Sep 2, 2011 – Day 4 – Daily Summary – H&I Committee Closing Report

CLOSING REPORT

C.A. WORLD SERVICE CONFERENCE 2011

H & I COMMMITTEE REPORT

INTRODUCTION AND OPENING COMMENTS

The committee welcomed a wonderful new group of members this year. We are amaze and grateful for the tremendous growth of the H&I Committee this year. Bobby, Donald, Jennifer, Sonya, Tammy, Vonya, Erica, Dan, Mona, Deborah, and Pearl did a wonderful job of making them feel at home as we commenced to

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pass it on. The H&I committee did a lot of work this year via conference calls and on-line groups throughout the year we worked on the C.A. Lifeline draft that was presented to the conference floor last year to be viewed by the delegates and conference committees. Again we had the opportunity of carrying the message to two H&I panel meetings. We also have a banner in the hall which has be signed by everyone (hopefully,) that is participating in the conference. That banner or signed sheet will be presented by Sonya S.

Committee Introductions

Chair: Dathan M., Outgoing
Vice Chair: Vonya Q., Outgoing
Co-Secretary: Erica D., Deborah G.
Trustee: Russell S.
Outreach Chair: Dan J., Trevor C., Jen R., John C., Ferman G.
Correctional Referral Chair: Jennifer S., Bobby C.

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Anthony S.
Roland R.
Garfield J.
Vonya Q.

H&I Guidelines: Chair Donald H.
Ashley S.
Chris P.
Jack P.
Adrien H.
Tim M.
Sonya S.
Erica D.

Creative Writing: Chair Pearl B.
Donovan B.
Deborah G.
Jennifer S.

Sonya S. – Will now present the banner. Banner presented to the Northern Nevada Area.

Dan J. – Outreach Chair

Our primary purpose is to carry the message of recovery to the still suffering addict and newcomer. We commit to being there for all H & I committees and areas to assist them in any way possible. We will reconnect by opening up a line of communication to promote unity from within. We will notify all areas of

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information pertaining to all aspects of the ongoing H & I Growth. We are here to serve you and look forward to being of service in the months ahead.

Pearl B. – Creative Writing Chair

Creative Writing strives to bring in the message of recovery and sharing with the world. We encourage you to share your stories and articles for the H&I Corner. Submissions are simple from the C.A. Website.

Jennifer S. – Correctional Facilities Chair

The Correctional Referrals Committee communicates with the world service office to keep the lines of communications open between inmates and the fellowship. We strive to make sure that anyone who reaches out does not slip through the cracks.

Donald H. – H&I Guidelines Chair

Housekeep was done on the formats to bring them up to date with the new readings that are being used within our Fellowship. Over the next year the H&I guidelines and information sub-committee will be reviewing the H&I guidelines and moving forward with our new mission statement to maintain an organized, up to date and easy to use H&I guideline and information document.

COMMITTEE WORK THAT RESULTED IN MOTIONS

1. MOTION: To Adopt the Lifeline Documents as follows:

C.A. Lifeline Sub-Committee Guidelines

Statement of Purpose

C.A. Lifeline is a service sub-committee of Hospitals & Institutions Committee. C.A. Lifeline’s primary purpose is to help the newcomer addicts transition from

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treatment to the rooms of Cocaine Anonymous. We do this by providing a temporary contact in the newcomer’s local area.

Members of Cocaine Anonymous, usually acting in pairs, meet the patients after their release from treatment and accompany them to their first C.A. meeting. Participation in the C.A. Lifeline is always voluntary. The C.A. Lifeline committee’s activities include:

1. Provide vital link between treatment and the fellowship of C.A.
2. Meet and correspond with representatives of local treatment centers to
3. Ask for permission to work with their patients.
4. Correspond with patients desiring C.A. Lifeline on release.
5. Maintain a list of C.A. volunteers willing to do C.A. Lifeline work.
6. Print and distribute appropriate formats.

Our committee is a subcommittee of the H & I committee. We also send a liaison to the District and/or Area meetings.

Basic Functions of The C.A. Lifeline

Presentation Teams

Make the initial presentation to the administrators of the facilities and make routine presentations to patients, and gathers contact requests from patients.

Phone Coordinators

Call Temporary Contacts from the Temporary Contact Phone List and give them the information from the Contact Request to contact a patient and ask them to later contact the Follow-up Coordinator.

