This format can be used at the Group’s Business Meeting and facilitated by either the GSR or Meeting Chair.
Suggested Group Business Meeting Format for resolving conflicts, schisms, cliques and strivings for power, prestige and money within the Group.
Open with a prayer (“WE” version of the Serenity Prayer).
Read the 12 Traditions, followed by: “Traditions are to the group what the steps are to the individual”.
Read: “Therefore, no society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. We addicts see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone. The ’12 Traditions’ of Cocaine Anonymous are, we C.A.’s believe, the best answers that our experience has yet given to those ever-urgent questions, ‘How can C.A. best function?’ and, ‘How can C.A. best stay whole and so survive?'”
Read Tradition One: (Short Form) Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon C.A. unity. (Long Form) Each member of Cocaine Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole. C.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely die. Hence our common welfare comes first. But individual welfare follows close afterward.
Set Parameters for Initial Discussion:
Read Tradition Twelve: (Long Version) “We of Cocaine Anonymous believe that the principle of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds us that we are to place principles before personalities; that we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all.
- State the problem or conflict that has arisen
- Ask what steps have been taken so far to solve the problem on a group level. If this is a continuation of a previously tabled discussion, then the minutes of the last meeting ought to be read.
- Open the discussion by allowing members to voice their perspective on the matter.
Remember the Facilitator’s role is to:
- Ask clarifying questions
- Reiterate the TwelveTraditions
- Facilitate resolutions from the group —Not to dictate answers
- Listen for finger-pointing, blame, accusations
- Listen for answers and resolutions
After the initial discussion, ask the group:
- To what length are the group members willing to cooperate and come to a consensus on a solution?
- Implement the solution OR table discussion until the next business meeting.
Close with a prayer (“WE” version of the Serenity Prayer).