Sexual Recovery Anonymous (SRA) is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover.
The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop compulsive sexual behavior. There are no dues or fees for SRA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. SRA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization, or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes.
Our primary purpose is to stay sexually sober and help others achieve sobriety. Sobriety is the release from all compulsive and destructive sexual behaviors. We have found through our experience that sobriety includes freedom from masturbation and sex outside a mutually committed relationship.
We believe that spirituality and self-love are antidotes to the addiction. We are walking towards a healthy sexuality.
The disease of sex addiction was destroying our lives, our self-esteem, our relationships, our careers, our family life, our physical and spiritual health. Many of us feared sexually-transmitted disease, physical assault or suicide.
Sex had stopped being “fun.” It could no longer fill the emptiness inside ourselves. We dreamed of romance and found only a nightmare. We could not stand who we were becoming and the pain we were causing ourselves and others. We could not go on living the way we were.
Though our individual behaviors may have been different, our feelings were similar: despair, shame, hopelessness, and anguish, mixed in with intense excitement and forgetfulness. These feelings were always followed by still worse pain. We were starting to see the truth—our problem was progressive, it always got worse.
The illusion that the next time would “fix” us, that we would feel better and could then control our behavior, was revealed for what it was—a false promise. We began to sense that we were spinning downwards, out of control, toward a life of loneliness, misery, jail, insanity, perhaps even death. In these moments of clarity, we were frightened.
We could not stop or control our behavior by ourselves. Our lives had become unmanageable. Finally, when the pain grew great enough, we were ready to try anything, and we came to Sexual Recovery Anonymous.
For the first time we found people with whom we could identify and share the pain of our problem. Others actually understood and felt the same way. We were accepted for who we were.
We stayed because of the promise of hope. Later we stayed because of hopes fulfilled. We stayed to preserve a way of life and the positive feelings that were better than anything we had previously known.
When we came to SRA, it was suggested that we stop our destructive sexual behaviors. For many of us the initial healing came from complete sexual abstinence for a period of time. Many of us had never done this, and the prospect was unimaginable and terrifying. The thought of sobriety seemed painful, impossible, or just plain boring. Some of us felt that we would die if we didn’t have sex.
Then we saw sober women and men in our meetings. They had the same problem, but they had been able to stop. They seemed happy, or at least happier than we felt. They were able to laugh at their troubles. Somehow, they had found something which we wanted. We stayed to learn.
We began to work the Twelve Steps of the program, truly coming to know ourselves. For some of us, it was the first time that we were clear enough of the addiction to find out who we were. We began to have a spiritual relationship with a Power greater than ourselves. For many it became a healing and loving relationship.
As we stayed sober, we began to sense both our need and gratitude for the program. It became clear that our problems could not be solved by ourselves alone. We needed the strength and wisdom of the fellowship to learn how to live without engaging in our addiction, one day at a time. We started to be grateful that there were other people who understood and could help us through the difficult times.
While at first we stayed because we knew we had to, in order to survive, we now stay because we want to. We stay out of love for ourselves, our desire to be the person we always wanted to be, and our love for our fellow members. We are committed to our recovery, to living a life of joy and acceptance, and to sharing our struggles and successes with the fellowship. We stay because we know it is here we can fill the emptiness. Here we can find what we searched for in all the dark places of our addiction.
This program of recovery offers dignity of self, something more precious than the sexual experiences we chased.
The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of SRA offer a healing home in which our spirits can at first rest, then grow, and finally soar.
To ensure the most current Meeting Data, use this LINK to route to the Meetings page for this Fellowship.
Contact
Sexual Recovery Anonymous
General Service Board
PO Box 178
New York, NY 10276
www.sexualrecovery.org
Email: info@sexualrecovery.org
SRA New York Tri-State Intergroup
P.O. Box 73
New York, NY 10024
24 Hour Recorded Information
Tel.: (646) 450-9690
SRA Intergroup
Los Angeles California Area
24 Hour Recorded Telephone Message
Tel.: 1-323-850-8565