Forward Contact Requests for other Districts/Areas to the appropriate District /Area Chair.

Temporary Contacts

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After the patient is released, Temporary Contacts, preferably in groups of two, will accompany the released patient to an outside C.A. meeting and then contact the Follow-Up Coordinator.

Follow-Up Coordinators

Check on success of contact and provide follow-up report to the C.A. Lifeline Chairperson.

C.A. Lifeline Chair

Report to the District /Area H & I Committee about work and progress within the Fellowship.

How To Start A C.A. Lifeline Committee

Petition your District / Area H & I Committee (where applicable) to become a standing subcommittee.

Electing a C.A. Lifeline Chair

Elect a C.A. Lifeline Chairperson, who is responsible for the C.A. Lifeline activities in the District/Area. It is suggested that the C.A. Lifeline Chair has at least 2 years of continuous sobriety and recent service experience. We suggest that the next step is to elect a C.A. Lifeline Vice-Chair, that would assist with the responsibilities of the Chair. Below is a description of committee members and their responsibilities and suggested requirements for the commitment.

C.A. Lifeline Service Position Descriptions

It is suggested that people with experience in the 12 steps of C.A. fill these positions. As in all other C.A. service positions, rotation is vital to our health. Rotation is suggested to occur at the end of a two-year commitment.

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C.A. Lifeline Chair

Suggested 2 years sobriety. 2 year term.

1. Has overall responsibility for C.A. Lifeline activities.
2. Responsible for insuring that C.A. Lifeline remains focused on 12^th step work.
3. Conducts a monthly C.A. Lifeline meeting.
4. Responsible for representation at the District / Area H & I committee.
5. We suggest that representation to the District and Area level may be delegated to other C.A. Lifeline committee members. This reduces the workload on the Chairperson, cross trains others, and gives C.A. Lifeline exposure.

C.A. Lifeline Vice-Chair

Suggested 1 year sobriety. 1 year term.

1. Assists the Chair in their duties.
2. To mail, email, or give the Temporary contact packets to new Temporary Contacts.
3. Assist Chair by attending District and Area meetings. Orientation For Coordinators

We believe giving new phone coordinators an orientation will benefit this important position greatly.

Orientation includes:

1. Position Description
2. Explanation of Temporary Contact List.
3. Any special procedures and ruled from a specific facility.
4. Explain any other information that is pertinent to your committee or your District / Area.
5. Any other pertinent information

Phone Coordinator

Suggested 2 years sobriety. 1 year term.

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This will be a busy position and can be shared by more than one person. This position should be filled by someone who will honor C.A.’s Tradition of Anonymity, as they will be entrusted with personal information about patients and C.A. members.

1. Calls Temporary Contacts from the Temporary Contact List and provides them with information from a patient contact request form.
2. Forward Contact Requests for other Districts / Areas to the appropriate District / Area Chair.

Each Phone Coordinator is responsible for the timely matching of a Contact Request with a Temporary Contact. You will receive completed Contact Request forms from various facilities. Contact Requests may come from other sources, e.g. the C.A. Info line or other Districts/Areas.

Use your Temporary Contact list to find the best match for your patient Contact Request based on the following criteria whenever possible:

1. Geographic location
2. Age

If you cannot find an appropriate match from the, Temporary Contact List, based on this criteria call another C.A. member. If you receive a patient contact request and the person lives outside your district, contact the District/Area in that area to find a suitable match for the patient. It can be effective to have a committee member who only deals with contact requests from outside the District/Area.

Follow-up Coordinator

Suggested: 1 year sobriety. 1 year term.

Follow-up work is essential to maintain continuity of the committee’s dynamics.

The follow-up coordinator illustrates the effectiveness of our committee.

The follow-up coordinator is looking for these basic things.

The Temporary Contact reached the patient contact requesting services and:

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1. They arranged to meet at a C.A. meeting and the request was completed. Result: Successful
2. Contacted patient and they have not yet been released from their facility. Result: Delayed
3. Patient has gone to a C.A. meeting with someone else or on their own and no longer wants our help. Result: Refused
4. Patient no longer wants to go to a C.A. meeting. Result: Refused

The Temporary Contact HAS NOT reached the patient contact requesting services because:

1. The patient could not be reached example: their phone is disconnected and they are no longer at the facility. Result: Disconnect
2. The Temporary Contact has not had enough time to make contact with the patient. Result: Contact not made
3. Temporary contact left a message for the patient and has not received a call back yet. Result: Pending call back

When the Phone Coordinator gives a Patient Contact Request to the Temporary Contact, they should ask the Temporary Contact to call the Follow-up Coordinator upon completion of the request. The Phone Coordinator should give the information for a Temporary Contact-Patient match up to the Follow-up Coordinator as soon as possible, with the date of the match up included. It is suggested that if the Temporary Contact has not contacted the Follow-up Coordinator in 4 days then the Follow-up Coordinator calls the Temporary Contact to check the status of the Patient Contact Request.

