What is Sponsorship?
Sponsors are OA members who are living the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions to the best of their ability. They are willing to share their recovery with other members of the Fellowship and are committed to abstinence. We ask a sponsor to help us through our program of recovery on all three levels: physical, emotional, and spiritual. By working with other members of OA and sharing their experience, strength, and hope, sponsors continually renew and reaffirm their own recovery. Sponsors share their program up to the level of their own experience.
How Do We Get a Sponsor?
Ours is a program of attraction; find an OA member who has what you want and ask that person how he or she is achieving it. You may work with more than one sponsor: for instance, one OA member sponsoring your food choices and another helping with working the Twelve Steps. Sponsoring is not necessarily a permanent relationship and one may change sponsors. However, many of us do choose to work with just one sponsor. In any case, it’s helpful to avoid changing sponsors frequently.
A great starting place is meetings in your local area – Attend as many meetings as you can. There may be members available to sponsor who missed one or two of the meetings you attend. You may need to attend several meetings before you find a sponsor.
How Can I Become a Sponsor?
It is important to realize that there is no one, perfect way to sponsor. A sponsor is simply one OA member working with another to better understand and live the Twelve Step program. There are as many different methods of sponsoring as there are OA members. The key to being a sponsor is to share one’s experience, strength, and hope as it relates to the OA Twelve Step program. The best help in being a sponsor is your sponsor.
The World Service Organization has an excellent reference. See our link to The Sponsor Toolbox on Recovery Materials.
