When people are recovering from an addiction, they face many hurdles. Of these hurdles, the temptation to relapse is the hardest to fight off. Temptation can push you to use your drug choice no matter how long you’ve been sober. To help mitigate these temptations, we encourage people to devise a relapse prevention plan. Having a plan in place for relapse prevention is crucial because it prepares you for stress and other triggers. When you face temptations, you’ll already know what to do to overcome them. A relapse prevention plan ensures you are never caught off guard with regard to temptations and triggers. Fresh Start Recovery can help you learn more about relapse prevention and how to make plans for the same.
How to Create a Relapse Prevention Plan
A relapse prevention plan outlines the course of action for dealing with cravings and triggers for drug use. The plan will help anyone who is recovering by pinpointing behavior that may be a sign of relapse in the future. Once you determine these behaviors, you can develop ways of dealing with them. People can choose to create a plan on their own or with assistance from an addiction treatment team. Whatever the case, you can follow the guidelines below for developing a plan.
1. Conduct an Assessment
Conducting an assessment of yourself is the first step towards coming up with a plan. The assessment should focus on your history of alcohol and substance abuse. Try to establish whether there was a time when you were more prone to drug use. During these occasions, were there specific people or factors that pushed you into drug use?
This assessment should also cover the issue of past relapses. If you had relapsed once, try to find out the reasons behind the relapse. Knowing the potential triggers for relapse can greatly help in relapse prevention.
2. Determine the Signs of Relapse
People will exhibit certain signs before they relapse. You can brainstorm about the potential signs of a relapse as a way of developing a plan. Common signs of relapse include an inexplicable change in behavior, thoughts, or feelings that lean more towards drug use.
Once you create a list of these signs, please share them with a professional. This will help the professional to consolidate enough information for your relapse prevention.
3. Develop an Action Plan
An action plan should outline what you would do in case you experience cravings for drug use. The plan should also outline ways of coping with scenarios that might lead you to drug use. For instance, a breakup may make you drink as a means of drowning your sorrows. Instead, an action plan will propose that you enroll in an individual therapy program to deal with the pain.
Treatment at Fresh Start Recovery Center
Fresh Start recovery relies on both medication and therapies to accelerate the recovery process. Our plans are diverse to tend to the unique need of every patient.
Some of the programs you can consider for enrollment include:
- Community housing program: Community housing provides a serene environment where patients can recover. The houses will help in relapse prevention as they are devoid of temptations that can act as triggers
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy program: The program will increase your awareness about your behaviors that can trigger a relapse. It will help you modify these behaviors for the better
- Alumni support program: Recovering from addiction alone is not easy. This program offers the support you need to make a full recovery
- Drug addiction treatment program: The program will help you detox and get treatment for a variety of drug addictions
Contact us today to learn more.
Visit Fresh Start Recovery Center for Relapse Prevention Plans
At Fresh Start Recovery Center, relapse prevention plans are at the heart of each of our addiction treatment programs. In providing a plan to prevent the return to drug or alcohol use, we do our best to provide the tools our clients need to remain in recovery long-term. We also provide a range of therapeutic options to support each client’s recovery, including:
- Family therapy
- Individual therapy
- Group therapy
- Trauma therapy
When you are recovering from an addiction, there is always the possibility that you can relapse. Fortunately, you can put mechanisms in place for relapse prevention. Our team can help you develop a comprehensive relapse prevention plan. This is because they understand all the complexities surrounding addiction and relapses. Visit or contact Fresh Start Recovery Center at 833.625.0398 for more information on how to develop a relapse prevention plan for yourself.
