Counselor's Manual for Relapse Prevention With Chemically ...

Read This Workbook. By reading and doing the exercises in this workbook, you will have a betterchance of recovery and less chance of relapse. Follow the instructions very carefully. Sometimesit will seem as if you are doing the same thing over and over again. This repetition forces you tosee certain things again and again so you will remember them. Many times the instructions willhave you copy answers from previous exercises. This is to help you understand how all of theexercises and all the things in the exercises and in your life work together.Sometimes you won't understand why you are doing a certain thing. The reason will becomeclearer as you move on. Sometimes you may get angry and frustrated. Sometimes you will wantto quit. This is normal. Quit for a while, but then try again later. People who do not quit are morelikely to recover.Try to work in the workbook for 1 or 2 hours, once or twice a day. There is plenty of spaceavailable for each answer. You do not have to fill in every line for every question.If you have trouble reading this workbook or understanding it, ask for help. It may not be easy,but learning how to ask for help is one of the things you must do to recover.Most of all, you must put your work into action. It is only by working on changing that we willchange and our lives will get better. It can happen to you if you try.We know of a man who spent over half of his life in reform schools and prisons. He finishedhigh school in prison but had no further education. He began attending AA in prison, and got outof prison at age 35. He worked very hard at his recovery. Today, he has two college degrees, ismarried and has a family, and works as a counselor with inmates. He has been sober for over 10years.You can change your life too. But, you must understand that it will take time and hard work.The "Big Book" is the "school book" of AA that shows you how to recover. It uses the letters H-O-W to explain how to recover. This workbook will work for you in the same way.Honesty—This means being totally honest about how you think, feel, and act. Unless you arewilling to be honest, you cannot make progress.Open-mindedness—You must be willing to think that you may be wrong about some things.Unless you can do this, you cannot change. If you do not change, the same things will keephappening to you.Willingness—You must be willing to try difficult things that you do not like and that sometimeshurt at first. The easiest thing for you to do is what you have always done. The hardest thing todo is change. But you can do it if you work on changing day by day. If you change a little eachday, in the end you will be a different person.Section I: What Are My Problems?