RD/RDA Reports

Resolution 7. The service structure includes local service bodies, state/nation/province service bodies, and intermediate bodies if needed. Service bodies follow established geographic boundaries. They are not self-determined, but are formed, based on need, through a collaborative planning process and agreement with other affected service bodies at the next level of service.

Resolution 8. State/national/province boundaries are the primary criterion forseating consideration at the World Service Conference.

World Board Straw Polls

a) There is a small, neighborhood-sized body devoted to group needs. This group forum, which is typically not part of the delegation stream, is informal in nature and operates through conversation not formal decision making. (See page 56 for a detailed explanation of the body devoted to group support.)

b) Groups send a delegate quarterly to a local service planning meeting. One of those quarterly meetings is a general assembly where all interested members are encouraged to attend and input is given to help plan service activities for the cycle. (See page 61 for a detailed explanation of the local service body.)

c) Services are coordinated by a local service board and carried out by members, committees, and project workgroups who report to that board.

d) Local service bodies follow county, city, or town boundaries, where practical. (They are much larger than the group forums mentioned above and in many cases larger than the current ASCs.)

e) The boundaries of those local service bodies are agreed to at the state or national level.

f) Planning cycles are synchronized from level to level (local to state to global) as well as across each level.

g) When service needs cannot be accomplished effectively by local service bodies and state/national/province bodies, an intermediate level of service can be added. (See page 64 for a detailed explanation of an intermediate service body.)

h) Most states, provinces, or countries have one state-, province- or nationwide service body that is responsible for state- or national-level public relations and coordinating efforts such as training across local service bodies. (See page 67 for a detailed explanation of state-, province-, and nationwide service bodies.)

i) Zonal boundaries are decided through a collaborative process with neighboring NA communities, other zones, and the WSC.

World Board Motions

Motion 1: To approve the book Living Clean: The Journey Continues contained in Addendum B.

Motion 2: To allow the World Board to make non-substantive corrections to Fellowship-approved literature which do not impact the original meaning of the Fellowship-approved text and which fix typographical errors, obsolete references, references to outdated literature, and other similar corrections. The World Board will announce such corrections in advance of publication.

Motion 3: To allow the World Board to bundle, excerpt, and repackage Fellowship-approved literature without changes to the texts themselves. The World Board will announce these actions in advance of publication.

Motion 4: To allow the World Board the ability to create and approve enhanced electronic or digital versions of texts that include supplemental materials or connections to other NA materials. The World Board will announce such enhancements in advance of publication.

Motion 5: To hold the World Convention of NA every three years, beginning 2018, alternating North American and non-North American locations, as follows and contained in the revised World Convention Map contained in Addendum C.

Regional Proposals

Proposal A: Carolina Region: For the Fellowship of NA and the WSC to consider a proposal for the creation of Written Service Material dedicated to assisting the members of NA as a whole on (1) how to actively participate in literature and publication projects as well as (2) to have resource material available in providing guidance for the development of Literature and Publication processes locally.

Proposal B: Hawaii Region: To produce a book-length publication called 'The NA WAY: Celebration Edition' comprised of a compilation of articles published in the NA WAY 1982-2012.

Proposal C: Tejas Bluebonnet Region: For Board Approved Literature be clearly marked on front “Service Related Material” and not intended to be read during recovery meetings.

Proposal D: South Brazil Region: That members who wish to receive the NA Way Magazine in hard copy format pay a subscription fee to cover the costs of printing and mailing.

Proposal E: Upper Midwest Region: Our idea is to revisit the discussion of the world board members no longer having voting status at the world service conference.

(added 12/11/2011)

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“Social Media” draft for review and input (Deadline for input is 31 October 2011)

Social Media and Our Guiding Principles

The rise of social media and social networking in recent years has had significant and widespread effects on how members of our fellowship interact with one another. NA members have had many questions about how our principles apply with these social networking tools, and this topic generated an extended discussion at the 2010 World Service Conference. This service pamphlet provides a synthesis of some of the points that arose from that discussion, along with members’ input and best practices related to the topic of social networking. Our goal is not to endorse or encourage the use of any particular social networking resource; we are simply responding to the reality that members do utilize these resources and to the many requests for guidance and insight on how to use social networking responsibly in light of our tradition of anonymity.

