Exercise # 8. Building a Long-Term Sobriety Plan To continue working at your sobriety, it is important to have a specific sobriety plan to follow after completing a rehabilitation program for alcoholism and/or drug dependence. This plan involves identifying specific steps you will take to not use alcohol or drugs, changes you need to make, and recovery resources you will use to help you. It is important to accept the fact that recovery is a long-term, painful process requiring you to take a close look at yourself. Below is a list of recovery resources which you can use to help you in your continued work towards sobriety. Check the ones you feel you need/at this time -- it is a good idea to review these with another person who is familiar with your addiction. 1. Out patient counseling,for self and/or family . Date of appointment:. Place: 2. Meetings: Number of times each week LOCATION DAY/TIMS OF MEETING 3. Alanon/Naranon/Alateen meetings for family members. LOCATION DAY/TIKE OF MEETING 4 Halfway house or therapeutic community. 5 Finding an AA/NA sponsor by: 6 Working the twelve step program of AA/NA. 7 Vocational counseling or training. 8 Reading recovery literature; Big Book (of AA/KA), Twenty-Four Hours A Day, Living Sober; etc. (see Suggested Readings, Appendix A) 9 Antabuse therapy. 10 Other: What other specific steps will you take to help you maintain your sobriety and resolve your problems? List these below: 1.. 2. 3. 4. 5. EMERGENCY SOBRIETY CARD You may find it helpful to carry an "emergency sobriety card" in your wallet or purse which contains a list of others who are concerned with helping you stay sober and phone numbers where they can be reached, when you feel your sobriety is threatened and that it would be helpful to talk with someone, that is the time to rely on your sobriety card. It is helpful to have a minimum of five to ten people you may call on. List below five specific people whom you feel you could depend on for the help and their phone numbers: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5 LIFESTYLE BALANCING AND SOBRIETY Recovery from alcohol and drug problems requires you to both abstain from mood altering drugs and to make changes in your life. The specific areas you change will depend on your unique situation, but healthy recovery should involve a reasonable "balance" in the different areas of your life. Review the following areas to determine which one you may need to change: 1. Continued Treatment. Plan for continued treatment for your alcohol and/or drug problem. This includes participation in AA/NA counseling or other special services. Your family should also be involved as needed. 2. Physical Health. Maintain your physical health through proper nutrition and eating habits, physical exercise and proper rest as well as regular physical and'dental examinations. 3. Recreation/Leisure. 'Interests which are constructive and do not evolve around alcohol or drug use need to be developed. You need to have fun and enjoy a variety of recreational and social activities. 4. Relationships. Personal relationships with others such as family members, friends, and others should be nurtured. When possible work on "caking amends" to those people whom you feel you hurt as a result of your addiction. Develop new relationships with sober people. Eliminate friendships with people- who pose a threat to your sobriety. 5. Work or School. Developing occupational or educational goals suited to your abilities and interests is very important. 6. Spirituality. Maintain your unique relationship with God or your "higher power;" use meditation or prayer or by participating in your religious faith. 7. Psychological Health. Improving how you feel about yourself by making positive changes in yourself; changing negative thought patterns or negative behavior patterns; expressing your feelings to others in appropriate ways; coping with problems and stresses in positive ways; rewarding yourself for staying sober; and taking regular inventories of your strengths and weaknesses to determine which areas you need to change. Review each of these seven areas as they relate to your life at the present time. Which areas are out of "balance" and need work? List below two areas which you feel you need to begin changing and three specific steps you can take to begin this process: 1. A. B. C. 2. A. B. C CASE EXAMPLES: Joe is a 48 year old Catholic, married, father of two daughters who has had an alcoholism problem for about four years. When his drinking became problematic he decreased his church attendance and stopped attending other church functions. He feels a very important part of his recovery is to become active again in practicing his religious beliefs and to attend weekly services with his family. He will also attempt to get reinstated on the church fund raising committee which he had been part of for years preceding alcoholism. Judy is a 55 year old, widowed, mother of three children and grandmother of four who works part-time. She has an alcohol ar.d drag problem for the past ten years and as a result, decreased her socializing and spent more of her time alone watching TV. Since being sober and being involved in recovery, she has identified the need to improve her leisure time activities and improve her relationships with her family. She will take the following steps: rejoin the YWCA and swim twice per week; call members of her old card club and attempt to rejoin; talk with her three adult children about her addiction and her recovery program, and invite them to attend family education and counseling sessions, an open AA meeting, and Alanon meetings; and plan weekly activities with her children and grandchildren in an attempt to establish new; positive relationships with them. |
| Bill W AND FRIENDS.COM, P.A. |
| The ULTIMATE Source for Holistic Recovery of Health and Transformation for Mind, Body and Spirit |