Creating a Relapse Prevention Plan: Preparing and Prevailing in Your Recovery

Committing to recovery from opioid use disorder (OUD) is a big step for many people living with the condition. Recovery is a long road, and it isn’t always easy. The idea of returning to use can be scary, but having a plan in place will empower you to succeed in recovery.

A relapse prevention plan is a written document that consolidates your potential triggers and coping tools to use during a crisis. This way, you know exactly what to do whenever you’re afraid that you could return to use.

Returning to use is less common among people who receive medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for OUD. One study found that OUD patients taking buprenorphine-based medication are 40% less likely to return to use than those without. However, that doesn’t mean a relapse won’t happen.

Having a relapse prevention plan simply means having another tool in your toolbox.

At ReVIDA® Recovery, we know that recovery isn’t always linear. No matter what your experience with OUD and the recovery process has been, we will empower you to succeed.

Why You Need a Relapse Prevention Plan

Returning to use is never part of the plan when it comes to recovery, but for many people, it is a part of the process. MAT is a great tool for improving withdrawal symptoms and reducing cravings for opioids. However, a return to use can happen, even if you’re in a MAT program. Triggers, or things that remind you of opioids, can happen at any time, even if you’re not experiencing cravings. This is a difficult part of healing, but there are tools for managing triggers during opioid recovery.

Developing a prevention plan is an empowering act during recovery. Understanding the possibility of recurrence is the first step towards preventing it from happening. When you have a set, written plan that you’ve shared with others, you know exactly what to do in case of an emergency. Creating a relapse prevention plan will allow you peace of mind and ensure you can act quickly if you’re tempted to return to use.

Reviewing Relapse Prevention Models

When creating your personal prevention plan, consider the situation from multiple angles. Many experts in the field of recovery have developed different models that account for why people return to use and how it can be prevented. These models are tools you can use to develop an effective plan.

The Gorski-CENAPS Model of Recovery and Relapse Prevention

Terry Gorski was an internationally recognized leader in the recovery field with more than 40 years of experience. He was also the founder of Gorkski-CENAPS Corporation, an organization dedicated to advancing the science behind recovery and relapse prevention.

When it comes to developing an effective prevention plan, Gorski lays out 9 essential steps.

• Self-regulation: In this stage, you develop tools for maintaining physical, psychological, and social stability in recovery.
• Integration: Complete an honest self-assessment, identifying the reasons you chose to seek treatment and how they could relate to potential triggers.
• Understanding: Seek out an accurate, in-depth education about effective causes and prevention methods for returning to use.
• Self-Knowledge: In this step, identify the warning signs that apply to you and consider their underlying causes.
• Coping skills: In this stage, you learn to avoid triggering situations when possible, challenge triggering thoughts and feelings when they occur, and get to the root cause of these triggers.
• Change: You’ll develop and participate in a recovery plan that specifically targets your warning signs or triggers to alter your relationship with them.
• Awareness: Conduct daily inventories by setting goals in the morning and reviewing your progress each evening to check in with yourself about warning signs.
• Significant others: Family, friends, counselors, and others who are important to you should be involved in the recovery planning process for support and accountability.
• Maintenance: Once you’ve developed your plan, you should update it regularly for several years to ensure that it’s still accurate.

The Dynamic Model of Relapse

This model was developed in 2004 by Doctors Katie Witkiewitz and Alan Marlatt.

The dynamic model of relapse suggests that there are two major categories of risk when it comes to the likelihood that someone in recovery will return to use.

The dynamic model posits that the recovery process (and the probability of returning to use) is not linear. When you’re put in a high-stress situation, a variety of both tonic and phasic factors are at play.

While you may not be able to change the tonic processes, it’s important to be aware of the examples and recognize how they may influence phasic responses, like moods and cravings. According to the dynamic model, tonic processes indicate your susceptibility to a potential recurrence. Still, it’s phasic responses and your ability to alter them that cause or prevent a return to use.

How to Apply Relapse Prevention Models in Real Life

It’s important to remember that these are only theories. When it comes down to it, recovery is a deeply personal experience, and what works for you may not work for others, and vice versa. As you make your way through recovery and develop your own prevention plan, you should decide what works for you.

You don’t necessarily need to follow every step of either of the above models, but it’s worth considering what their key points are. For example, both of the above models encourage you to learn more about yourself and your condition. However, this doesn’t mean beating yourself up or making list after list about all the things that could lead to a return to use. You should also consider your strengths.

Remember: recovery is a time for reconnecting with yourself and discovering your goals. While relapse prevention models largely focus on reforming behavior, a good prevention plan should also encourage finding joy in a life free of substance use.

What You Should Include in a Relapse Prevention Plan

Your prevention plan will be unique to you and should focus on what you need to succeed in recovery. Still, there are some components you should consider when developing your plan.

Factors that you should consider when building your prevention plan include:

• Triggers: Compile a list of things, situations, people, and experiences that could make you want to return to use and why they have that effect. The better you understand your triggers, the easier it will be for you to avoid them when possible and manage them when they occur.
• Coping skills: It’s normal to have thoughts about returning to use during recovery. Prevention is about stopping yourself from acting on those wants. Your plan should involve specific actions you can take to deal with those desires without actually acting on them. This could include journaling, breathing exercises, running, or talking to someone supportive.
• Support network: Your plan should highlight some of the ways you can rely on your support network when you’re afraid of returning to use. A therapist and a recovery community can be a great resource for this. You can also connect with supportive friends and family members. Your prevention plan should include specific names and ways to contact your chosen individuals in times of crisis.
• Lifestyle changes: You’ll also want to incorporate long-term goals into your prevention plan. The more you change your life, the less it will remind you of the life you led before recovery. Listing out specific goals, like job changes, education, and financial plans, will help you remember why you’re committed to maintaining your recovery.