Unfortunately, SMA only have about 17 face to face meetings dotted about America, if you’re lucky enough to live near one, go to one, get a sponsor, work the steps.
For the rest of us, trying to work the program on 3 online meetings a week can seem a bit impossible.
I believe the meetings and members provide us all with enough support to get and stay self injury free, and just hanging out in the realm and talking to other members of 12 step programs can teach us a bunch of useful tools and spiritual principles but when it comes down to actually working the 12 steps, the problem is we don’t really have any literature, and we don’t have any available sponsors to guide us through the steps.
Bummer. 
The good news is, there are allot of programs around that you might find you’re eligible to attend!
Some of us are lucky(?) Enough to be in NA or AA as well as SMA so we can work the steps with our sponsor for that fellowship (self injury is only mentioned in the 1st step after all) and use the SMA meetings to relate with other SI people.
Have a look and see what there is, maybe you would benefit from a sponsor in a program for eating disorders or survivors of incest, maybe Al-anon... there’s a wealth of them!
Other groups that you might want to check out are All Addictions Anonymous and Emotions Anonymous. But if you do turn up at your local AA meeting saying that you’re in recovery, I should imagine they’re unlikely to turn you away, is worth a try.
If you can attend any of these face to face meetings, it’s a perfect place to look for a sponsor. You may find that SI is more common than you think. Remember, the more SMA members we have working the steps, the more sponsors will be available for online members, the more face to face meetings will get started, the more people we reach and our program will grow. Its starts with the individual reaching out.
It’s recommended that we choose a sponsor of the same gender, someone who has strong recovery, has worked the steps at least once and is available and committed to work with you, even if they have no direct experience with SI.
Different people will give you different advice about choosing a sponsor but we are unlikely to be in the situation where we can afford to be picky.
My best suggestion is to choose someone who is where you want to be, when you find that person, go ahead and ask them. the worst that can happen is they say no and that way you’re no worse off than you were.
I also think it’s important to remember that your recovery is your responsibility, don’t assume your sponsor is going to hunt you down and spoon feed you the steps, you may very well have to instigate it. Also, your sponsor is not a therapist just like the SMA meetings aren’t group therapy. Stick around, read your programs literature (there’s plenty on the internet) and find out what you can.
The only bad questions are the ones not asked.
love Mercy
P.S We also have volunteers looking to start up 2 new online meetings, its growth people!
p.p.s dont ask me, I havent completed the steps yet.
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