As of Wednesday, 3/18, 2020, Gamblers Anonymous will have an accommodation for all Gamblers Anonymous members who have been told that their regular meeting facilities have been closed due to the current health emergency. The Board of Trustees Telephone Conference Call Committee has been operating a weekly Telephone Conference Call meeting for the last 6 years. With the approval of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, the committee has volunteered to hold daily meetings.
Accordingly, there will be a telephone conference call meeting every day of the week at 9:00 PM New York Time, which is GMT -4, lasting for 2 hours.
These will meetings are designated as approved Gamblers Anonymous meetings. These meetings are scheduled to continue for a 2-week
period, but may be extended additional weeks, if required.
Click Here for the attached flyer with call-in information
| Date: | Wednesday |
| Time: | 9:00-10:30 PM ET The conference call will open 15 minutes before the start time of the meeting. All microphones will be open. Although the meeting admins are present during this period, please be respectful of all those who are talking. |
| US and Canada Dial In Number: | 712-770-4160 This is a network-based number in Iowa. Be aware of the toll charges you may be responsible for if your phone is not under an unlimited calling plan. There is no toll-free access to any of the telephone meeting conference calls. Canadian telephone carriers might block the above number. Should that happen, the system has a Canadian back-up number: 559-546-1400 Some US carriers may block access to certain numbers. If you hear a notice over your phone that you are blocked, use the above number. If you must use this number, follow the instructions once you dial it. |
| International Dial In Numbers: As of 8/15/14 | View Listing Of International Countries This is a listing of all the current countries in which a local call can be made into the telephone network from foreign countries. Please adjust to the time differences. If you wish to use an international number, please email Wednesday9pmHelp@gmail.com for the number. |
| Participant Access Code: | 611704# This code must be used to get to the correct conference call. |
| Email Contact: | Wednesday9pmHelp@gmail.com If you need support between meetings, use this email address. Also, if you would like to make yourself available to support someone from this meeting who needs it, signify that in your email to the same address above. |
| Description: | Topic The administrators will select a topic for the meeting. If at all possible, please try to speak on the topic. However, you may speak about the reading from the Day At A Time book, or any other subject that is gambling related. |
| Type: | Comment Members who are compulsive gamblers or those who have a desire to stop gambling, may give comments to members after they give therapy (share). Comments are to be kept to 1 minute and should reflect on that person's personal experience. Members under 90 days are not allowed to give comments. There will be 3 comments permitted after each speaker. The meeting admins will control the comments to try and give an even distribution among the meeting members. |
| Language: | English |
Telephone Conference Call Meeting – Pre-opening Announcements
As of 12/30/14 – Wednesdays 9PM ET
This is an open meeting, which means that anyone, whether in Gamblers Anonymous or not, can dial into this meeting. Be aware of this whenever you speak.
No recording devices of any kind are to be used at any time. However, we have no way of stopping such activities.
Whatever is said in this meeting, must remain in this meeting.
New members who have not had any previous experience with Gamblers Anonymous, will be given the opportunity to speak midway through the meeting.
We are here to share our experience, strength and hope with each other that we may solve our common problem and help others to recover from a gambling problem. Please try to limit your therapy to issues relating to gambling.
Please refrain from using profanity. If you do not adhere to this, you risk being dropped from the call.
Do not mention amounts of money during therapy. We are here to relate to one another, not compare.
Do not admit to any past or present crimes for which you may still be prosecuted. Again, we do not know who is listening.
Admissions, date of last bet and what state you are from should be incorporated into your therapy.
Do not make any derogatory statements or comments about any other member or another room while giving therapy.
The meeting admins utilize a website portal for these conference calls that shows the telephone number of all callers. Through this portal, the admins will tag each number with the information requested, namely your first name, first initial of your last name, where you are calling from and the date of your last bet. This allows the admins to recognize you when you call again. This information is NOT used for any other purpose
Some people choose to have their telephone numbers blocked. If you have chosen to do so, your number will then show up on the portal as ‘anonymous’. If that is what you wish, you will not be allowed to speak during the meeting, or to give any comments. If you do NOT wish this, then hang up and unblock your phone before you call back or use another phone to call in.
