What is Open To Change?
Open to Change is a fellowship of individuals who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common challenges with relationships and help others to recover from the compulsive avoidance of intimacy. The things you hear in Open To Change are spoken in confidence and should be treated as confidential; please keep them within the confines of your mind.
Open To Change is a new fellowship that began in December 2012, founded by 3 members with a combined history of over 15 years of sexual/social/emotional recovery. We are still in the stage of refining our initial preamble, 12 Steps, Principles and and developing meeting materials. As more details become available we will post them on this website.
See our 1st draft of our preamble and steps here.
Open To Change is a 501 c3 non profit organization and all donations are tax deductible.
Is Open To Change a 12 Step Fellowship - there is no Anonymous in the name of the group?
Yes, Open To Change is a 12 Step fellowship. There is no Anonymous in the name of the group because we wanted to people to feel less shame when saying the name out loud or in a larger group of people. Open To Change meetings are confidential, anything said in the meeting or member to member is confidential and should not be shared outside of the meeting.
Can I attend the June 2013 retreat just for 1 day, I live nearby?
The Retreat Committee discussed this issue 3 times over the course of many months and our final group conscience vote, as of June 2, 2012, was as follows:
To not offer Day Tripping as an option in lieu of full registration.
Reasoning: Anorexia is a disease that avoids intimacy. We are offering attendants 3 days to work on their anorexic behavior in an intimate setting by lodging at the retreat site. The intimacy is part of how you work your recovery. To offer people a Day Tripping option was seen as enabling. Making commitments is how we grow.
Are there any Open To Change meetings that I can attend?
Currently there is a Tuesday 7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific telephone meeting and a step study group that meets (via phone) on Sundays at 7: 00pm Eastern/4:00 pm Eastern). For more details on that meeting visit the Home page.
Beginning January 13, 2016 there will be an in person OTC meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. For location details please see the Meetings page.
As of June 2017, there is an effort to start a meeting in Manhattan, NY. If you are interested in helping to start the meeting or doing service to get the meeting started please contact info@open2change.org.
I have never been to a 12 Step meeting before am I still welcome to attend the retreat?
Absolutely, you are very welcome to attend. You probably will not be the only one in that situation.
I have only worked on this issue with a therapist am I still welcome to attend the retreat?
Absolutely, you are very welcome to attend.
Do you offer full retreat scholarships? I am not able to pay any of the registration fee.
No, we are not able to offer full retreat scholarship amounts at this time.
I would like to start an Open To Change meeting in my local area. What should I do?
You may use the format found on the home page of this website as a sample format for your meeting - it has the OTC Preamble, 12 Steps and Closing Statement. Please let us know that you have started a meeting and we will list the meeting on our website as a resource for members in need.
Open to Change is a fellowship of individuals who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common challenges with relationships and help others to recover from the compulsive avoidance of intimacy. The things you hear in Open To Change are spoken in confidence and should be treated as confidential; please keep them within the confines of your mind.
Open To Change is a new fellowship that began in December 2012, founded by 3 members with a combined history of over 15 years of sexual/social/emotional recovery. We are still in the stage of refining our initial preamble, 12 Steps, Principles and and developing meeting materials. As more details become available we will post them on this website.
See our 1st draft of our preamble and steps here.
Open To Change is a 501 c3 non profit organization and all donations are tax deductible.
Is Open To Change a 12 Step Fellowship - there is no Anonymous in the name of the group?
Yes, Open To Change is a 12 Step fellowship. There is no Anonymous in the name of the group because we wanted to people to feel less shame when saying the name out loud or in a larger group of people. Open To Change meetings are confidential, anything said in the meeting or member to member is confidential and should not be shared outside of the meeting.
Can I attend the June 2013 retreat just for 1 day, I live nearby?
The Retreat Committee discussed this issue 3 times over the course of many months and our final group conscience vote, as of June 2, 2012, was as follows:
To not offer Day Tripping as an option in lieu of full registration.
Reasoning: Anorexia is a disease that avoids intimacy. We are offering attendants 3 days to work on their anorexic behavior in an intimate setting by lodging at the retreat site. The intimacy is part of how you work your recovery. To offer people a Day Tripping option was seen as enabling. Making commitments is how we grow.
Are there any Open To Change meetings that I can attend?
Currently there is a Tuesday 7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific telephone meeting and a step study group that meets (via phone) on Sundays at 7: 00pm Eastern/4:00 pm Eastern). For more details on that meeting visit the Home page.
Beginning January 13, 2016 there will be an in person OTC meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. For location details please see the Meetings page.
As of June 2017, there is an effort to start a meeting in Manhattan, NY. If you are interested in helping to start the meeting or doing service to get the meeting started please contact info@open2change.org.
I have never been to a 12 Step meeting before am I still welcome to attend the retreat?
Absolutely, you are very welcome to attend. You probably will not be the only one in that situation.
I have only worked on this issue with a therapist am I still welcome to attend the retreat?
Absolutely, you are very welcome to attend.
Do you offer full retreat scholarships? I am not able to pay any of the registration fee.
No, we are not able to offer full retreat scholarship amounts at this time.
I would like to start an Open To Change meeting in my local area. What should I do?
You may use the format found on the home page of this website as a sample format for your meeting - it has the OTC Preamble, 12 Steps and Closing Statement. Please let us know that you have started a meeting and we will list the meeting on our website as a resource for members in need.
