Public Information & Professional Outreach (PIPO)

PIPO’s responsibility is to coordinate the efforts of OA groups and Intergroups to carry the message of recovery to the public and the professional community; which can include: hospitals, institutions, professionals, and the military (active duty personnel and dependents).  PIPO also encourages and assists groups and Intergroups to make the public aware of Overeaters Anonymous through print and broadcast media, participation in community health fairs, and any other public means.

Learn More About PIPO

 

Ideas for PIPO

 

Assistance with PIPO

Our Primary Purpose: Carry the Message

OA Intergroups, Meeting Groups and Individual Members Can “Carry the Message.”

Overeaters Anonymous offers a solution for compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors. A common saying is “It works if you work it!” But for a solution to work, first “the message” must be heard.

In OA, intergroups, meeting groups and individual members are becoming involved in Public Information and Professional Outreach (PIPO) works in a number of fun and effective ways.

The Region 8 PIPO committee encourages and supports all efforts to carry the message of our solution to compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors through the 12 Steps, 12 Traditions and 9 tools of OA. The following are some PIPO ideas that have worked in our Region, and we invite you and your OA intergroup and meeting groups to adapt these ideas to your community and then share the results with this Region 8 committee.

 

  • Gold Coast IG (South Florida) made contact with addiction and behavioral health therapists. Awareness of the OA program with short presentation was given to 40 attendees. Networking followed with many of the attendees.
  • Pinellas Traditions IG (Pinellas County, FL) regularly posts listings announcing their local meetings on an online Classified list.
  • North Florida Intergroup (Northeast Florida area) wrote news releases for two events, a PIPO event and an OA convention, that resulted in a newspaper story and radio interview respectively.
  • Bogota Columbia IG introduced OA to health and health Education professionals: Bogota OA members personally invited professionals to this event. A two-hour presentation of the OA recovery program, the steps, tools, personal stories, a pod cast and Q&A, was made to approximately 30 in attendance. All materials were translated into Spanish. A binder with information and a directory to contact groups in Bogota was given to all who attended. Bogota IG has kept in touch and is working with many of the professionals from the event. An additional presentation was made at the office of the Health Secretary of Bogota and to 10 psychologists that give support to children and adolescents that call the government’s special designated phone line that was established to promote health and to prevent violence.

PIPO Efforts Can Be Simple and Effective

A PIPO campaign can be simple and still be effective. Sometimes it’s not about hosting a single, large event. Often it’s about consistency of effort. We are encouraged in OA to “Keep Coming Back!” (Overeaters Anonymous, 2nd ed., p. 26). We may apply this same philosophy of consistency and perseverance to our PIPO work. Here are some simple efforts that, if applied consistently, have proven effective:

  • Placing OA Bulletin Board Attraction Sticky Notes (OA bookstore product #440W) in one’s local community. These sticky notes contain a place to list a local meeting. Intergroups may wish to list a meeting with a newcomer focus.
  • Giving a copy of When Should I Refer Someone to Overeaters Anonymous to one’s doctor or other healthcare professional.
  • Circulating public information posters (PI Posters) in one’s community. World Service has made available an assortment of colorful, professionally designed public information posters that may help carry the message to those who still suffer. Many coffee shops, grocery stores, laundry mats, libraries, gyms, churches and other locations have bulletin boards perfect for posting these attractive flyers.
  • Encouraging PIPO service work at the group and intergroup level by supporting current PIPO efforts and giving service with a PIPO committee, if possible. Service is a powerful tool and many of us have found our recovery strengthened through PIPO work.

OA is a program of action. For Today, page 278, states, “I cannot expect the difficulties of life to be erased because I wish it.” Likewise, the message of OA cannot be carried through wishing and wanting. With prayer, meditation and the OA program and Fellowship, intergroups, meeting groups and individual members can “carry the message” to those who still suffer.

Your Region 8 PIPO committee is here to support local efforts. Please let us know what PIPO campaigns and efforts have worked for you and your OA groups and intergroup.

OA Tradition Five: “Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the compulsive overeater who still suffers.”

Request for Reports about PIPO Projects that Work!

Greetings to All Intergroup Chairs in Region 8!

We are your newest Region 8 PIPO Committee. We are excited, not only to have the opportunity to serve in this extraordinary way, but also to join with each of you to “think outside the box” and develop new ways to share the message of OA to those still suffering.

First, we are happy to let you know the PIPO link, at the Region 8 website, is getting an overhaul. We, as a team, are working towards making our committee website more user-friendly. We are adding links to more detailed information which, hopefully, may be used as a guide to spearhead new ways to share OA’s message throughout your own vicinity.

To that end, we are asking each intergroup to share your experiences in your own PIPO Committees with us. As you share your efforts, please be sure to include details such as exactly what did or did not work well for you. If you have actual templates, letters, or other materials, be certain to share those as well. Within the site, we’ve included a few successful advertising ideas from intergroups, who’ve already communicated information within our region.

Please email to

Additionally, we want you to know some funding is available to assist you in your efforts. The forms are under the link for documents on the Region 8 website.

Looking forward to your reply.

​Robin T.
PIPO Chair​