Sponsorship Behind the Walls?

NA Minnesota is considering a "Sponsorship Behind the Walls" program in collaboration with another NA service body in California. The purpose of this program would provide a sponsor to incarcerated addicts in order to work the Twelve Steps of Narcotics Anonymous through the mail. Sponsorship would be provided until release or the relationships ends for whatever reason. Sponsor interactions with sponsees would only be through a host PO Box via US mail to ensure anonymity.

NA Minnesota is currently gauging interest. Would you consider being a sponsor for addicts behind the walls? This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let us know if you would consider being a Behind the Walls Sponsor.

WCNA 35 Registration Open

Posted December 1, 2012

WCNA 35

The flier for WCNA 35 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania along with all convention information including accomodations are now posted at www.na.org/wcna. Registration is now open.

Back to Basics Field Tests the New Service System

As announced last month, Back to Basics and their respective Group Support Units of Narcotics Anonymous have been selected to field test the proposed Service System. Back to Basics is preparing a Local Service Unit planning assembly to be held January 19 and 20, 2013. Print the "Save the Date" flyer. Stay tuned for more details. Information about this field test and the Service System proposals themselves can be found at www.na.org/servicesystem.

New Publications

Commemorative, hand-numbered edition of Just for Today are available for sale as well as the new hardcover and softcover Living Clean. Check the Upper Midwest Service Office or order online at NAWS.

The commemorative, hand-numbered edition of Living Clean will be available the first business day of the New Year, January 2, 2013. 

Electronic formats for the Sixth Edition Basic Text, It Works: How and Why, and Sponsorship nare available for Kindle at Amazon and iBooks on the Apple iOS platform through the iTunes store.

More information about all of these new products can be found in the September Product Update.

Service Delivery Web Meetings

Initial attempts at web meetings for service offices, H&I, and inmate writing committees have been successful. If you are interested in web meetings for any of the following areas of service, contact NAWS below. Please email your name, contact information (email address), trusted servant position, and your region and area, as well as ideas about what you would like to see discussed, to:

• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  for conventions
• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  for Hospitals and Institutions
• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  for Public Relations/Public Information

NAWS is excited about the prospect of being able to offer this service and connect trusted servants with others who perform the same service in their respective communities.

Traditions Book Project

Check out the material on the Traditions Project webpage: www.na.org/traditions. NAWS has posted a session profile and PowerPoint there for local workshops to help gather ideas and source material for the book. You can enter your responses online at the webpage or email them to  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Early next year, NAWS will launch a discussion board for the project to help us collect more focused input on each tradition itself.

Issue Discussion Topics

Issue Discussion Topics for this cycle include:

• Collaboration
• Group Conscience
• Supporting Our Vision

You can find information about this cycle's Issue Discussion Topics and session outlines and PowerPoints for each of the topics online www.na.org/IDT. Your workshop results will help us shape the work of both the Service System and Traditions Book projects so please send NAWS your input:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

NA Way and Other News

Posted November 18, 2012

The October issue of the NA Way is now available for download.

Service System

We are beginning the process of field testing the ideas in the Service System Proposals. We are very happy to announce that our very own Back to Basics Area in Minnesota has been selected to participate in the field tests. We  have posted related material to the Service System webpage: www.na.org/servicesystem. 

Traditions Book Project

As you may know, the 2012 World Service Conference approved a project plan for starting work on a Traditions book. The project plan was developed in response to a motion at WSC 2010 and the results of our 2011 Fellowshipwide literature survey, which identified a Traditions book as a priority literature project.

Our literature survey made it clear that members have a number of ideas about what a Traditions book should be, and not all those ideas are the same. The Tradition Book Project focus for the 2012–2014 conference cycle will be to gather ideas and source material for the book and work toward identifying Fellowship consensus about what the book should look like.

To get this discussion started, we are offering a handful of resources:

1. Session profile and PowerPoint presentation for local workshops
2. Online submission area for workshop responses
3. Traditions Book Project discussion board to be launched in early 2013

These are some of the strategies we’ll be using, and they can all be accessed through the project page at www.na.org/traditions. We hope that you’ll share this link with interested members in your community so that we can come together and create the best book possible! Please direct your input—as well as any source materials you have, such as worksheets used with sponsors/sponsees—to  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

WCNA

We will have more information about the convention very soon. You can also watch the convention webpage for updates: www.na.org/wcna. We expect this event to go on sale in December 2012. 

New Publications

Just a friendly reminder that the Sixth Edition Basic Text, It Works: How and Why, and Sponsorship are available in electronic format from Amazon for Kindle, http://tinyurl.com/clolgzl, and iBooks on the Apple iOS platform through the iTunes store @ http://tinyurl.com/9zj5f3x.

Reaching Out

Reaching Out!  Whether you are an NA member, a professional who works with recovering addicts, an incarcerated member or a member who provides Hospital and Institution service, this NA World Services newsletter may be a resource for you. Reaching Out in its design helps incarcerated addicts connect to the NA program of recovery, enhances H&I efforts and offers experience from members who successfully transitioned from the ‘inside’ to be productive members of society.

Read more...