Meeting Guidelines

These meeting guidelines were approved by the LAA International Business Meeting in 2021.

Crosstalk in LAA Meetings: There is no crosstalk in LAA meetings. Crosstalk can be defined as giving advice, asking questions, referring to another person by name, directing comments to a specific individual, or commenting on what another person has shared. All of these things make it difficult for some of us to express our true feelings.

Group Safety: LAA a not a dating club and there is no place for flirting, or any behavior that makes another member feel uncomfortable. If a member feels that they have been approached inappropriately or is negatively impacted by another’s behavior, for whatever reason, they should speak to a service member. If these principles are broken, the reputation of LAA, the unity of the group, and the well-being of individual members may be adversely affected and this is of great concern. For the good of LAA as a whole, anyone breaching these guidelines may be requested not to attend a particular meeting or meetings until their recovery is more advanced.

Sex Talk & Profanity: Please be aware, that while we do encourage honesty and transparency in shares, if you do begin to share about sex-related topics, or use of excessive profanity, the host will issue a gentle reminder of redirection. If the share persists, you will be muted at the host’s discretion.

Other Shares: We respectfully ask that if you are a member of another 12-step group, that you do not talk about that recovery program while in this meeting. Our primary purpose is to offer help to recovering love addicts and codependents. Talk of other addictions only dilutes our primary purpose. Finally, do not use profanity.

Chat Room: The chat room is not to be used to express your frustration with the reading, to make comments on how a meeting should be run, or to express negative comments about another member. You may contact the host if you feel attacked by another member. The host has the option of removing someone from the meeting if this happens.

The After Hours Meeting: This is an open forum that includes cross talk and the giving of advice. However, the other LAA Guidelines will be monitored. There is no room in this meeting for gossip or the venting of personal dissention between individual members in LAA. Not even in the chat room. The guidelines are read during the regular meeting and can be found on the message board. These guidelines will be enforced by the host of the day and our After Hours Coordinator. You can contact her at susanpeabody@gmail.com

Meeting Hosts' Bill of Rights: A disruption is anything that being said or done at a meeting of LAA to make others feel uncomfortable. This includes the after-hours meetings.

1. The meeting host has a right to enforce the LAA Guidelines without being attacked.

2. The meeting host has a right to ask anyone to be considerate of group safety.

3. The meeting host has the right to mute anyone who is being disruptive.

4. The meeting host has a right to remove disruptive people from a meeting.

5. The meeting host has the right to ban someone from future meetings for one week.

6. The meeting host has the right to ban someone permanently after a discussion with the IBM.