Post by Susan Peabody on May 16, 2024 18:05:50 GMT -8
Love Addicts Anonymous
History of LAA
Love Addicts Anonymous was co-founded by Susan P. and Howard G.in 2004. Prior to this it was a "Women Who Love Too Much" meeting founded by Susan in 1984. The name change, in 2004, was made so that men could attend meetings.
The purpose for the new LAA organization was for love addicts to have their own 12-Step program with the focus on the various types of love addiction and codependency. The co-founders and first 12 members wanted to do something different than other 12-Step programs, so it was decided to allow "outside literature," and have a recovery reading at the beginning of each meeting and make that the topic and expedite recovery.
Susan dates her own recovery back to AA on November 7, 1982.
Susan wrote the literature behind the scenes, and Howard took on the responsibility of facilitating the meetings starting on September 12, 2004. They met in Piedmont, California. About 12 people attended.
In 2006, the message board was created for LAA members to communicate with each other. It was small in the beginning but now it has 7,600 members.
In 2014, LAA became international.
In 2019, the International Business Committee was formed to try to bring all the meetings together to make decisions.
In 2019, the LAA Basic Text was written. It was revised according to the members' wishes, and then approved. A vote was taken on the message board. It will be revised as we grow and can get more opinions. It is modeled on the AA Big Book with information in the beginning and stories at the end.
In 2019 the South Africa LAA group created our logo.
On May 1, 2020, LAA was re-born under the dark cloud of Covid-19. Since then, we have grown significantly and currently have 21 meetings including the One Day at a Time Fellowship of LAA.
In 2021 the LAA Step Guide was published. It was written by the members of Russia and South Africa. It was approved by the international business committee.
Howard has passed on, but as of 2022 Susan still works behind the scenes. Service is part of the LAA commitment.