We incorporate featured speakers from the recovery community as well as relevant videos.
We start each week with a brief check-in to give clients a chance to express the weekend happenings and any struggles or successes that occurred. This expression of information gives the clients a chance to bond as a group.
In week one, we provide education around the disease of addiction and the physical, biological and psychosocial aspects of the disease. We focus on step one of the Alcoholics Anonymous twelve step program which is universal for addicts. We end the week focusing on the relationships that are most important to keep in early recovery as well as ways of improving relationship skills as a whole.
In week two, we continue our relationships talk, and use weekend experiences as catalysts for the discussion and information presented. We follow with an educational group on emotions and alternative ways to cope with the negative and positive emotions that one faces in daily life. As addicts and alcoholics, the top coping mechanism are drugs and/or alcohol when faced with uncomfortable situations, so alternatives are discussed. We explore interaction techniques and ways to deal with daily stress.
In week three, we explore the emotions of grief and loss. We talk about events that have evoked those emotions as well as the loss of the client’s number one coping mechanism, drugs/alcohol. We explore step two of the twelve steps, and the importance of following a twelve step program.
Week four is devoted to exploring relapse prevention techniques which include creating a personalized plan of how to counteract triggers for use in person, places and things. Effective communication styles and stress relieving techniques are the focus of the anger management group as this is one of the most difficult emotions to deal with in early recovery.
Week five includes discussion of necessary skills to maintain a healthy recovery lifestyle including self-care and time/financial management. We focus on step three of the twelve step program and provide an educational group around awareness of the changing dynamics of the recovery communities.
Week six encompasses groups around challenges faced in early and continuing recovery and living a daily recovery lifestyle. We explore fun in sobriety and networking in the client’s recovery community.
Each week, topics may fluctuate with the changing dynamics of the group and immediate issues that present themselves in daily life.
We also assist families in crisis by educating them about substance abuse, and the reasons behind addiction.
