A few words on sponsorship from the Healthy Meetings Task Force
- CoDA Sponsorship is always free.
- When seeking a sponsor, the individual will ask another CoDA member to be their sponsor.
- Be aware that there are people operating in some CoDA meetings who call themselves “Recovered Sponsors” and are actively soliciting sponsees. At first they may offer to sponsor for free, they then begin to solicit donations that do not go to CoDA. Most of what they call a “Seventh Tradition” goes directly to the person, not to the CoDA meeting.
- Soliciting donations for sponsorship is a violation of our CoDA Tradition Eight, which states:
“Co-Dependents Anonymous should remain forever non-professional…” - “Recovered Sponsors” tend to use other twelve-step program literature when sponsoring. Another term used is “Big Book Study”.
- “Recovered” is not a term used by members of Co-Dependents Anonymous. Please refer to our basic text, “Co-Dependents Anonymous” Chapter 5, page 116
Here are some traits to look for in a CoDA sponsor:
❖ Listens and Shares with Respect
❖ Treats others as Equals
❖ Actively works and lives the CoDA program of recovery
❖ CoDA members would never – ever give advice on medication.[Added to CoDA UK safeguarding guidelines Jul 2022]
❖ Has a CoDA Sponsor
❖ Uses CoDA Service Conference endorsed literature with their sponsees
“Am I ever recovered from codependence?
We can become very disappointed if we believe we can stop all of our codependent behaviors. Our program reminds us to show up, work our recovery process and turn the results over to God. When we do this and release perfectionism, we can experience the hope and miracles of recovery: a life progressively filled with serenity, acceptance, and love.”
- “Recovered Sponsors” proclaim to be “experts” in recovering from all afflictions – including codependency. They may ask you to leave your sponsors in other twelve-step programs. A healthy CoDA sponsor would never ask for you to leave other twelve-step program sponsors.
- “Recovered Sponsors” have been reported to attend CoDA Zoom meetings, and will target attendees with private messages in an attempt to recruit new sponsees.
For additional information about CoDA Sponsorship:
https://coda.org/outreach/connecting-members/sponsorship/Download this notice as a PDF, to share with your meeting contacts, your local meeting, and CoDA network.
If you attend a meeting where any of these behaviours are occurring, please contact healthymeetings@coda.org.