While our Eleventh Tradition specifically addresses our presence “at the level of press, radio, and films,” the principles of that tradition can be applied to many other levels of engagement with the public. For a coworker or family member who knows nothing about NA, our behavior in these forums may be the only example of NA they encounter. Our own personal activity on social networking sites, and especially our interactions with other members on these sites, can say a great deal about who we are as a fellowship. This service pamphlet is meant to be a resource to help members gain some clarity and make informed decisions that keep our guiding principles in mind when making use of social media and social networking sites.

“...at the level of press, radio, and films...”

One of the first questions to be asked with regard to social networking is whether this form of media falls under the scope of our Eleventh Tradition, which states: “Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.” It’s worth pointing out that the Eleventh Tradition was written before the widespread use of television, and yet the language of the tradition is flexible enough to cover that new form of media. Similarly, it can be applied to other new types of media, such as social networking.

However, the internet in general and social networking sites in particular can be slightly more complicated in terms of our Eleventh Tradition. The level of accessibility of information on the internet can vary widely from completely open, publicly viewable websites to highly restricted, password protected sites. In some cases, information posted online is just as accessible to the general public as, say, a television program or a local newspaper article, while in other cases sharing information is more like sending a letter to an exclusive group of friends or family members.

With that in mind, honoring the guidance offered by our Eleventh Tradition calls on each of us as individual members to be mindful of the public visibility of our online interactions. Some members are not very concerned about sharing personal information in a very open and accessible manner, but our Eleventh Tradition reminds us that when it comes to membership in NA, the credibility of our program of recovery can be greatly affected by the actions of individual NA members. The Eleventh Tradition essay from It Works: How and Why cautions that “In the public eye—including press, radio, films, and all other media—we need always maintain personal anonymity.”

If we are not careful about maintaining our personal anonymity, our activities and interactions on social networking sites can be a reflection on Narcotics Anonymous, affecting the way our fellowship is viewed both by potential members and by those who might refer addicts to NA. While some of us may have the perception that this type of anonymity is only important for celebrities or “high-profile” members, this is not the case. The Eleventh Tradition essay in It Works: How and Why reminds us: “wherever we go, we always represent NA to some degree. . . . we want that reflection to be a source of attraction rather than a source of embarrassment.” By revealing our NA membership online, we can become accidental representatives of the fellowship and any of our individual behavior or opinions can be wrongly understood as reflective of NA as a whole.

“Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion,” and another unintended consequence of our online activity is that addicts who have not yet found recovery may find NA unattractive if they think that joining NA could mean having NA information posted on their social networking profiles for friends and family to see. Similarly, our behavior on social networking sites could give professionals and others who might refer addicts to NA meetings the impression that NA does not take members’ privacy or confidentiality seriously. In both cases, disregarding our Eleventh Tradition could result in a loss of credibility for NA, which could in turn unnecessarily hinder our ability to reach addicts seeking recovery.

Questions we can ask ourselves when interacting online include: “What is the level of my visibility in this medium? Am I in the public eye, or is this a private forum?” The answers to these questions can vary depending on a number of factors, including the type of site we are using and the privacy settings that may or may not be available on that particular site.

Privacy and Anonymity—Our Own and Others’

Many social networking sites offer various levels of privacy and security that can be adjusted to some degree by the user. NA members who use these types of sites to network with one another and/or with friends and family outside of NA may want to familiarize themselves with the available privacy settings on these sites. Some sites offer the ability to organize contacts into groups or categories, so that posts and other content shared on the site may be seen only by specified individuals. By adjusting privacy settings accordingly, members may be able to ensure that NA-related content such as pictures, events, and status updates are only visible to other NA members. In this way, it may be possible to interact with our NA friends separately from coworkers, family, or other people outside of NA.

