literature or chats groups, from the Host or other members.
The 12 Steps of COSA
Lead chooses how to read 12 Steps of COSA: Popcorn-3 or 4 steps each, One person reads all, Lead reads 12 Steps, and so forth
1. We admitted we were powerless over compulsive sexual behavior — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all areas of our lives.
The 12 Traditions of COSA
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as expressed in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern
3. The only requirement for COSA membership is that our lives have been affected by compulsive sexual behavior. The members may call themselves a COSA group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or COSA as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to those who still suffer. We do this by practicing the Twelve Steps ourselves.
6. A COSA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the COSA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every COSA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. COSA should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. COSA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. COSA has no opinion on outside issues; hence the COSA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
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 other public media of communication. We need guard with special care the anonymity of all Program members.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
Etiquette and Guidelines for Sharing in Meetings
- Make a habit of arriving on time and staying for the entire meeting.
- Are aware certain attire may be triggering for others and dress accordingly.
- Stay attentive, avoid cell phone use/texting, minimize distracting movements, eating, etc.
- Keep our video on. We inform “Everyone” in the chat box as a courtesy to the group if we must turn off our video.
- Consider using ear buds if another person around us is able to hear anything.
- Meetings are private and anonymous. We make sure that we are the only person others in the meeting can see and that meeting participants are only visible to us.
- Communicate any barriers at the beginning of the meeting.
- Mute our microphone unless sharing or when asked to unmute by the Lead.
- Members are asked to share their own Experience, Strength, and Hope (ESH) with the group, speaking in “I” terms (rather than using ‘you’) and keeping the focus on their own journey.
- Do not refer to specific “Acting Out” places, people, or behaviors, but rather speak in general terms and focus on how we feel.
- Focus on the tools of the program, including the Steps, Traditions, and Slogans. Advice-giving, telling others what they should do, judging, commenting on what people say (cross talk), directing comments to a group member, or using another participants name during share, are all strongly discouraged.
- It is part of the Trusted Servant’s role as well as COSA Members’ responsibility to gently speak up if someone shifts away from these guidelines.
- Please remember that chats sent to ‘Everyone’ may be saved by everyone attending the meeting.
Meeting Topic
So that all attendees get an opportunity to share, please limit your shares to Three Minutes. This will allow time for Re-shares and Check-ins (Physical, Emotional, Mental, Social, Spiritual, Sexual).
Is someone willing to be Time Keeper?
Now is the time to read our meeting topic.
Host screen shares topic and Lead reads topic or asks for a volunteer to read the topic.
The floor is now open for shares.
Closing
Now is the time for us to honor the Seventh Tradition to be ‘fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions’.
At the end of local COSA meetings, a basket is passed for our Seventh Tradition. Our groups have no established dues. Funds collected cover expenses such as website and PayPal fees, delegate fees, and donations to the International Service Organization (ISO).
In the COSA Zoom room we have the easy option of making contributions via PayPal. Your donations are appreciated and tax deductible whether weekly, monthly or yearly.
CZR is a 501 c 3 organization.
Representation
Our meeting is autonomous. This means that we make decisions for our group in our monthly business meeting.
We have the right to have a representative of our meeting at the COSA Zoom Room (CZR) Intergroup. Our CZR representative is ____________ (or currently unfilled).
We have the right to have a delegate at the International Service Organization (ISO). Our ISO Delegate is ______________ (or currently unfilled).
Please consider stepping up to do service if you have not already done so.
Note: If your meeting has not yet elected those representatives and would like assistance with the process, please write to cosazoomroom@gmail.com and request that an Intergroup member come to assist you in the process. There are several meetings that are not represented at the intergroup or for the conference. As a result, these meetings have no voice in the group conscience of the organization.
Please unmute your mic and join me in saying “I Put My Hand in Yours”.
I Put My Hand in Yours
I put my hand in yours, and together we can do what we could never do alone. No longer is there a sense of hopelessness, no longer must we each depend upon our own unsteady willpower. We are all together now, reaching out our hands for power and strength greater than ours, and as we join hands, we find love and understanding beyond our wildest dreams.
Continue to Business Meeting if needed or open to Fellowship.