In the early 1980s, I attended a presentation on the newest research on relapse prevention. Several of my clients were having difficulty in this area and I was anxious to find a real solution.
The first part of the workshop consisted of a review of current treatment practices and research on relapse rates. The speaker then offered his intervention strategy, a multi-paged assessment tool and reviewed implementation of the program.
During the presentation the speaker provided research results and facts that seemed at odds with my experience as a counselor.Included in these were:
People who exceed the speed limit are in relapse
People who smoke cigarettes are in relapse
Overweight people aren’t in recovery unless they’re on a diet
People who don’t wear seat belts …relapse
You get the idea.
What bothered me more than anything was that there were no conditions placed on the statements. These were absolutes. His belief was that people in recovery should never engage in any of these activities. End of story. This extremism seemed arbitrary and unrealistic.
For a time I used the approach but my clients, mostly young adults, were overwhelmed by the assessment tool and found the “relapse behaviors” a bit silly. They all knew people who were overweight or smoked with years of sobriety. Some had sponsors who drove too fast and didn’t wear seatbelts. And these weren’t the exceptions, more often then not they were the rule.
The one bit of good that came from the workshop was that I had several people who told me: “That won’t work, let me tell you what I really need to do.” This would be the point where we started working on real recovery. My role as a “counselor” whose job was to make things right for my client ended. I suddenly became a co-conspirator, discussing strategies and ideas on how to have an excellent life.
Excellence in recovery is about discovering what each of us as individuals need to work on. In some cases we will find shared problems that respond best to a specific strategy. At other times we will identify unique issues and need to develop a personalized approach. The goal, though, is to grow through this process with the end product being the kind of life we always dreamed of having.
If you’re already working for recovery excellence, congratulations! Prepare for your life to blossom and grow in ways you never imagined. If you’re just getting started, take a look at January 26, 2013 of this blog for a great starting point. Finally, seek out those who are experiencing recovery excellence in their lives. Change really is infectious. By surrounding ourselves with successful happy people we start to learn the strategies and beliefs that make this new life possible.
The first part of the workshop consisted of a review of current treatment practices and research on relapse rates. The speaker then offered his intervention strategy, a multi-paged assessment tool and reviewed implementation of the program.
During the presentation the speaker provided research results and facts that seemed at odds with my experience as a counselor.Included in these were:
People who exceed the speed limit are in relapse
People who smoke cigarettes are in relapse
Overweight people aren’t in recovery unless they’re on a diet
People who don’t wear seat belts …relapse
You get the idea.
What bothered me more than anything was that there were no conditions placed on the statements. These were absolutes. His belief was that people in recovery should never engage in any of these activities. End of story. This extremism seemed arbitrary and unrealistic.
For a time I used the approach but my clients, mostly young adults, were overwhelmed by the assessment tool and found the “relapse behaviors” a bit silly. They all knew people who were overweight or smoked with years of sobriety. Some had sponsors who drove too fast and didn’t wear seatbelts. And these weren’t the exceptions, more often then not they were the rule.
The one bit of good that came from the workshop was that I had several people who told me: “That won’t work, let me tell you what I really need to do.” This would be the point where we started working on real recovery. My role as a “counselor” whose job was to make things right for my client ended. I suddenly became a co-conspirator, discussing strategies and ideas on how to have an excellent life.
Excellence in recovery is about discovering what each of us as individuals need to work on. In some cases we will find shared problems that respond best to a specific strategy. At other times we will identify unique issues and need to develop a personalized approach. The goal, though, is to grow through this process with the end product being the kind of life we always dreamed of having.
If you’re already working for recovery excellence, congratulations! Prepare for your life to blossom and grow in ways you never imagined. If you’re just getting started, take a look at January 26, 2013 of this blog for a great starting point. Finally, seek out those who are experiencing recovery excellence in their lives. Change really is infectious. By surrounding ourselves with successful happy people we start to learn the strategies and beliefs that make this new life possible.
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