While adjusting our own personal security settings may be a great start for protecting our own privacy and anonymity, we also need to be concerned with the ways that we interact with other members. It is important to be careful about the types of posts, comments, or pictures we put on other NA member’s personal pages, because those members may not have the same privacy or security settings, or because they may have more non-member connections or share their information differently. Tagging a member in a photo of an NA event, for example, could undermine that member’s anonymity with family members or people from work or school because a notice of that tag may be distributed to that person’s network, drawing people to the photo or album who otherwise may not have known about it. What’s more, if the individual’s privacy settings are such that information from their profile is publicly visible, posting a photograph from an NA event could effectively break their anonymity to the general public. Regardless of our own privacy settings, being cautious about mentioning addiction and recovery in posts and comments on other members’ pages can help to avoid the possibility of inadvertently breaking other members’ anonymity. While we may be aware of the privacy settings of our close friends or those with whom we regularly interact on a site, when we don’t know, it is safest to assume that photos and information posted on other members’ profiles may very well be visible to the general public.

Regardless of our personal feelings about whether family, friends, and coworkers are aware that we are NA members, our Eleventh Tradition reminds us that “we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, or film.” Committees responsible for organizing NA events may consider adding a statement to be read at the event reminding members to be mindful of anonymity concerns as it relates to information and photos from the event.

Using Online Communication Tools for NA Services

Many NA service bodies around the world have found it helpful to begin utilizing various online resources to facilitate greater communication and collaboration among members. Very often these tools and resources can function as private invitation-only forums, allowing for fast and reliable internal communication streams between trusted servants and concerned members. When using any online tool for this type of communication, it is still very important to be cautious when establishing and configuring the services. Trusted servants responsible for finding and setting up these tools can take steps to make sure that communications, documents, and other information will only be visible or accessible to NA trusted servants and other members who have the appropriate permissions or passwords. If and when groups are created through a social networking interface, it is also important to ensure that the full names and photographs of members associated with the group are not visible to the general public. Being very cautious and deliberate in setting up these resources can go a long way in avoiding scenarios in which members’ anonymity or other private service-related information is made public.

With regard to event invitations, there are some other thoughts to take into consideration. Social networking sites may appear to be a great option to spread the word among NA members about various events, but as with other uses of these sites, care should be taken when creating event pages and inviting members. In most cases, simply sending an invitation to members for an event created on the site may not pose a threat to that member’s privacy or anonymity. Typically information about the event will only be displayed on their profile or their activity feed if they RSVP to the event, and members may even be able to adjust their sharing settings to not include these posts in their feed.

Still, not all members will be aware of these settings or how to adjust them, and so by being careful when creating an event, trusted servants may be able to reduce the chances that an individual member’s anonymity will be inadvertently broken to their non-NA friends, family, or co-workers. Not referring to NA in the name of the event is one step that can be taken. For example, creating an event called “Picnic in the Park” may be a better way to label an event on a social networking site than “NA Picnic in the Park.” It can be helpful to explore other options on the site’s event creation tools, which might allow for the event to be listed as private or invitation-only. The organizers may also be able to adjust privacy settings so that only those who RSVP to the event are able to see the list of others who have RSVPed or who have been invited.

NA Logos and Copyright Issues

Another concern that comes up from time to time with regard to social networking sites is the use of NA logos and copyrighted materials. The guidelines for using NA’s trademarked logos and copyrighted material are set forth in the Fellowship Intellectual Property Trust (FIPT). That document and the bulletins that help explain it are available online at http://www.na.org/?ID=legal-bulletins-fipt. NA groups and registered NA service committees must follow certain rules when making use of NA’s trademarked logos, and those rules can be found in NA Intellectual Property Bulletin #1, “Internal Use of NA’s Intellectual Property.” Individual members—and people outside of NA—are not permitted to use NA’s trademarks, including NA logos and even the full name Narcotics Anonymous. (For example, it would not be appropriate for an individual member to create an online group named Narcotics Anonymous.) While the motivations for using the NA name or trademark are usually positive, unfortunately it can often end up reflecting poorly on NA when individuals create pages, groups, or profiles using NA logos or trademarks, including sites that reprint NA literature in a manner that is not consistent with the rules spelled out in the FIPT. Any questions about these issues can be directed to NA World Services.

