Being sober and avoiding relapse means having to make the hard calls. This might include something such as removing a toxic relationship from your life or going to different places to avoid the temptation. Learning relapse prevention skills are an integral part of recovery. It is said in recovery that someone with an “attitude of gratitude” is someone who will stay sober for a lifetime.

Following this a decisional matrix can be drawn where pros and cons of continuing or abstaining from substance are elicited and clients’ beliefs may be questioned6. Get professional help, and care for yourself during your recovery. The more committed you are to the process, the more likely you’ll be to succeed.

Relapse Prevention Strategies and Techniques for Addiction

Learning coping skills for relapse prevention can be a crucial part of an addiction aftercare program that helps reduce the chances of a destructive backslide. During rehabilitation for addiction, individuals learn that there are triggers to avoid and things that will pull us down and prevent our success. Relapse happens when a person that was faced with addiction to drugs or alcohol once again falls into substance abuse after a period of sobriety.

• Relapse is always a threat, waiting to catch you off guard and drag you back down into your addiction.
• Medley graduated from Texas Tech University as a member of the Collegiate Recovery Community at the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
• However, you’re inadvertently placing yourself at risk for a relapse.
• By the time most individuals seek help, they have already tried to quit on their own and they are looking for a better solution.
• Research shows that social support indicates long-term success, while peer pressure and unsupportive relationships can lead to relapse.
• Cravings occur because the human brain has remarkable powers of association.

After a year of work in the chemical dependency field, Stephanie went on to graduate with a Masters in Couple, Marriage and Family Therapy (with a focus in Addiction in the Family) in 2018. After receiving support from countless loving individuals during her struggle with mental illness, it has been Stephanie’s mission to extend the same level of compassion and care to her clients. She believes counseling is a way for individuals, couples and families to share their experiences and pain, and find ways to transform their darkness into light. Stephanie is especially interested in working with adolescents and adults struggling with addiction and substance abuse, at-risk populations, and couples/families. She works from a systemic perspective with all clients; meaning she gathers information about all areas of an individual’s life to assess needs and the effects that each area may have on the others.

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Mental or emotional elements such as stress, anxiety, or dealing with a difficult time can trigger someone to want to use drugs. Environmental elements such as being in a place where drugs or alcohol are being used can also be a common trigger that can lead to relapse. Second, mind-body relaxation helps individuals let go of negative thinking such as dwelling on the past or worrying about the future, which are triggers for relapse.

That said, now you are really one step ahead of relapse and addiction altogether. You know that you have kicked the deadly habit once and you can do it again. You know the feeling of being clear-headed and you have the skills to achieve your goals. You now have the opportunity to better your odds of staying sober with coping skills to prevent another relapse. Take what you know now and move forward with this as a lesson, a lesson of what to avoid next time.

Stages of Relapse

She has been employed part-time with Stages of Recovery since February 2019 as a Mental Health Counselor, co-leading early recovery groups and taking on individual clients. Ashley relapse prevention skills works full-time at Hospice of Lubbock as a medical social worker. Ashley and her husband Paul, have four daughters, Sophie, Harper, Sawyer, and Bowen and a dog named Lincoln.

• Eventually, Anthony found himself homeless and broken spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
• A relapse is the term used when someone ceases to maintain their intent to abstain from the use of drugs and/or alcohol that they determined to harm their lives.
• His focus in the company is to make sure that the activities stay true to the spirit of recovery and the mission and vision of the company.
• The tasks of this stage are similar to the tasks that non-addicts face in everyday life.
• Identifying early warning signs allows for early intervention and can help an individual prevent or minimize a relapse.
• Before getting to a full-blown relapse, however, a person may experience a lapse, described as the initial use of a substance after a period of recovery.4 The late addiction researcher G.
• For that reason, some experts prefer not to use the term “relapse” but to use more morally neutral terms such as “resumed” use or a “recurrence” of symptoms.

Social support from friends and family, support groups and therapy is also a positive step for individuals both in early sobriety and throughout recovery. Being mindful of moods and thought patterns is a good way to know when to reach out. Learning to ask for help from trusted sources allows for the chance to redirect negative thinking by being open to another point of view. To understand the importance of self-care, it helps to understand why most people use drugs and alcohol. It helps to acknowledge these benefits in therapy so that individuals can understand the importance of self-care and be motivated to find healthy alternatives. They want to prove that they have control over their addiction and they are not as unhealthy as people think.