A relapse prevention plan is the steps you prepare to lower your risk of using substances again. This type of plan is usually created when you are close to finishing an addiction treatment program.
Relapse means to use a substance again after a period of stopping. Between 40-60% of people who receive treatment for an addiction will relapse at some point [1]. Relapse is a normal part of recovery; it doesn’t signal that you’ve failed or that you can’t reach sobriety — you absolutely can. However, there are ways to reduce the odds of relapse, and that’s exactly what a relapse prevention plan does.
Here’s what it is and how it works in addiction recovery.
What Is a Relapse Prevention Plan?
Relapse is a process, not an event. A relapse prevention plan is a strategy to identify situations and triggers that could cause you to relapse, and to prepare healthy ways to respond to them. It involves looking at the spaces and circumstances that previously caused you to use, and plan ahead of time how to manage them if they arise again.
The plan essentially focuses on two things:
- Reduce the likelihood and severity of a relapse
- Prepare for what to do if a relapse does happen
The plan may also include skills and coping mechanisms that you’ve built while in treatment and give you daily practices to maintain them, or suggestions on how to apply them if you’re faced with triggers.
It’s important to remember that while a relapse plan can be a dedicated document and a set of regular check-ins, all addiction treatment is built around preventing relapse. Every therapy session and wellness activity is designed to help you develop thinking, behaviors, and routines that don’t lead you back to substance use.
What’s Included in a Relapse Prevention Plan?
Each relapse prevention plan looks different because it has to be tailored to each person. Your treatment history, unique needs, and specific triggers should all be woven into your plan. The more personalized the plan is, the better it is.
Still, there are some elements that most relapse prevention plans include. These are:
Triggers
The places, people, and feelings that could (or have in the past) influenced you to use substances. Common triggers include stress, relationship troubles, loneliness, boredom, bars/clubs, and associative memories.
You may not immediately know what your triggers are, so reflect on the times when you have used substances and see if there are any repeating environmental or emotional factors.
Cravings
Cravings are when you have an intense urge to use a substance again. They can be uncomfortable, and research shows that cravings are a main factor related to relapse [2]. In a relapse prevention plan, you list people you can reach out to or activities you can engage in when you experience cravings. These include family and friends, going for a walk, doing a hobby, or meditating.
Tools
By the time you make a relapse prevention plan, you already have more recovery tools than you may realize. You include the resources that have helped you throughout treatment or that you know you can rely on once you finish a program. For example, exercising, journaling, support meetings, trusted peers, or even certain healthy foods can be a source of comfort and confidence in your plan.
Rebuilding
You may want your plan to address how you can repair damage caused by addiction. You could outline relationships or finances that you’d like to work on while you recover and set brief but clear goals that you’d like to achieve. Because a relapse prevention plan is a document that you continuously return to, you can check how you progress toward the goals and keep yourself accountable for positive changes you’d like to see.
Relapse Response
A relapse plan isn’t an expectation that you never relapse. There’s no definitive number for how many times a person relapses, but research suggests the median is two [3]. In fact, most relapse plans include what to do if you relapse. It could involve calling your care team, repeating a mantra, or doing breathing exercises to remain calm. The idea is not to judge yourself and to seek help as soon as possible.
Who Needs a Relapse Prevention Plan?
Anyone who has a substance use disorder (SUD) and has been in a treatment program for addiction needs a relapse prevention plan. Recovery does not stop after treatment, and the plan is a structured resource to help you maintain your progress and abstain from using substances.
Relapse triggers can affect anyone with an addiction, but one study shows that people with the following characteristics are most vulnerable to them [4]:
- Substance use that started at a young age
- Brain reward system dysfunction
- Health conditions
- Problems sleeping
- Co-occurring mental health disorders
- Smokers
- Low socioeconomic status
- Trauma
Steps to Make a Relapse Prevention Plan
A relapse prevention plan is a team effort: it should be something you discuss at length with your care team, and something you take time to reflect on and iterate on as necessary. No plan is a stagnant document, you can update it and add to it as much as you need.
To get started, follow these steps:
- Reflect on your history with substances. Consider when and why you started using. Compare where you were then, to where you are now. Make a note of what has and hasn’t worked for you in recovery, and where you’d like to be in the next year.
- Think about what relapse has looked like, or could look like, for you. With your care team, discuss warning signs of relapse, and make a list of the specific indicators for you. You may want to pass these on to people who will be around you after you finish a treatment program, so they know when to offer you extra support.
- Make a support database. Compile resources from your treatment center, addiction agencies, and your personal network that you know can help you if you feel at risk of relapsing. Ask your team about instances when past patients have relapsed and how resources have helped.
Once you’ve carried out these steps, you have a good foundation to create a more detailed relapse prevention plan. You could ask your care team, for example, about plans other people have used, but be aware that they will have to respect patient privacy.
It may also be beneficial to reframe your relapse prevention planning as ‘recovery protection planning’. One study found that the change in terminology can be more empowering and can position post-treatment recovery as more positive [5].
Recover From Addiction at Trinity Wellness Group, Massachusetts
At Trinity Wellness Group, we know that recovery goes much further than the walls of our center in Milton, MA. We provide personalized care in our addiction programs, but we also support you in creating tailored, effective relapse prevention plans to sustain how far you’ve come. Our team of licensed clinicians understands the ebbs and flows of recovery and acts as empathetic guides in your sobriety journey.
Our therapy approaches include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). We also have holistic activities to help you emotionally regulate and build healthy daily routines once treatment has finished.
We believe that everyone deserves to heal and that recovery is possible at any point. See how you can feel better, for real. Speak with our admissions team.
Sources
[1] National Institute on Drug Abuse. (July 2020). Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction. nida.nih.gov.
[2] Kharb, R. et al. (July 2018). Relationship between Craving and Early Relapse in Alcohol Dependence: A Short-Term Follow-up Study. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine.
[3] Kelly, J. et al. (July 2019). How Many Recovery Attempts Does it Take to Successfully Resolve an Alcohol or Drug Problem? Estimates and Correlates From a National Study of Recovering U.S. Adults. Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research.
[4] Bülent Yazıcı, A. Raşit Bardakçı, M. (December 2023). Factors Associated with Relapses in Alcohol and Substance Use Disorder. The Eurasian Journal of Medicine.
[5] Ogilvie, L. Carson, J. (March 2024). From relapse prevention to recovery protection: a positive perspective on recovery from substance use disorder. Journal of Substance Use.