Are there any rules about how to find a sponsor?

[bluidkiti]

I took the portion that was given to me and gave it to him. The Babylonian Talmud

Newcomer
Are there any rules about how to find a sponsor?

Sponsor
Some meetings have interim sponsorship programs. An interim sponsor works with a newcomer temporarily--a few weeks to a few months--while he or she looks for a regular long-term sponsor. Sometimes, an interim sponsor becomes a newcomer's regular sponsor, if they both agree to it.
Long-term sponsorship is a relationship of trust, one that's likely to have a significant impact on the process of recovery. It's not a good idea to choose impulsively. When we attend meetings, we listen closely as people qualify or share. We'll hear people who have the serenity and sober experiences we ourselves want. If we hear someone we think we'd like to ask to be our sponsor, we try phoning or going out for coffee with him or her first. We take a little time. We soon know whether or not we have the willingness to share and to listen. We sense whether this is someone whose guidance we can trust.
Sponsors should have a minimum of one year of recovery. It's suggested that a sponsor's gender not be that of his or her sponsee's sexual preference; for example, heterosexual women generally shouldn't choose a heterosexual male sponsor. It's a suggestion, not a rule, meant to keep the way clear, s that sponsors and sponsees don't get distracted from their goal. The goal is continued, quality recovery--for both the sponsor and the sponsee.

Today,
I welcome a sponsor-sponsee relationship that encourages and supports my recovery.

If You Want What We Have

[MajestyJo]

When I came into recovery, it was suggested to me to find someone who had what I wanted. It was also important to find someone who identified with me. When I got a woman sponsor in NA, she said she couldn`t relate to me because I didn`t do street drugs. I always knew I was an addict, some is good, more is better, no matter what my drug of choice is in today. Every time that old stinking thinking creeps in, I know it is time to work my program, and calling my sponsor is a part of that.

I let her go as a sponsor and continued using the gentleman who was my spiritual advisor, and though he knew the NA program and was an addict, he chose to get his recovery in AA.

I found it was necessary to find someone I felt comfortable sharing with. My sponsor travels a lot and not always available, but when we connect, we just pick up where we left off.

I was told there were no rules, they were just suggestions, but I found them to be darn well betters or I found myself falling back instead of moving forward in my recovery.