Personal Recovery Planning Made Simple: 12 Simple Steps To Get Started
By James Flynn, B.S., NCPRSS, NCPT3, NYCPS, CRPA, CARC, CASAC-T
A Personal Recovery Plan is derived from the participant asking themselves some key questions about their recovery, reflecting on these questions, and writing down the answers.
Here are 12 simple steps to help you get started on writing your own personal recovery plan.
- Step One: Ask yourself where am I at right now in my life, and where would I like to be?
- Step Two: What are the steps that I need to take, to get from where I am, to where I want to be in my recovery?
- Step Three: What are some of my short-term and long-term goals that will help me to get to where I would like to be in my recovery?
- Step Four: What are my reasons or motivations for wanting to achieve these goals?
- Step Five: What barriers or obstacles am I likely to encounter in trying to achieve these goals?
- Can I commit to taking the steps that I need to take in order to create the kind of changes that I want in my life? If not, what is holding me back?
- What internal and external triggers do I need to avoid in order to reduce the risk of relapse?
- How will I address each trigger I have identified?
- How can I increase my level of self-care?
- Step Ten: What coping skills or sober support mechanisms do I need to learn, develop, or implement, in order to handle stress, my emotions, temptations, and/or compulsions to drink or use drugs?
- What are my relapse prevention strategies?
- What methods or approaches do I plan to utilize to help myself achieve a stable and lasting recovery? Who else will be involved in the execution of this plan? Who else will know about my plan and hold me accountable?
