Info for Professionals and Community Services

For professionals and organisations supporting people in their communities

Co-Dependents Anonymous (CoDA) has been established in the UK since 1989, offering free peer-support meetings for people seeking healthier relationships.

As a self-supporting Fellowship, CoDA is sustained by voluntary contributions and members offering service. Meetings are available throughout the UK, both in person and online, with opportunities to connect with others in recovery around the clock.

Although CoDA has been established for nearly four decades, many professionals and community organisations remain unaware of the support available.

We welcome opportunities to raise awareness of CoDA among healthcare professionals, social workers, educators, counsellors and others supporting people in their communities.

If you are looking for information or resources for yourself, your organisation or someone you support, please contact publicinformation@codauk.org.

CoDA UK connects with professionals and community organisations nationwide, helping more people discover the Fellowship and the recovery support available.

Who are the NSC?

Public Information FAQs

FAQ 1 – May I, as a professional, attend a meeting?
You are welcome to attend any “open” meeting. Identify yourself by first name only, not as a professional.
Please do not give advice; sharing is about our own experiences.
There are no dues or fees; we are self supporting through our own contributions.

The only requirement for attending CoDA is a desire for healthy, loving relationships.

CoDA meetings run 24/7 via a network of members running sessions across the regions.
FAQ2 – How is CoDA different to other 12 Step groups?
Other 12 Step groups support people or friends of people, who have addictions such as alcohol. CoDA supports people to create healthy relationships starting with themselves, whether or not addictions exist in their lives.

CoDA meetings run 24/7 via a network of members running sessions across the regions.
FAQ 3 – Why no advice?
In CoDA, we have a strong focus on not giving advice. Not asking for advice and not giving advice can let us see how a safe, trustworthy and equal relationship feels. Instead, we focus on sharing our own experience and hearing the experience of others.
FAQ 4 – CoDA intro materials available in my language?
CoDA UK is supported by volunteers from diverse cultural backgrounds and is committed to making CoDA materials from around the world easier to find and access. We’ve built indexes across our website to support members who would prefer to read materials in their primary language:

[ All languages ] | Free literature
FAQ5 – CoDA – rooted in recovery space
“…I had completed hundreds of evaluations on patients and family members and found a great many of these people were not adult children or friends, family members or relatives of alcoholics….they didn’t fit in …and eventually left programmes …and were left without support from their co-dependency.”

CoDA Co-founder –
First CoDA Newsletter – Bear Facts – 1987

17 years of experience, strength, hope from
CoDA Co Founders

CoDA Member shares
(AU, CA, KE, IR, MX, NZ, UK, USA)
FAQ 6 – Can a facility host a CoDA meeting?
Hospitals, treatment centres and other facilities can provide space for CoDA meetings.

CoDA literature is available on our website for downloading and copying, provided no fees are charged for its use and Co-Dependents Anonymous, Inc.’s copyright information is retained.

In the USA, CoDA meetings are regularly held within hospitals, treatment centres and other institutions, with support from local CoDA groups and members in service. A range of resources has been developed to help facilities and CoDA members establish and support these meetings.

More information:
Hospitals and Institutions handbook
FAQ 7 – Communication is key!
..Have you ever experienced the telephone weighing a “thousand pounds?”
(CoDA 30 Questions – Part of Q5)

CoDA UK members have a number of options to share, work the steps, or meet no matter the time/day.

Email: publicinformation@codauk.org to find out more about:
– Outreach networks helping codependents feel heard
– Sponsorship options open to codependents

See also CoDA shares 1990s > present day, recorded across the globe:
By topic
By step
By region
FAQ 8 – Does CoDA offer counselling?
CoDA is a 12 Step Fellowship and peer support group. It aims to create a safe environment for those wishing recovery from dysfunctional relationships, providing anonymity and freedom from judgement or feedback. In CoDA we share our own experience, strength, and hope. We do not give advice.
CoDA For Professionals leaflet – extract

CoDA meetings run 24/7 via a network of members running sessions across the regions.
FAQ 9 – Does CoDA support options for under 18s?
CoDAteen is part of the Fellowship of Co-Dependents Anonymous. CoDAteen is a community of teens and young adults whose common purpose is to develop healthy and loving relationships.

CoDAteen members are usually 13 to 18 year olds. Through their group conscience, each group can choose the age range they prefer, including college and university students who are older than 18, when agreed upon.

Find out more
FAQ 10 – Is CoDA material available in a range of formats, to support those with low vision, or find it easier to listen to books?

There is an official CoDA audio book version of Pocket Blue book (with sample)

As CoDA books / booklets are all available in PDF, free software from Adobe or Microsoft can be used to *read aloud* any CoDA eBooks and eBooklets purchased.

We also have copies of every leaflet, and free leaflet translated into web pages to give readers control over the text size and language.
Find out more

If your organisation, community service or recovery centre would like to request a complete CoDA digital library or printed literature for the people you support, please email:publicinformation@codauk.org
FAQ 11 – How do you define codependence? How does someone receive a diagnosis ? *NEW*

“CoDA …is a nonprofessional Fellowship. We offer no definition or diagnostic criteria for codependence. What we do offer from our experience are characteristic attitudes …that describe what our codependent histories have been like…. These patterns and characteristics are offered as a tool to aid in self-evaluation.”

Excerpt from ‘CoDA Blue Book‘ – Beginning our Journey – p4

Recovery Patterns of Codependence
FAQ 12 – How does the public information committee work ? *NEW*

CoDA members within the committee engage in CoDA service, as part of their own recovery. CoDA operates as a mutual aid team.

”Service work is what we call giving what’s been given to us. Someone else in CoDA may have reached out to us long before we became a member. Someone else paid the rent, opened the door, made coffee, and prepared the meeting room.”

Excerpt from ‘CoDA Blue Book‘ – Step Twelve – p78

Living Our Recovery Through Service – excerpt

Print copy – Living Our Recovery Through Service

Finding CoDA Meetings

Finding Face to Face CoDA meetings
– enter valid UK postcode in the website search
– select the ‘near me’ option in the header (on desktop) or menu (on mobile)

Finding Virtual CoDA meetings
– they run 24/7 via /twentyfourseven
– for focussed meetings
(BIPOC, LGTBQIA+, Men, Parents, Women) see:
/focussed-coda-meetings
– meetings for non English speakers see:
/id-like-to-join-a-meeting-in-my-first-language/