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Meetings

GPI OA has about 40 meetings within our intergroup area.* Each meeting occurs weekly, is one hour long unless otherwise noted, and is non-smoking. Many Face-To-Face meetings are wheelchair accessible; please confirm wheelchair access info with the meeting contact person before attending.

Please note that there is no limit to how many meetings you can attend. Many members have found that attending more than one meeting a week has helped them to get and stay abstinent.

If you can’t find a Face-To-Face meeting in your area, or need more meetings than your area offers, consider an online, telephone meeting, or non real time meeting. These meetings can be located at the appropriate link on the Find a Meeting page on the main OA website (www.oa.org). These are a great resource when face-to-face meetings can’t be found in your area, you find yourself homebound, or just you just need additional support. You can find some additional options on our Homebound Support page.

If you will be observing an OA meeting, we ask that you first read our Observers' Etiquette.

In accordance with our traditions, our meeting list is only to be used to find meetings, not for any solicitations or other purpose.

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Meeting Changes

Please send any meeting changes or announcements to webmaster@gpioa.org.

  • Effective immediately, the Sunday 6:30p Monroeville meeting is closed (permanently canceled)
  • Starting October 3rd, the Tuesday 7:15p Mt Lebanon meeting will return Face to Face (as a hybrid Zoom meeting) at Bower Hill Community Church, 70 Moffett St, Pittsburgh PA 15243; please contact Linda J at 412-996-5678 for further information

If you'd like to start a new meeting, please see Start a New Meeting.

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Holiday Schedules

Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and may not reflect current COVID-19 status. For meetings not listed here which meet on or near a given holiday, please call the meeting contact for details.

Please send any upcoming holiday meeting information to webmaster@gpioa.org.

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Etiquette for Observers at OA Meetings (compiled by members of GPIOA)

The members of Greater Pittsburgh Intergroup of Overeaters Anonymous welcome visitors to OPEN meetings. You may wish to attend to learn about OA to complete a school assignment, to expand your professional knowledge, or to support a loved one.

However, as per our Twelve Traditions, in particular tradition #6, Overeaters Anonymous does not affiliate in any way with outside organizations. Therefore, you may not attend any OA meeting for the purpose of recruiting people for any purpose, either for profit -- such as looking for new clients for your business -- or non profit -- such as looking for research study participants.

We ask that you observe the following courtesies:

  • Confirm in advance that the meeting is an OPEN meeting. Members of open meetings have decided by group conscience to welcome anyone who is interested in the OA program for any reason. Every OA meeting has at least one contact person whom you can call to confirm that the meeting is OPEN and, if possible, set the date you plan to visit.
  • If you are attending as part of a class assignment, do not assume your class can attend the meeting as a group. Rather, call the meeting contact person to see how many students the meeting can accomodate at one time, and plan accordingly.
  • Please identify yourself as a visitor or observer before (or as soon as) the meeting begins.
  • Remember that you are observing an anonymous 12-step meeting, and that the principle of ANONYMITY is the bedrock of our program. If you are attending to complete a school assignment, for example, we ask that you not use names in your report. Neither audio nor image recording of any kind are permitted in OA meetings.

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Start a Meeting

If you're interested in starting a new meeting, please see the following links for helpful information:

  • Start a New Meeting
  • Meeting Formats under "Categories" select "Meeting Formats"
    Meeting Formats include the following readings: Abridged Tools of Recovery, Our Invitation to You, 12 Steps, 12 Traditions

Members of GPI who have started long lasting (ten years or more) urban or suburban Face to Face meetings have some additional suggestions:

  • Consider open days/times on the meeting list in your area
  • Consider how the new meeting will impact existing meetings during that time in the same geographical area
  • A minimum of 3 people who currently attend other meetings (virtual or Face to Face) and are committed to the new meeting are needed
  • Decide on a day and time before looking for possible meeting places
  • When considering meeting places, keep in mind the following factors:
    • wheelchair accessibility (including the bathrooms)
    • parking availability
    • adequate air conditioning
    • public transportation access
    • can the group store their materials on site, or will you have to bring them back and forth every week?
    • cost of the space (even if a facility offers a meeting room for free, the 7th tradition requires that a meeting make some kind of donation for the use of the space)
  • Once you've found a meeting place that is available on the desired meeting day at the desired meeting time, determine a start date for your meeting
  • Let GPI know about your meeting by emailing webmaster@gpioa.org with all the details so that we can post it on our website
  • Have a great meeting!

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Cancel a Meeting

Sometimes there is no longer enough support for a meeting and it is time for that group to close permanently. Given the lack of guidance in OA literature regarding proper procedure when closing a meeting, GPI suggests that, should a meeting need to dissolve, the group conscience consider the following:

  1. Who will notify GPI and the World Service Office (WSO) that the group is disbanding as of a given date?
  2. Who will distribute the group’s funds to the meeting place for any rent due, or to GPI, Region 7 and WSO for final contributions?
  3. Additional issues for Face to Face meetings:
    • Who will notify the meeting place that the group is disbanding as of a given date?
    • Will the group donate any leftover literature to GPI or another local meeting?
    • Who will return any keys to the meeting place?

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* The geographic area of Greater Pittsburgh intergroup consists of portions of Western PA (Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Somerset, Venango, Washington, and Westmoreland counties), the western WV panhandle and portions of northwest WV (Brooke, Hancock, Harrison, Marion, Marshall, Monongalia, Ohio, and Taylor counties), and bordering portions of OH (western Belmont and Jefferson counties).
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