The Twelve Traditions are the means by which OA remains unified in a common cause. These Twelve Traditions are to the groups what the Twelve Steps are to the individual. They are suggested principles to ensure the survival and growth of the many groups that compose Overeaters Anonymous

    Like the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions have their origins in Alcoholics Anonymous. These Traditions describe attitudes which those early members believed were important to group survival.

 

Here are the 12 Traditions

as adapted for Overeaters Anonymous:

 

     1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery

           depends upon OA unity.

          

      2. For our group purpose there is but on ultimate authority— a

           loving God as he may express Himself in our group  

           conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants;

           they do not govern.

 

     3. The only requirement for OA membership

           is a desire to stop eating compulsively.

          

 

      4. Each group should be autonomous except in

          matters affecting other group or OA as a whole.

          

      5. Each group has but one primary purpose--to

          carry its message to the compulsive overeater

         who still suffers.

    

      6. An OA group ought never endorse, finance,

         or lend the OA name to any related facility or

         outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property       

          and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

          

      7. Every OA group ought to be fully self-supporting,

         declining outside contributions.

          

      8. Overeaters Anonymous should remain forever

         nonprofessional, but our service centers may

         employ special workers.

          

    9.  OA, as such, ought never be organized: but

        we may create service boards or committees

        directly responsible to those they serve.

          

   10. Overeaters Anonymous has no opinion on outside

        issues: hence the OA name ought never be

        drawn into public controversy.

          

   11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction

        rather than promotion: we need always maintain

        personal anonymity at the level of press, radio,

        films, television, and other public media of communication.

          

  12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all these traditions

       ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

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