Suggested Follow-up Coordinator Report

The Follow Up Coordinator should gather the information collected for a month and present a report formatted in this style:

Contact Requests Completed: X

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Success: X
Delayed: X
Refused: X
Contact Requests Not Completed: X
Disconnects: X
Contact Not Made: X
Pending Call Back: X

This provides an easy to read report that reflects how well our committee is functioning.

Temporary Contact Coordinator

Suggested 1 year sobriety. Suggested 1 year term.

1. Locates new members from the fellowship to become Temporary Contacts.
2. Turns in list of new Temporary Contacts to Phone Coordinator. The Temporary Contact Coordinator reaches out to the fellowship in your committee’s District / Area. It is this positions responsibility to ensure there are Temporary Contacts from all areas of your District / Area. If your District / Area is large enough more than one person can hold this position.

Some ways to get new Temporary Contacts are:

1. Attend your District / Area H & I meeting and announce the need for Temporary Contacts.
2. Announce at your local District / Area meetings.
3. Make announcements at local C.A. meetings.
4. Your committee can also hold C.A. lifeline workshops to gain momentum, interest, and educate the fellowship of your cause.

Temporary Contact Packet

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Another tool that can be helpful for new Temporary Contacts is a Temporary Contact Packet.

This packet could include:

1. Thank you letter
2. Guidelines for Temporary Contacts to making contact with patients.
3. A. lifeline information pamphlet that briefly explains what C.A.

Lifeline is and how it works.

Temporary Contacts

Suggested 6 months sobriety.

1. Contact patients prior to their release from treatment to schedule a meet up time.
2. Accompany released patient to a C.A. meeting on the outside.
3. Update the Follow-up Coordinator with the outcome of the patient request.

Remember that the Temporary Contacts are the backbone of this committee. It is suggested they have a working experience of the 12 steps C.A. Their work with the newly released patients is what will make us a success.

Presentation Teams

Suggested 1 year sobriety.

1. Make the initial presentation to staff of facilities
2. Makes presentation to patients
3. Distributes request cards to patients, during presentations, who would like to be contacted by the local C.A. Lifeline.
4. Distributes cards to patients, during presentations, which briefly describe C.A. Lifeline and how to get a hold of us.
5. Collects patient request cards at the end of presentations and gives all patient request information to Phone Coordinator.

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6. Appropriately disposes of patient request cards.

When a C.A. Lifeline committee starts in a new District/Area it is best to start small. Don’t take on more facilities than your committee can handle. It’s best to deliver quality not quantity. The worst thing we can do is not follow through with our promise to the patients.

When establishing presentations with new facilities it can be helpful to utilize your local H & I committee. Your H & I committee already has contacts in the individual facilities and can help guide you on who to contact and can help arrange an initial presentation.

Presentations

Presentations to a Facility Staff

When presenting the C.A Lifeline presentation to a new facility it is important to remember that we are representing Cocaine Anonymous. Be on time and show the facility respect. Explain what C.A. Lifeline is and give a mock presentation of what you would show the patients. Ask the facility if there are any rules or policies that would affect how we do our presentations, for example patients are not allowed to release their information. Remember we are a guest in their facility and must always comply with their rules.

Presentations to Patients

We believe it is best to present in groups of two (one male and one female), following the suggested presentation format. Presentations are usually most effective if given once every month. The purpose of the presentations is to

1. Inform the patients about what Cocaine Anonymous and C.A. Lifeline are.
2. Inform the patients what C.A. has to offer to them as newcomers through C.A. Lifeline.

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3. Inform the patients how to fill out contact request forms, what information is necessary, and the reason for filling them out.
4. Inform the patients how to contact C.A. or C.A. Lifeline if they do not want to fill out a contact request form.

