Section V: What Is My Personal Plan To Recover? In this section, you will pull together all that you have learned to form relapse prevention strategies. You will also map out a daily plan and inventory for recovery day by day. You have almost completed the workbook. When you do you will be ready to move forward in your ongoing recovery. Exercise No. 25: Relapse Prevention Strategy No. _______________________ Purpose. This exercise will help you to put to use all that you have learned. Instructions. Make four copies of this exercise. Fill out one for each of the worksheets that you completed in Exercise No. 24. Read the exercises and answer the questions on this page and on the top of the next page (up through "When I have these mistaken beliefs, I need to . . ."). Then write the information on a card. Also finish the rest of the questions in this exercise. Read the card every morning before you start your day. Carry the card with you every day so that you can use it to remember how to deal with high-risk situations. Review the information on the card every night. Talk to someone in AA or NA about anything on the card that happened to you that day and how it worked out for you. Make any changes you have to in order to make things work out better. Critical High-Risk Situation ________________________________________________ Summary Title ____________________________________________________________________________ How it happens ____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ When this happens, I need to 1. __________________________________________________________________________________ 2. __________________________________________________________________________________ 3. __________________________________________________________________________________ Mistaken beliefs (mandates and injunctions) it results in 1. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 2. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 3. ___________________________________________________________________________________ When I have these mistaken beliefs, I need to Think: ____________________________________________________________________________________ Feel: _____________________________________________________________________________________ Act: ______________________________________________________________________________________ Three critical warning signs mistaken beliefs cause 1. ________________________________________ 2. ________________________________________ 3. ________________________________________ When these warning signs occur, I need to 1. ________________________________________ 2. ________________________________________ 3. ________________________________________ Summary of Action Plan: Describe how you are going to avoid or handle the critical high-risk situation, correct the mistaken beliefs, and stop the relapse warning signs from getting worse. _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ People who will help me with this plan if I have trouble: Name Telephone Number _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Exercise No. 26: Daily Recovery Plan Purpose. Having a plan for each day will help you to recover and stay in recovery. There are some basic things you can do to recover. Not everyone who recovers does all these things. However, people who have trouble recovering must do them if they want to be successful. Many of these things are simple. While they are important for almost everyone, they are very important for people in recovery. They help to heal the brain damage and other problems that result from drinking and drug use that make it hard to handle your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Instructions. Read the information below. Review it when you make out your daily plan for recovery. 1. Diet: The things you eat and drink can affect the way you think, feel, and act. Sugar, white flour, and caffeine can cause depression, mood swings, and angry feelings. They can cause you to be confused and make you tired. Chemically dependent people should use them only in very small amounts. You should try to eat three small meals and three snacks per day. You should eat fruit, vegetables, whole grain bread and cereal, meat, and dairy products. 2. Vitamins: When you are recovering from chemical dependency, the right kinds of vitamins can improve the way you think, feel, and act. It is a good idea to take vitamin B complex or a stress formula tablet daily. 3. Meetings: Going to AA or NA meetings can help you in recovery more than anything else. It is important that you go to as many meetings as possible. The more you are around other recovering people, the more your thinking will change. 4. Exercise: Aerobic exercise for a half hour each day will help your body to recover from the damage done by alcohol and drugs. Examples of aerobic exercise are fast walking, running, swimming, cycling, and rowing. These activities make your heart beat faster and your lungs work better. You do not need to work out until you're exhausted. Aerobic exercise is different from lifting weights or other body building exercises. 5. Relaxation: By learning how to relax, you can get back in control when you begin feeling "crazy." The easiest way to relax is to follow this three-step process: A. Breathe in and out through your nose. B. Feel your lungs fill up with air when you breathe in and feel them empty when you breathe out. C. Gradually slow down your breathing to a slow, regular rhythm. Practice this deep, relaxed breathing several times a day. The more you practice, the better it will work when you need it. 6. Rest: You will feel better if you have a set time to go to bed at night and a set time to get up in the morning. Regular rest helps you recover from the damage that alcohol or drugs have done to your body and mind. It also helps you think more clearly. 7. Work on Other Problems: Make it a goal each day to work on other things besides recovery. These things may be getting a job, finding a place to live, or paying off debts. If you are working at making progress, even in small ways, you will feel better about yourself. 