RELAPSE PREVENTION PLAN WORKSHEET

ALCOHOLISM

A relapse prevention plan is a tool to help you as you continue your life free from alcohol. The following questions will help you examine your past behavior and how you overcame your dependence on alcohol. By doing this, you will be better prepared to deal with similar situations in the future so you can respond in healthy and pro-social ways.

Once you have completed this worksheet, you will create a final Relapse Prevention Plan on a separate sheet of paper. You should keep this plan with you to use in your daily life. It will help you realize when you may be slipping back into bad habits and help you think of ways to respond.

**Note: This Relapse Prevention Plan Worksheet can be converted to focus on other behaviors, such as drug addiction, anger, and co-dependency.

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1.)Triggers

First, you must identify situations that triggered your addiction to alcohol. Triggers are situations or conditions in your past that led to your need for alcohol.

To determine your triggers, it is helpful to think about your life before you were addicted to alcohol.

Write a history of your life leading up to your addiction to alcohol.

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Now, think about the first time you ever consumed alcohol, and the way your life changed. Think about how and when your consumption became out of control. Was it right away, or did it take time for things to get out of hand? What was your life like when you were drinking? What was the day after a night of drinking like, or after multiple days spent intoxicated? How did your life change (relationships, job, health, etc.)?

Write a history of your life when you were drinking alcohol.

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Looking at your life, think of 5 situations or conditions that led to your alcoholism.

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Why did you stop drinking alcohol? How did you do it?

Examples:

  • Something dramatic happened, and I realized alcohol was no good.
  • I was sick and tired of being a drunk.
  • Someone told me that alcohol was bad
  • I thought, “If I don’t stop, something bad will happen to me.”
  • I thought, “If I stop, certain good things will happen to me.”
  • I joined a program (either in prison or before)

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Looking at why you stopped drinking, list 5 reasons why you want to stop consuming alcohol.

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What lessons from your past programming did you use to identify your triggers?

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2.)Warning Signs of a Relapse

Warning signs will help you identify whether a relapse is coming.

Some common warning signs are:

1.)Apprehension About Well-Being: the lack of confidence in your own ability to remain free from alcohol. This can happen when you are tempted and have difficulty turning away from that temptation.

2.)The Return of Denial: being unable to recognize and tell other what you are thinking and feeling. This can happen when you yourself are not even able to recognize that you are falling back into an addictive behavior.

3.)Defensiveness: defending yourself when talking about your problems. This can happen when you don’t want to accept that you are returning to your former addiction.

4.)Avoidance: this involves not wanting to believe that anything can cause painful and uncomfortable feelings to come back. You may avoid people or places that will force you to engage in introspection.

5.)Crisis building: the addict feels overwhelmed and unable to handle her life. You may feel like every time you deal with a life problem, two more problems appear. This might occur if your parole plans fail or are too stressful.

6.)Immobilization: the addict is just going through the motions of life and not really engaging with the people around her. You may feel like none of your problems can be solved and instead spend all day day-dreaming.

7.)Plans Begin to Fail: you no longer follow through with your plans for healthy living. This can happen when you feel they are too difficult or are tired of the discipline of abstaining from alcohol

8.)Irritation: this involves being quick to lose your temper, and over-reacting to minor slights. This can happen as a result of your own frustration with yourself.

9.)Depression: the most common symptoms of depression are irregular sleeping and eating habits, a loss of interests in things that the addict used to enjoy, lethargy, and a loss of daily structure. You may feel that suicide or substance abuse is the only way to end the depression.

10.)Loss of the ability to control behavior: this could manifest as an “I don’t care attitude,” not attending meetings, rejecting offers of help, and missing work/ appointments. You may feel as though being ineffective in your ability to remain alcohol-free means you are an ineffective person.

11.)Open Rejection of Help: when the people who care about you reach out and express concern, you reject their help.

12.)Being around people engaged in substance abuse and other self-destructive behaviors: this might be both a warning sign and a cause of relapse. Your parole plans should involve being surrounded by people who do not consume alcohol.

13.)Conscious Lying: you find yourself explaining away the truth of your situation and instead believing lies about yourself or the person you have become dependent upon

List 5 warning signs that you might start consuming alcohol again:

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  2. ______
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What lessons from your past programming did you use to identify these signs?

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3.) Healthy and Pro-Social Coping Strategies

Now that you can identify triggers and warning signs, you need a plan with how to deal with them. Here are some examples:

  • Attend a meeting
  • Talk with your sponsor
  • Think of your daily inventory. What are your priorities? Why are you committed to sobriety?
  • Take 10 seconds to breathe and re-assess the situation.
  • Call a supportive friend.
  • Relax. Engage in a relaxing activity you enjoy.
  • Pray.

Look at your list of triggers. If these triggers occur, what will you do?

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Look at your list of warning signs. If these warning signs occur, what will you do?

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What lessons from your past programming did you use to identify these coping strategies?

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4.) Managing Relationships

List 5 people (with phone numbers) you should associate with to stay on a healthy path away from alcohol.

  1. ______(number) ______
  2. ______(number) ______
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  5. ______(number) ______

Describe why you should seek out these healthy relationships.

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List 5 people (with phone numbers) you can contact if you feel that you are going to relapse.

  1. ______(number) ______
  2. ______(number) ______
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Describe a situation when you would need to reach out to one of these contacts and the steps you will follow to contact that person.

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What lessons from your past programming did you use to identify and manage these relationships?

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5.) Taking Care of Yourself

Part of preventing a relapse is ensuring that you have a balanced life. That means taking care of yourself and meeting all of your physical and emotional needs so you don’t feel the need to turn to alcohol for comfort.

Where will you live? Will all of your needs be met?

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How do you take physical care of yourself? (cooking, working out, etc.)

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What do you do for relaxation?

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Is there anything else you will do for yourself so you will be comfortable and not feel the need to turn to co-dependency as a source of comfort?

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Did you develop any of these practices through your programming? Did you learn that you needed or simply liked certain activities through your programming?

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CONGRATULATIONS!! You have completed the Relapse Prevention Plan worksheet. You should feel proud of your ability to think about your life and your commitment to remaining sober. Nice job!

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