Bonnie, a longtime OA member, came into OA as a teen in the 1970s and reflects on the challenges and benefits of fitting in with older OA members. Bonnie says, “More young people who need OA are out there … I want to be the hand that says, “Welcome to Overeaters Anonymous. Welcome home.”
Isa experienced food addiction and body image issues from early childhood. “I would have done anything to be thin,” she says. After topping 242 pounds (110 kg), she joined OA and knew right away she was in the right place.
Kaitlin’s sugar addiction started in middle school after her parents’ divorce caused a number of stresses in her life. She later discovered bulimia and started overexercising, using laxatives, and vomiting. Today she has a new life that she once thought was impossible.
Matt, a young person in OA, talks about his recovery journey and the impact that other OA members had on him as they carried the message to him through their example of taking themselves and the OA program seriously.
OA invites DIVERSITY and promotes UNITY. In this episode, one OA member speaks from the perspective of an English language learner and another member speaks about entering OA as a young person aged 18–30.
“In a moment of surrender, without truly believing in a Higher Power, I experienced a profound intervention that kept me abstinent and began to crumble the walls I had built around me.”