Relapse Prevention

Addictive behaviors are at an all-time high, driven in large part by COVID-related restrictions from the past 2 years. A recent study (McKinsey COVID-19 Consumer Survey, 3/29/2020) found that:

• 1 in 4      people reported binge drinking at least once in the past week.
• 1 out      of 5 people reported taking prescription drugs for non-medical reasons.
• 1 out      of 7 people reported using illicit drugs.

More than ever, we are a people in crisis. Stress and anxiety related to lock downs and openings and the related impacts on employment, parenting, schooling and day-to-day life are at all-time peaks. People who are prone to choose substances to ease their anxiety are even more susceptible to do so than they were pre-COVID. 

As this instability spills over, those who were on the path to recovery are also challenged. Ending reliance on alcohol or chemicals has always been a long, complex process. Today it is even more so. Addiction seeps into every part of a person's life, affecting family relationships, work, friendships and the whole of their activities. The path to recovery is as rugged as ever as you know.

Consider these facts:

• 40-60% of people in recovery relapse at least once.

               (JAMA, 284; 1684-1695, 2000)

• The rate of relapse occurrences is increasing post-COVID.

               (Cenikor Foundation, 2020)

• The number of recovery attempts increases when psychological stress is higher.      (Recovery Research Institute, 2019)

Complete recovery most often takes 5 attempts, according to a recent study (Recovery Research Institute, 2019).

Our Managing Your World resources offer you a complete, well-written, and ready-to-go Relapse Prevention Program for use by providers of recovery treatment and services.

Relapse happens -- not to everyone, and not always. But relapse is not unusual, especially if someone stops following their treatment plan. When it does happen, it's more helpful to focus on how to respond to it rather than to become discouraged or fixate on the relapse itself.

An effective way of handling the possibility of relapse is to plan for it. A relapse prevention plan is an important step in overall recovery. A relapse prevention plan puts down in writing the factors that could lead to relapse and how to respond to each one. Those factors can include how to handle:

• Stress generally
• Finances
• Family
• Relationships
• Work
• Sights, sounds and smells
• Other things that could raise anxiety

As a provider of recovery support services (counselor, advisor, sponsor, coach…) the more support resources you have available the better you can help guide your participants to leading a healthy life.

There are multiple support resources categories.

One area of support resources are curriculum and content focused on Relapse Prevention.

These resources are the focus of Recovery Support Network. 

We are a team that understands the nature of addiction and the barriers to recovery. With that, our passion is on identifying best practices and creating support materials to assist providers in helping their participants on their path to recovery.
 

We have formed the Recovery Support Network to pull together others like ourselves so that together we can assist providers to help their participants diminish relapse occurrences and achieve their recovery goals.
 

Our offerings in this quest are Managing Your World, Relapse Prevention Teacher's Guides and In-Person Engagement Workbooks for participants both Standard and With Devotionals.  Using applied learning principles to focus on improved recovery outcomes.
 

The Managing Your World curriculum and content combine lived experiences personal stories with activities and reflective thinking to address various challenges that, left unchecked, can sidetrack recovery.
 

Managing Your World curriculum and content already are being adopted as a companion to the individual and group supports that are important to successful recovery.