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What is North Texas Intergroup? (formerly CSG)

North Texas CoDA Intergroup is the Community Service Group for North Texas CoDA.  In 2023, we celebrate our 35th year in North Texas!   

North Texas Intergroup contributes to our CoDA community by providing many services to our local groups throughout North Texas. We are also here to help new meetings get started, so please contact us if you are ready to start a new meeting.

Intergroup supports your recovery and your local meetings in the following ways:

  • Tools to help you learn and work the steps (Recovery Tools page)
  • Online Newcomer Meetings
  • Sponsorship Meetings to help members find a sponsor or learn to become one
  • Step Studies & Tradition Studies
  • Literature meetings – enhancing recovery through CoDA literature
  • Speaker Meetings
  • CoDA Parties
  • CoDA Outreach
  • We share information that helps foster CoDA recovery
  • Meeting Resources to help support your meeting – Meeting Resources
    • Meeting participant booklets & facilitator guide
    • Meeting Service Roles
    • Accepting electronic donations
    • Group Chat
    • Group Conscience
    • Dealing with Disagreement
    • Restoring order
    • Hybrid meetings
    • Group Inventory
    • We also help new meetings get started, so please contact us if you are ready to start a new meeting.
  • We attend State CoDA meetings to provide a voice at the State and international level of CoDA.  Anyone is welcome to attend the State meetings held twice a year, in Spring and Fall.
  • If your meeting has an issue that you would like to be presented for consideration to the CoDA International Service Conference, please bring that to the attention of CoDA Texas at the Spring meeting. They can then present it to conference through a procedure called a Voting Entity Issue.
  • Previously, we were asked to mediate a difficult situation within a group. We came up with a plan and provided support in the mediation process.

How is Intergroup Organized?

We work closely with CoDA Texas www.codatexas.org to support CoDA local meetings. Currently, we have a board consisting of a Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary as well as a number of volunteers who each contribute in helping to make North Texas CoDA a success.  Ideally, we would have Group Reps or Contacts from each CoDA meeting attend our Quarterly Meetings to provide input and ideas.  We elect officers every two years including a Chair or Co-Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. 

CoDA History

Co-Dependents Anonymous was founded by Ken and Mary Richardson and the first CoDA meeting attended by 30 people was held October 22, 1986 in Phoenix, Arizona. 

In  February 1987, two Individuals who attended therapy in Phoenix learned of CoDA and brought the information back to Dallas.  They started the Central Group, (Unitarian Church; Preston Road and Normandy) which became the first Dallas home group. Shortly thereafter, the Safe Haven group opened at Northaven and Preston Road. The Park Cities Group then opened in the basement at Park Cities Baptist Church and had a robust turnout weekly.  It was started by Charles D (a major contributor to CoDA) and a therapist.  The first standalone facility was called the Central Club which also involved Charles D and Rosemary as organizers. This group originally located near Central Expressway (between Forest and Royal) was instrumental in creating and distributing CoDA literature for all groups including groups outside of Texas. Charles D created a committee (including Dan, Cindi, Rosemary and others) which was known as Texas Literature Corporation.  They created the original Newcomer’s Handbook as well as other CoDA literature. Their success caught the attention of CoDA Inc. and eventually became CoRE Publications.

The awareness of Codependency by the public became more commonplace due in part to two key people.  John Bradshaw, an American educator, counselor, motivational speaker, and author who hosted a number of PBS television programs on topics such as addiction, recovery, codependency, and spirituality published his first book: The Family.  Melody Beattie helped popularize the concept of codependency in 1986 with the book Codependent No More which sold eight million copies. This contributed to the general emergence for the idea that addiction to a person (who was addicted to a substance or a behavioral process) was a possibility. As a result of this awareness, CoDA meetings began to flourish. (The concept of codependency has since expanded to include patterns of unhealthy behaviors as a result of exposure to dysfunctional environments.)

In 1989, North Texas CoDA Intergroup was organized by Beverly M and others at the Irving Hospital. This was the first coordinated effort to provide support to the CoDA community outside of individual home groups.  Intergroup was very active at providing area wide events allowing all groups to participate. The CSG Intergroup is still active today and has expanded to include groups from El Paso to Tyler, and from Waco to Denton. 

In 1995, Beverly M and others participated on the board that created and published the main CoDA Book “Co-Dependents Anonymous” as well as other new literature to be distributed via CoRE Publications.

By 1993, CoDA was flourishing in North Texas including the following groups: Oak Lawn, Mesquite, Richardson, Irving, Plano, Southlake, Grand Prairie, Gaston Lodge, Central 40, Central 41, Garland and Ft Worth.

By 1996, CoDA North Texas expanded to include groups in Paris, Tyler, and Grand Prairie.

Today, North Texas CoDA happily supports both English and Spanish speaking meetings in 14 different cities throughout our proud state.

Intergroup Meeting Coming Soon!  
All CoDA Members welcome!

Intergroup meetings are held quarterly. 
Please see the  Events & Announcemt Page for Meeting Dates & Details