Please try to limit your therapy to 5 minutes, in order to give others a chance to speak. At 5 minutes, one of the Meeting Admins will mention that the 5-minute mark has been hit as a reminder, but the member may take additional time if needed. Additional reminders will be mentioned every minute after that.
This is a 3-comment meeting. In the case of a new member, that number increases to 5. No cross comments are allowed.
Members under 90 days are not allowed to give comments. Please cooperate with this provision, as the Meeting Admins have no ability to keep track of this.
Comments must be direct, to the point and related to therapy, kept to 1 minute and should reflect your personal experiences. At 1 minute, one of the Meeting Admins will mention the 1-minute mark, as a reminder to quickly finish your thought. Members who do not adhere to this, risk being restricted from giving further comments.
Therapies cannot be used to give other members a comment about their therapy.
Please do not reference any other GA telephone meetings, unless they are part of this approved platform.
Members who need support between telephone meetings or wish to provide support to members who request it, should wait until the end of the meeting at which point you will be given instructions on what to do and you will be provided with an email address to do so.
Support is only provided by those who volunteer to do so. There can be no assurance that these people will be available for help. If anyone feels they are being harassed by anyone offering support, please indicate so and the same email address will be the manner in which you let the administrators know. The situation will be reviewed. Harassment will not be tolerated and members engaged in such behavior may be restricted from providing support.
Let’s all remember that we are always at the mercy of technology. It is possible that your connection could be broken. If that happens, you will have to dial in again.
Once the conference call starts ALL phones are automatically put on mute. There is no need to put your phone on mute.
CLOSING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Members who attended tonight’s meeting and feel they need support between telephone meetings should email their contact information to: Wednesday9pmHelp@gmail.com You will be contacted by a volunteer.
Similarly, if you wish to provide support to members who request it, please email your contact information to: Wednesday9pmHelp@gmail.com Remember, all aspects of anonymity will be followed, including email addresses.
Telephone meeting conference calls are not meant to replace physical meetings. They do not offer sponsors, the ability to chair your own meeting, or allow you to actively work the steps. These critical components of a long term recovery in Gamblers Anonymous can only be obtained through regular attendance at physical meetings.
For the locations of Gamblers Anonymous meetings, visit gamblersanonymous.org. You may also purchase Gamblers Anonymous approved literature at this website. The address is gamblersanonymous.org.
To speak with a Gamblers Anonymous volunteer in the US or Canada, contact 855-2-CALL-GA, (855-222-5542) 24 hours a day.
NEW MEMBER PROCEDURE
The main telephone meeting conference call starts at 9:00 PM
The lead admin reads all the opening announcements.
At the end, the admin asks if anyone is here for their first GA experience. Star 6, etc.
The admin announces that those people, even if there is only 1 person, should call into same number and use a different conference ID. 814479#
The main admin makes a prior decision, in the time the lines are open prior to the 9:00 PM time, as to which other admin is going to take control of the new member meeting.
An announcement is made that the assistance of 3 people in the main meeting, with significant time, would be appreciated by having them call into the beginner’s room meeting. However, anyone can dial in if they are interested in hearing what the new members have to say.
This list of 3 other members will rotate on a weekly basis.
Only the admin and the 3 other members will be allowed to speak to the new members. All others will be listeners only.
The 3 selected members will each give their therapies of 5 minutes or less, geared towards identifying with the new members and making them feel that they are in the right place.
Each member will be asked the 20 questions by one of those 3 people, on an individual basis.
When each member answers the 20 questions, they can give their therapy.
When finished, the new member will get comments from the 3 selected existing members. This will be done in an open dialogue where the new member may cross comment.
There is a 5 minute window open for a combination of comments and questions for each new member.
Once all the members have gone through this process, all the new people will be allowed to speak openly with each other for another 5 minutes, if necessary.
At the end of this, the meeting will close down and the new members will have to dial into the main meeting to listen to the remaining speakers.