Some Tips for Maintaining Privacy and Anonymity Online

Familiarize yourself with the security features of the social networking site you’re using and set up your account in a way that respects the principle of anonymity. For example, if the site allows you to segment your friends into lists and to restrict the visibility of your posts by such lists, make use of that feature. Thus, if you had a work list, an NA list and a family list, you might restrict certain NA-related posts or photos to only your NA list.

Be thoughtful about the names of photo albums and event pages and try using more generic names for photo albums and captions, so that photos are not specifically identified as having been taken in an NA context. This is especially important if an album will be more widely visible. “Last weekend in Anytown,” for example, might be a better reference than “Anytown Regional NA Convention.” The same is true for event pages, to which members can RSVP electronically and may therefore be visible to nonmembers. Carefully selecting names, or using private events when possible, can help members to preserve their anonymity.

Be thoughtful about comments you make on an NA member’s non-NA-related posts. Perhaps they structured a post to have no identifiable reference to NA and posted it widely to their friends, family, and co-workers. You should not then post an NA-related or addiction-related comment under that post.

Be mindful of what and who is in the background when you take photos. Is someone in the picture who has not given permission to be included in an online photo album? If you are posting this more broadly than to only NA members, are there NA logos or banners in the background that might identify the event as an NA setting? If you are taking photos that you intend to post to a social networking site, ask anyone you photograph, “Do you mind if I post this on [name the site]?” Always respect the wishes of anyone who prefers not to be posted, regardless of whether you are confident that their anonymity would be protected by your other security practices.

In general, do not tag people in photos that may be seen as NA-related, especially when you are not the one who set up the security level of the photo album, and especially when you are not certain about the person’s own anonymity concerns regarding social media. It is safest to let people tag themselves.

Some people restrict their friend list to only NA members, and use the social networking site strictly as a way of networking and communicating within NA. Assuming your privacy settings do not allow your photos to be reposted by others, then the anonymity issues are significantly reduced provided you protect others’ anonymity in your online interactions. In this way, we can strive to honor the guidance offered by our Eleventh Tradition, which reminds us that “The credibility of NA’s message can be greatly affected by NA’s messengers. In the public eye—including press, radio, films, and all other media—we need always maintain personal anonymity.” (Eleventh Tradition, It Works: How and Why)

Conclusion

The widespread use of social networking and social media by our fellowship indicate that these forums are resources that can serve to facilitate greater communication and interactions among NA members. The ability to network with other recovering addicts and share in mutual support of one another’s recovery offers many members a way to enhance their relationship with the NA Fellowship. With NA’s public image and the anonymity and privacy of our members at stake, it is crucial that we take great care in how we utilize these resources. We hope this resource can be helpful for that purpose.

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9/11/11 – Regional Delegate Report – Sally J.

Not much to report this month other than to continue to encourage you to review and study the Service System Proposals and the Living Clean, the Journey Continues draft that will be in the CAR and voted on for final approval at WSC in April 2012. Also there is a publication called Planning Basics available from WSO that has some really good information regarding planning and how more effective service comes through planning. We encourage each Area to obtain a copy of this publication and share with the members and possibly hold some workgroups or planning meetings. There is a Service Inventory in the back of the publication that could be a great way to open the communication and get everyone involved in the process of planning. I have a copy for each Area as handouts today.

We have attended several of the area meetings and will be attending the MZF on September 17^th in Indiana. The MZF is presenting a workshop on the Service System Proposals during the Central Indiana Area convention so hopefully we will have some more information to share with you upon our return. We are also planning to attend the MZF Multi-Regional Workshop on the CAR & CAT and the MZF meeting in Perrysburg, Ohio February 10-12, 2012. Hopefully we can hold our Regional Assembly in accordance with the March 2012 Regional meeting or before. We will continue to share the information we gather with you via the regional mailing list and will post information on the RD section on the regional website.

Living and enjoying life a day at a time!!!

