A challenge for sex addicts who may be doing offending sexual behavior is there is no obvious pathway for resources for addiction recovery. Some addicts may be reluctant to confide to a therapist for fear that they might be subject to mandatory reporting. In California, the The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act obligates therapists to inform on a patient who has knowingly downloaded, streamed, or accessed child pornography using a computer. This law effectively precludes reaching out to therapist for treatment to control an addiction to child porn. As discussed in the Court House News Service, the act may actually undermine attempts to reduce online sexual offenders by limiting access to therapeutic support, and begs the identification of other routes for recovery.
A New York Times article revealed that tech companies reported 45 million online videos and photos of child sexual abuse last year. With the pervasiveness of online pornography and anonymous chatting there are likely many many addicts caught in an addiction, seeking help, but have no obvious avenues for support.
Twelve-Step Addiction Recovery as Support for Sex Addicts
Twelve-step addiction programs can interrupt offending behaviors for many addicts. The fellowship with other addicts combats loneliness which was a common trigger to offending sexual behavior.
There are variations in twelve-step programs for sex addiction including Sex Addicts Anonymous (See https://saa-recovery.org), Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (See https://slaafws.org/) and Sexaholics Anonymous (See https://www.sa.org/). Fellowship brings shared knowledge of additional support resources. Twelve-step programs offer capacity to help cure offending behavior that otherwise would be unaddressed given the legal system addresses a small portion of offenders.
Addiction Recovery as Part of Community Policing
Why couldn’t sex recovery and other addiction resources be offered on community policing webpages? Community policing is a component to most police departments, and within a city offer resources to bring preemptive support to reduce criminal offenses.
Offering community resources for addiction is consistent with the direction of the Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (PAARI, see https://paariusa.org). PAARI acknowledged the relevance of bringing resources to prevent offending behavior prior to its occurring, and seemingly bring resources to those that may have slipped into offending behavior. However as I surveyed web content at PAARI, and further community policing resources, I did not find webpages to addiction resources.
Building Model Web Content for Addiction Resources
A representative web page for community policing shows how critical resources are presented including sexual assault, theft, suicide and scams. Lacking on the resource page are any resources for addiction. The figure below shares content of the community resource webpage and invites the inclusion of a new tab for Addiction Resources.
Through a web page tab for Addiction Resource, resource referrals for alcohol, narcotic and sex addiction can be suggested. This link (Download as PDF) provides proposed content including headings, text for addiction resources, and hyperlinks.Search Engine Optimization (SEO) resources are offered to enhance the discovery of the resources and include Keywords and Description metadata.
A common theme to the proposed addiction resources is reliance on twelve-step recovery. Following the twelve-step model of Alcohol Anonymous, there are twelve steps meetings for narcotics and sex addiction. Online twelve-step meetings are ubiquitous bringing twelve step resources to any jurisdiction. Twelve-step recovery includes fellowship with other addicts, and can bring forward other community resources such as therapy to aid the addict in their recovery journey.
This is one step to shift more addicts from adverse acting out behavior toward recovery. Beyond community policing websites, this model web site content could be shared to other organizations such as churches or community service organizations.