A Sponsorship Guide For 12 Step Programs by M.T.
Just as my 12 Step program helped me organize and simplify my life, this guide dramatically helped me to organize and simplify my sponsorship methods.
A little while ago, I was wishibg for a "learning day' on sponsorship. How nice it would be, I thought, to ask questions of other sponsors---as a group--and learn from their experiences. It seemed to me that my experiences were probably being duplicated every day, yet I didn't have access to all of those results (as we often do we so many other topics of recovery that are shared in meetings). Rather than reinventing the wheel with every situation new to me, I thought it would be easier, and more beneficail, to learn from others who had been there before me.
The process started by developing a questionaire, then interviewing people whose recovery I admired and who I knew were experienced sponsors. Altogether, seventeen sponsors were interviewed.
I am writing this as a service, there are so many books and pamphlets on the steps, and so little on this all-important aspect of the recovery process. In meetings we share the most intimate details of our lives, but it is the rare share that talks about sponsorship: Either we have a sponsor or we are a sponsor---or both! But not every person has a great sponsor (this read is for you) and even if you do, there are bound to be situations that come up that are not in their own sponsor's experience (this read is for both of you). And even if a sponsor has experience with an issue, their approach may not be the best for the situation at hand. Realizing that, the sponsor may not know what to suggest (this read is also for you). I've found that it's tough enough to know what direction to take with your own life, let alone to direct someone else's----even if you have some objectivity about it. This is meant as a resource for those new situations and for new ideas to old situations.
Does this thread answer every question about sponsorship? Of course not. This is not meant to be the last word on the subject, but the first. I hope you get as much out of reading this as I have in writing it.
Can you hear me now! Can you hear me now!
Just for Today----------------------I am Clean and Sober