The Recovery Maintenance Plan: Much Better Than a Relapse Prevention Plan
Addiction Recovery Maintenance
First Step Outpatient Treatment Services uses the term ”recovery maintenance” in place of “relapse prevention”. Why? Because it fits our recovery model perfectly.
Recovery Maintenance Process
The process that First Step Outpatient Treatment Services suggests is if you focus on maintaining your recovery, you will have less confrontation with your old devils and can worry less about relapse. If you change your lifestyle and make new friends and choices that support you not using drugs or alcohol, it allows you to make better choices for your recovery and much easier to resist bad choices. Recovery maintenance is all about developing a map forward for your life and you can focus more on a wonderful future.
A Great Recovery Maintenance Plan
What a good recovery maintenance plan has is a “what if I relapse” section so you can prepare for relapse. You can’t deny the possibility of relapse and if you do ignore this possibility the outcome may not be good.
If one does does not plan for the possibility of it and then do actually end up relapsing, the relapse is far more likely to be catastrophic if one allows for the possibility of considering what a relapse might look like, planning what you would do if a relapse happens is much more actively positive than thinking “I won’t relapse.” Doing that can set up a preoccupation that can actually generate cravings.
Planning for Relapse in Recovery Maintenance
In addition to actually planning for a potential relapse, developing a robust recovery care plan means putting good ideas and plans into your lifestyle. This would obviously include support groups and regularly scheduled enjoyable things to do. Ensure you put this strategy down in writing and be ready to look at it daily while in recovery.
A Drug free Life
Moving towards a drug-free life takes determination to sustain, but with decent consideration and a plan, it’s the right way to go – you can do it.