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RD / RDA Report - June 11, 2011

Greetings to all! I sent out an email to the mailing list on 5/18/11 with most of the attached information so hopefully you have taken the time to review the new World Board approved “Planning Basics” and the updated wallet reading card. Both items are currently available to the fellowship. Also, the Service System Proposals are still in planning stages and your input and suggestions are needed for the final draft that will be in the CAR report. And last but not least the Living Clean, the Journey Continues draft is out there for review and will be voted on for final approval at the WSC in April 2012.

WB continues to welcome our ideas and input about the service system. What kind of changes can we make to more effectively carry the message? One of the areas they are specifically

looking for more information about is shared services. They are particularly interested in hearing how you dealt with the potential pitfalls or challenges related to accountability and delegation in a body formed to share services between two ASCs, for instance. If you have anything that you would like to add to the proposals please let myself or Lee know so that we can send it to the WB committee or feel free to contact them personally at worldboard.na.org.

This is pretty much our last chance to add any input to the proposals because the next step will be the CAR and at that time we will only be giving our vote of yes/no to world.

We have started attending area meetings and plan to attend the Bloomington area meeting on July 10^th. At this time Lee and I feel that a Regional Assembly would best serve our Region after the CAR has been sent out so most likely that will be the beginning of 2012. Unless of course the regional committee wants us to do something before.

· Effective July 1, 2011 a 5% increase will be implemented on all inventory except the Basic Text.

· WCNA 34 in San Diego, CA September 1-4, 2011.

· WCNA 35 in Philadelphia, PA, August 29-Sept. 1, 2013.

· World Unity Day: September 4, 2011 between 10:00 am and Noon Pacific Time - Individual groups/areas/regions can join in the celebration of NA Wolrd Unity Day. This is a 2 hour telephone hookup to the Sunday morning closing meeting at WCNA34. Registration is $50. To register - www.na.org/wcna34/unityday To plan the time go to www.timezoneconverter.com

· Planning Basics: World Board approved service material http://www.na.org/?ID=handbooks-handbook-index

· Service System Proposals: 2nd Draft of the proposals that were developed after incorporating fellowship input. Report should form the basis of conversations that will help shape the material in the CAR. http://www.na.org/admin/include/spaw2/uploads/pdf/servsys/Service_System_Proposals_Report_March2011.pdf

· Living Clean, The Journey Continues - The vote regarding fellowship approval of the book will take place at the World Service Conference in April 2012. The project plan for this book called for the text to be released for a one-year period in "approval form." The book will appear as an addendum in the Conference Agenda Report and, as such, will be a part of old business at the WSC 2012.

Hard copy: The book may be purchased for $8.50 (including shipping and applicable taxes), and may be ordered online by searching the shopping cart using "Living Clean" as the search term. It is worth remembering that the draft will be available as a standalone item only until the Conference Agenda Report (CAR) is published in November 2011; after that the draft will be part of the CAR and will no longer be available to purchase separately.

Online: The approval draft is also available on our FTP site here are the access instructions:
IP Address: 66.6.216.61
User name: CP2012
Password: WSC2012

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RD/RDA Report – 4/10/11

On March 11-12 we attended the Missouri Regional Assembly to network with members outside of our Region and to gather information. World Board member, Mary B. gave a great presentation on the new “Money Matters” IP# 24, financial status of NAWS and an update on current NAWS projects and activities. We participated in small group discussions and some of the topics discussed were: “Does the way we spend our money reflect what is valuable to us?” How much did we put in the basket our first 30 days, first year and now? How have our financial circumstances changed since we got clean? What more can we be doing to help others the way we were helped? Complacency on donations/Complacent in recovery. Overall the discussions were very informative and the RD from Missouri said that she and/ or her alternate would be happy to help us with workshops/roundtable discussions if we choose to hold such an event. We both left the assembly with a better understanding of the need to reach out to the newer members and attract, train /mentor them to service and to encourage fulfillment of the commitments that we take on. We also learned that the WSO financial issues are not getting much better and they have not filled vacant positions so staff are doing more with less. Some of the other ways they are lowering expenses are reducing attendance at fellowship and professional events, reduced number of translation projects, reduced free literature donations from 700K to 400K a year, changed the NA Way process and created a contribution portal at na.org. This is a portal for direct donations to the WSO .There are two ways to contribute: The first allows you to contribute via credit/debit card, e-checks and set up recurring contributions. The second is PayPal which is accepted in over 140 countries worldwide. Just go to na.org and click on the Contribute to NA link on the left side of the page.