8. Sponsor: Get a sponsor through AA or NA and talk to that person face to face, or on the phone, at least once each day. It helps to have someone to talk to who knows what you are going through. Your sponsor can give you advice and hope. 9. Daily Plan and Inventory: You can increase your chances of recovery if you fill out and use your daily recovery plan and inventory sheets. 10. Review Relapse Prevention Strategies: By reading your relapse prevention strategies from Exercise No. 25 every day, you will be more aware of your high-risk situations and relapse warning signs. This awareness will help you avoid trouble before it gets out of hand. Daily Recovery Plan Sheet Purpose: Make as many copies of this sheet as you need. Having a plan for each day will help you recover. It is important that you fill out one of these sheets every day and review it every night to see how much of it you completed. Check off each item that you complete. Talk to your AA/NA sponsor about how well you stuck with your plan. Day _____________________ Date. _____________________ Name _________________________________ Planned Meal and Snack Times ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ Take Vitamins ___________________________________________ Planned Recovery Activities: See Counselor ________________________________________ Time ___________________________________ Talk to Sponsor _______________________________________ Time ___________________________________ Go to AA/NA __________________________________________ Times __________________________________ Things I have to do today: Activity Time 1. Make out my daily schedule ________________________________________________________________. 2. _______________________________________________________________________________________ . 3. _______________________________________________________________________________________ . 4. _______________________________________________________________________________________ . 5. _______________________________________________________________________________________ . 6. _______________________________________________________________________________________ . 7. _______________________________________________________________________________________ . 8.________________________________________________________________________________________ . 9. ________________________________________________________________________________________ . 10. _______________________________________________________________________________________ . 11. _______________________________________________________________________________________ . 12. _______________________________________________________________________________________ . 13. ______________________________________________________________________________________ . 14._______________________________________________________________________________________ . 15. _______________________________________________________________________________________ . Sponsor's phone no._______________________________________________________________________ Second contact and phone no.________________________________________________________________ Exercise No. 27: Evening Inventory Sheet Purpose. Make as many copies of this sheet as you need. This exercise will help you learn day by day. You will change a little bit each day. Instructions. At the end of each day, review your Relapse Prevention Plans from Exercise No. 25. Then answer the questions in this exercise. Talk to someone whom you trust, such as an AA/NA sponsor or a sober friend. Review this sheet with this person. Ask him or her for ideas on whether you could handle things better and how. 1. What high-risk situations did you have today? ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How did you handle them? How did you think, feel, and act? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What mandates and injunctions did you have today? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. How did you handle them? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What warning signs did you have today? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How did you handle them? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I need to call ___________________________________________________________________________________________ to talk about the answers to these questions. What was the most important thing you learned? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What can you do differently tomorrow to make things better? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- __________________________________________________________________________________________ Concluding Remarks We hope you have worked through all the exercises in this workbook. If you have, then you are ready for the next step, which is the most important of all: putting your relapse prevention plan into action. If you have not completed the entire workbook, we hope you will go back and complete it. You must stop using alcohol and drugs. However, this action alone will not change your life. Recovery means giving up your old ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, so that you can have a better life. You can live without worrying about legal problems, getting alcohol or drugs, and all of the issues associated with chemical dependency. In order for this to happen, you must put the things you have learned here into action. You also must be willing to learn more. Many people who used to abuse alcohol or drugs and commit crimes are living healthy, happy lives today because they worked on the suggestions in this workbook. You can, too. Relapse prevention -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Us | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Accessibility Home | Documents | Information Exchange Services Special Topics | Resources | State Information | Online Resources Denial Workbook Last Updated 11-7-02 |
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