Statement of Anonymity

The last thing we would ever do is compromise a member’s Anonymity. The meeting access information will not be publicly distributed or published. We won’t be listing the login in any newspapers, publication, Internet based resource or reference sites etc., an ongoing search team will be assuring this won’t happen. The login is to be distributed by invitation between members or a new person with a desire to stop eating compulsively. The video will not be recorded and then published on YouTube or any other public recording archive.

This is Overeaters Anonymous’ statement on Anonymity:

Anonymity guarantees we will place principles before personalities and assures us that only we have the right to make our membership known within our community. Anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television and other public media of communication means that we never allow our faces or last names to be used once we identify ourselves as OA members. Within the Fellowship, anonymity means that whatever we share with another OA member will be held in respect and confidence. What we hear at meetings should remain there.

You are more vulnerable in a physical meeting in a public building. There are almost always non-members sharing the space who could recognize you and potentially pose a personal risk. Additionally our face to face meetings are open meetings allowing anyone – even non-members to attend. The Tuesday night virtual meeting is a closed and private meeting and is not open to non-members or the public. Our virtual meeting access information is not listed in any public site or document like our Intergroup’s meeting list which is widely distributed.

Most members working the OA-HOW program are located in areas not being served by a face to face meeting. Many you know: they are our fellow members, sponsors, sponsees and friends. You will quickly be comfortable as you hear and also see people attending the meeting remotely and realize that they are working hard to recover, just like face-to-face meeting attendees.