On March 17-18 we attended the second MZF meeting for this conference cycle in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Unfortunately we do not feel that the MZF is prudently responsible for our region but, will serve as you wish. I asked once again, what does the Zone do for the regions and was told that it’s another way for information and best practices to be shared within the fellowship. I have sent the PowerPoint presentation to Jason to add to the RD section on our Regional website for your review and if you have further questions or concerns we would gladly direct them to the facilitators. There was a lot of discussion on the United States Conference which was recently held in Kansas. As stated in the February 2011 NAWS News, that sense the USSC event is not being coordinated by any duly elected representative or by any registered area, region, or zone, they are not really comfortable commenting on conference is not an idea that WS believe will help us better achieve our primary purpose, or they would have included it in the Service System proposals. We are three years into the Service System Proposal project. As your Delegates we were not given any direction from the areas to participate in or research the USSC. We did not feel that the Zone should of given up time to listen to the 3 members who attended the conference give their presentation and then listen to other discussion and questions in that regard but, it was one of the leading topics picked for discussion and time was limited for other topics. We have brought back the handouts that were distributed at the Zonal meeting and there is a website - www.usfellowshipassembly.org if you would like to view more information.

We received the current MZF Guidelines dated Jan/2011 and have a copy to share with you today.

We did get some information on Step Writing for Prisoners. Chicaogland RD reported that they are working on a policy for an anonymous step working procedure for inmates. Wisconsin and Michigan reported that they already have step working/prisoner outreach in their regions. More information can be found on their websites. Basically they are addicts willing to work steps anonymously with addicts who are incarcerated. We talked to several members while attending the Show-Me Regional Assembly about their step writing/sponsorship committee and were informed that the committee is not currently active.

The next MZF is in Minnesota which is over 11 hours away therefore we are requesting that our Region pass on attending and once again ask the Areas, “do we want to participate in the MZF at all”? As your Delegates we will serve as you wish to fulfill our positions but, we both feel that the time and finances used to attend and support the Zonal meetings does not appear to be responsible service at this time. We would like to work on a Regional Assembly to workshop topics such as the Service System Proposals, H&I, P&I and Money Matters and feel that we could utilize the Delegates from Show Me and possibly request assistance from the World Board or other members of the Service System workgroup. We may need to provide them with transportation costs etc. but, we feel this would be cost effective and beneficial to the Region. We would also want to encourage all of you to communicate with us your questions and concerns regarding the Service System Proposals or other issues regarding World Services. We have made contact with our World Board member, Franny who has been assigned to this Region and await her response. We met Mary B. (World Board Member) at the Show Me Assembly and she offered her assistance as well. The updated information on the Service System Proposals is out and we have a few copies for your review today as well as you can go to the website listed below for more information. We are looking for ways to better serve our Region so if you have any suggestions please let us know. We need a current listing of emails and phone numbers for all RCM’s so we can continue to share information with you regarding the Service System Proposals and hopefully get some direction and feedback on how we can all get a better understanding on the proposals as well as other pressing issues with world etc.

Future MZF Meetings:

Detroit Lakes Minnesota May 27-30

Indianapolis, Indiana September 9-11.

MZF meetings with dates to be announced will be in the following order: Ohio, Wisconsin, Chicago, Metro Detroit and then back to Greater IL regions

Thanks for allowing us to serve,

RD - Sally J. 217/622-3712 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

RDA - Lee C. 217/201-0366 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

· To receive the NA Way you now need to sign up online at www.na.org/subscribe

· The Service System webpage has all materials distributed since the conference at www.na.org/servicesystem

· Member contribution portal is located at www.na.org/?=donation-external-index

WCNA 34 In the Spirit of Unity, is September 1-4, 2011 in San Diego, CA information regarding WCNA 34 is available at www.na.org/wcna

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