The General Service Association of Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous - General Information

The General Service Association (GSA) of ABA is a non-profit society incorporated under the Societies Act of the Province of Alberta in 2003. It consists of a Board of Directors elected for a two-year term by ABA members at the Annual General Meeting in March. The Board includes between seven and twenty Directors, roughly half of whom are ABA members. Ideally, the other half are people from outside ABA, some of whom have experience in other 12-Step Fellowships. Each individual brings their own unique perspective, skills, and talents to the Board.

ABA itself is governed by the same 12 Traditions that have allowed Alcoholics Anonymous to be a continuously successful entity since 1935. The GSA was created as a

service board in the spirit of Tradition 9 (“ABA, as such, ought never be organized; but

we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.”).

The GSA operates in adherence to the 12 Traditions and in light of the “inverted pyramid” service structure of Alcoholics Anonymous, which means the Board functions

as the servant of ABA. ABA Groups all over the world voice their needs and wishes to the

Board through a committee of their elected General Service Representatives (GSR

Committee). The GSA is responsible for making financial and other organizational

decisions for the well-being of ABA as a whole. It is also responsible for the smooth and

efficient operation of ABA’s World Service Office, located in Edmonton.

Upon election, every new Board member receives a package containing the GSA bylaws,

terms of reference of the standing GSA Committees, and a background document

detailing the history of ABA and the evolution of the General Service Association. The GSA is vital to the future of Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous. It functions as the hub, the central “nerve centre” supporting ABA Groups scattered around the world. Without a strong and healthy GSA and the Central Office it maintains, ABA could not possibly remain unified, and, without unity, the Fellowship of ABA itself would disintegrate.