Building Skills, Awareness, and Support With Relapse Prevention Therapy

• Negative Emotion Triggers — Stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, boredom, and frustration are the most common types of emotions that can trigger a relapse. For a lot of people, using was their way to deal with their emotions. When you experience negative emotions in recovery, you are at risk.
• Environmental and External Cues — People, places, and situations that are associated with prior use will trigger a very strong craving. Exposure to external cues like a neighborhood, social setting, or an individual associated with prior use often takes people by surprise. Every time individuals are exposed to these cues without a clear strategy for dealing with that exposure, they are at a significant risk for relapsing.
• Social Pressure and Conflict — Relationship issues with friends and family, conflict, or social situations where using is considered acceptable create an increased risk. This is especially true if you have an unstable or limited support system.
• Overconfidence — Sometimes people who are doing well in recovery fall into the “I got this” trap. They let their guard down and place themselves in a risky situation without being fully prepared, underestimating the pull of addiction.
• Co-occurring Mental Illness — Untreated mental illness, such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or mood disorders, can intensify emotional pain. Without clinical support, the internal pain from not being treated can be too much to resist self-medicating.
• Major Life Change — An individual going through a major life change, such as job loss, a relationship breakup, a death in the family, or any other major life-changing situation, may become unstable, even if they have been clean. An individual who is still developing coping skills or has a weak support network is at high risk.

Knowing your personal relapse triggers is an important protection. That is exactly what relapse prevention therapy does for you.

• Long-Term Skill Retention: Relapse prevention gives clients the skills and knowledge they need to continue to protect themselves much longer after they leave treatment than treatments that focus only on the acute phase.[5] These tools remain useful for many years after formal treatment ends.
• Success with Dual Diagnosis: Research shows that mindfulness-based relapse prevention has particularly strong results for clients with significant emotional dysregulation and those at risk for stress-related relapse.[6]
• Increased Self-Efficacy: Clients participating in this therapy demonstrate increased confidence in their ability to navigate high-risk situations without substance use, which is one of the strongest predictors of long-term success.[7]

The evidence is clear: people who develop strong relapse prevention skills during treatment are significantly better equipped for the challenges of long-term recovery.

• Individually Customized and Ongoing: We provide personalized therapy to meet each client’s unique triggers and life situations. The plan continues to evolve with you throughout the treatment period.
• Consistent Reinforcement: Each level of care provides consistent opportunities to develop and reinforce relapse prevention skills.
• Grounded in Evidence: Our clinicians utilize techniques including CBT and motivational interviewing, adapting them to the individual plan of care for each client.
• Dual Diagnosis Specialized: For clients with co-occurring disorders, we identify strategies for regulating emotions and managing mental health as part of the primary prevention plan.