Telephone Meetings Information Page
This page provides a summary of key information about the telephone meetings, and what is needed to join them.
Introduction and Privacy
Online Intergroup strives for an appropriate balance between anonymity, privacy, safety, security and practicality, while seeking to foster the sense of community that is part of 12-Step recovery.
From the inception of the telephone meetings in July, 2011, we have used the Calliflower conferencing service (now Callbridge) as a meeting platform, and therefore required a unique registration name, email address and system-generated personal identification number(s) or PIN(s) for each individual member. This is broadly similar in approach to the operation of the online meetings in the past, and very similar to the access system that has been implemented for the online meetings with the launch of the new Online Intergroup website in September, 2020.
Once a call connects to the actual Calliflower platform, Calliflower calls and web pages are encrypted. Calliflower is a paid service, and does not collect and sell customer information to third parties, or allow access via third parties that collect and sell customer information, unlike some other conferencing systems and free video call services. More detailed security information can be viewed on the Calliflower/Callbridge website.
Please read our Privacy Policy (linked at the bottom of the page) for more specific information on how we treat your information when using this website.
Meetings
All SCA Online Intergroup recovery meetings are CLOSED meetings, which means that they are open to all SCA members and anyone with a desire to recover from sexual compulsion.
The telephone meetings are voice conference calls. Meetings are conducted in English. In these meetings, the special focus is usually a recovery literature reading, or occasionally a long share or specific topic, followed by open sharing. We currently have three weekly telephone meetings.
The telephone meeting schedule is as follows:
SUNDAYS at 4:00 p.m. (16:00 hours)
WEDNESDAYS at 4:00 p.m. (16:00 hours)
FRIDAYS at 2:00 p.m. (14:00 hours)
Times listed are New York Time, corresponding to the Eastern Time Zone (ET).
Meeting duration is ONE HOUR. This is followed by an allowance of half an hour for optional post-meeting fellowship. Fellowship is an opportunity for socializing, informal conversation and asking questions.
Sign-Up
In order to sign up for the telephone meetings, you will need to provide:
a first name and last initial,
a valid email address,
sometimes additional identifying details, if needed.
These items are used to create your unique member registration name for the telephone meetings, and provide you with access to them.
Your email address is not visible to other members, with the exception of a limited number of trusted servants, who can see it for administrative purposes only.
Access
The conference call system that is used for the telephone meetings allows most people to call in free or at low cost, depending on where you live, via several common Internet communication services. You can also call in at normal local tariffs via regular phone to local numbers provided by the conference call service in many parts of the world. In rare cases, long distance charges may apply.
When we set up your registration, you will be allocated one or more system-generated personal identification numbers (PINs), associated with your individual registration(s) for the respective meeting day(s). These will be sent by email to the email address you provide.
Once registered, the telephone meeting invitations are ongoing. You can call in and gain access to any of the weekly telephone meetings you are signed up for by using the appropriate PIN for the relevant meeting day. The PIN will be provided in the initial invitation and all subsequent weekly email reminders, specific to the relevant meeting day. You do not need to receive a reminder in order to attend a meeting. You can call in using the correct PIN for a particular meeting day without a reminder.
The PINs allocated are individual, and not known to other members, with the exception of a limited number of trusted servants, who can see them for administrative purposes only.
Please do not share your PIN(s) with anyone else.
Once you are registered, you can also use the weekly email reminders to gain access to the meetings online, and see the Calliflower meeting screen (“dashboard”). Click on “Use Calliflower Connect” to open the meeting screen. This shows information such as which members are on the call (by registration name), and provides links to the basic readings for the meeting. Files with readings are also available via the documents window.
Reminders are generated and sent automatically to all participants 10 to 15 minutes before each meeting. Sometimes there are delays, or a specific reminder may not arrive. You can use any weekly email reminder to get access to the meeting screen. Simply scroll to the correct meeting day and click on it to reach the current meeting.
If you do not see an invitation or reminder, please check your spam folder. If Calliflower emails are going to spam, you can mark them as “not spam.” We suggest that you add the Calliflower reminder email address to your email account as a contact, or set up a filter allowing emails from it, so that the weekly reminders do not go to spam.
We only remove members from the system EITHER when they specifically tell us that they no longer want to attend the telephone meetings, OR when members are not attending meetings and email to them is being returned.
Registration Name
Registration names consist of a first name and last initial.
The registration name is how your name will appear as a member in the meetings. This is what other members who log on to Calliflower will see.
Telephone meeting etiquette mirrors in-person meetings to the extent possible. Each meeting is the telephonic equivalent of a face-to-face SCA meeting, at which members use first names when sharing. It is the group conscience of the telephone meetings that members use first names, with a last initial to distinguish one name from another.
In line with the Online Intergroup online meetings, the telephone meetings maintain a system whereby each member attending has a unique registration/display name, and sometimes additional identifying information may be needed. If you are registered for the online meetings, we strongly encourage you to use the same details for the telephone meetings as you have for your online meetings registration name, and vice versa.
We may cross-check your information between the two types of meeting and ask you to use a matching registration/display name.
If another member already has the same registration name you provide, you will be requested to add further identifying information. In this case, US members will usually add the abbreviation for their state in brackets at the end of their name. That is often the standard we suggest. Other options are to add another initial, or the second letter of your last name, or a location as well, such as your city, or an abbreviation for your city, or your state/province/county/country.
At times, we may add distinguishing information to your registration/display name ourselves.
Email Address
The email address you choose to provide when registering is up to you, but we will use it as needed for any administrative correspondence related to the telephone meetings.
For privacy, and as a personal convenience, some members opt to set up a special, private email address for recovery purposes, and use it for registering for the meetings, along with any correspondence they may choose to have with other members.
Please read our Privacy Policy (linked at the bottom of the page) for more specific information on encryption and the security of communication when using this website.
Contact
Our site has a “Contact Us” link at the top and bottom of each page. Clicking this will generate a form.
A contact form has been provided for essential queries. Communications received will be directed to the relevant Online Intergroup trusted servants. Please note that all service for the telephone meetings is done by SCA members in a volunteer capacity, solely as a service to the group. These trusted servants do their best to handle the inquiries and tasks that come their way, but their time is limited. Please review the information on this site for answers to any queries you may have before contacting the trusted servants.
Once you have signed up for the meetings, please use the email address you receive your registration acknowledgement from for any further correspondence with the trusted servants.
Safety and Security
Please note that we are a recovery community of closed SCA meetings, dealing with a sensitive area of life.
Please listen carefully to the meeting format which is read out by the chairperson at each meeting, and details sharing guidelines that are in place for the meetings.
Member Inactivity
Once you are registered, the telephone meeting invitations are ongoing. This means you can call in and attend any of the meetings you are signed up for as and when you want, or not. We will only remove members who specifically tell us they no longer want to attend the meetings, or for whom we do not have a valid email address.
Registrations of members who are not attending the telephone meetings AND for whom email is being returned are likely to be deleted.
If this happens and you want to resume participating in the meetings, you can send in another telephone meeting access request form with a valid email address and we will reissue your invitations.
Ready to Join?
If you find yourself in the right place, we look forward to sharing our Experience, Strength and Hope with you!
To sign up for the telephone meetings, you can click on the invitation request links in the Telephone Meetings area on the home page and complete an Access Request Form, or use the “Meetings” section at the top of any page of our site to reach the “Telephone Meetings” tab and connected Access Request Form.
Thank you for your interest in the telephone meetings.
Online Intergroup of SCA