Other Potential Suggestions

1. Start small in order to stay focused and meet all commitments.
2. Find one or Two Temporary Contact Coordinators to generate a Temporary Contact Phone List.
3. Choose one facility and contact the administration for a presentation about C.A. Lifeline. After approval begin routine presentations to patients.
4. Continue to add more Temporary Contacts to your list.
5. Hold monthly meetings to discuss progress and elect coordinators for facilities.
6. Collaborate with your local info line to assist in 12^th step calls by connecting callers to a Temporary Contact from the list.
7. Supply C.A. Lifeline literature at institutions, meetings, your district, and your area.
8. A Lifeline Pamphlet: Explanation of what C.A Lifeline does and how it functions.
9. Patient Contact Request cards-cards for patients to fill out during C.A Lifeline presentations to request contact from a Temporary Contact.
10. A Lifeline info cards: cards for patients to have during C.A Lifeline presentations that briefly explain our purpose and how to contact us.

Second.

Tony D.: Would you like to speak to your motion?

Dathan M.: Not at this time.

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Tony D.: Any debate?

Kellie F.: I would like to suggest that coordinators go after all the other positions.

Erica D.: Our committee has decided not to accept any friendly amendments to our motion is a lengthy and multi-paged document, and we prefer not to take Conference time to edit; we welcome all referrals for any additional changes.

Eric T.: I speak in favor of the motion.

Terry M.: I speak in favor of the motion.

Randy G.: I speak in favor of the motion. I too have seen it work in AZ. This is a wonderful opportunity to bring the message to those not confined.

Susan B.: Is it appropriate for a committee to not accept debate as this is a forum in which we debate motions?

Tony D.: The committee stated they were not accepting any friendly amendments.

Susan B.: Thank you for the clarification.

Tony D.: Any more debate? Prepare yourselves to vote. Motion carries unanimously.

REFERRALS THAT RESULTED IN MOTIONS

None

REFERRALS OR ITEMS TABLED UNTIL NEXT YEAR; AND ITEMS THE COMMITTEE WILL CONTINUE WORKING ON THROUGH THE YEAR

CA Lifeline

Statistics Coordination

H&I Sub-committee Descriptions and Guidelines

REFERRALS OR ITEMS REFERRED TO OTHER COMMITTEES; WORLD SERVICE OFFICE, OR BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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1. Referral #6605: Mounting Bracket System for H&I Literature. As an area the H&I Committee Chair, I had arranged to place our literature racks in our public detox facilities. However the facilities and others want to wall-mount the racks for security and safety reasons. Because of the pitch forward, the literature falls out. How about developing a mounting bracked system optional for wall mounting.

Response: Referred to the CAWSO.

REFERRALS THAT DID NOT RESULT IN MOTIONS

1. Referral #6620: Changes to the H&I Activities/Events Chair in the H&I In the H&I Guidelines, the duties of the H&I Activities/Events chairperson (page 9 duties and responsibilities A+B) in Section B states: “Appoint such people necessary to help with these duties”. The duty of “Appoint conflicts with our Traditions and Concepts. Can we change this description (suggestions):

a) for a committee/plan all events, activities and people raisers. b) meet regularly with committee to monitor progress in absence of chairperson assume the duties of chair of committee.

Response: We feel that the description of the H & I Activities/Events Chair person is in keeping with our fellowship’s spiritual attitude of service. We trust the area would choose proper leadership in line with the spirit of our concepts and traditions.

NEW COMMITTEE STRUCTURE AS OF THIS CONFERENCE

Chair – Vonya Q.

Vice-Chair – Dan J.

Co-Secretary – Deborah G.

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Co-Secretary – Ashley S.

CLOSING COMMENTS

I received a lot of help and support throughout the year, and also throughout the years I spent on the H&I committee. I learned a lot of lessons via mistakes. We received a lot of help, experience and service from our Trustee Russell S., as well as Terry M. and our former Trustee Randy G. Through the help of the best committee members in the fellowship we have learned and grown. I always thank God for his grace and incomparable mercy. It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve. The H&I committee is a good place to chill. I thank all of the members past and present and the fellowship as a whole. The conference and everything has been a blessing and a real spiritual experience. I want to again thank the H&I committee, they have people grateful for them they haven’t even met and so do everyone else in this particular part of God’s beautiful plan.

Respectfully Submitted:

2011 H&I Committee of CAWS

Tony D.: Any question for H&I? Seeing none, please thank the committee. Next up will be Archives.

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