We all carry day-to-day stress, life is unpredictable and things happen. How we deal with that stress can either help or hinder our recovery. Learning about and examining your triggers and stressors will assist us in working on what healthy coping mechanisms look like for you and your life. Having new tools to deal with the triggers or “problems” in your life and life’s unexpected stressors can change how you see and respond to them. By replacing drugs and alcohol with positive and healthy behaviours and actions, we can break the cycle of addiction. Using these new tools will help prevent the desire or “need” to use in order to cope when issues arise.

Having “healthy” people and boundaries with people in our life also helps us reduce stress, prevent isolation, and “lessen the load” while we are in recovery- and in life in general. By identifying and having supportive people around us to lean on and help us stay on track, we will have more time to focus on recovery and less on interpersonal issues and fighting to find the needed time to work on ourselves. Involving your partner, family, friends, or a recovery coach can help you stay on track on your road to recovery.

I can’t say that I’ve ever met a client who hasn’t experienced some form of trauma. Research heavily indicates a link between trauma and addiction. Childhood trauma, PTSD, and C-PTSD can create a dysregulated HPA Axis in which our stress hormones and normal biological reactions to stressors are out of balance. Often, when we don’t know what is happening or haven’t received the proper treatment for trauma, we can turn to alcohol and drugs to cope. We do this to help us calm not only the memories of our trauma, but also the physical symptoms that accompany them. Drugs and alcohol often become the go-to to help us and we self-medicate with them to relieve us from the physical and psychological symptoms of trauma and other negative emotions.

Emotions are often the thing that leads us to addiction and causes us to relapse back into it. Learning to notice, feel, and actively identify uncomfortable emotions and EMOTIONAL RELAPSE SIGNS in order to actively work through them will help you reduce cravings and compulsions to use. Working through emotions instead of using to suppress them will help lessen your need to use and prevent a possible relapse while in recovery. Identifying your INTERNAL TRIGGERS such as triggering emotions and thoughts will help make it easier to implement healthier coping mechanisms when they occur.

There’s a saying: “Make your emotions work for you, instead of against you.” Many therapies work by helping reshape your thinking and emotions to help change the behaviours and actions that follow. Building an awareness of your feelings and emotions and the actions they lead you to take can help you stop these negative actions and their outcomes before they happen. Mindfulness, Deep Breathing, Grounding Techniques, “Playing the tape through”, and using HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, and Tired) are all things that can help you when you are facing negative emotions, and detour you from using. The more you use your new tools, the more they become a habit, and the less your old brain tries to convince you that drugs and alcohol are the only way to get through this.

The road to recovery means learning to live a new life and being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Building your new life plan will include things like identifying your goals and challenges. Looking at what motivates you and what’s preventing you from moving forward. Reframing how you view yourself and the world. Learning about being honest with yourself and the people around you, and being accountable. Practicing self-care and identifying where things could go wrong, and how relapse may occur. We often carry a spare tire or flashlights and safety items in case of an emergency. By working on your relapse prevention plan, you will have the items needed to help you in an emergency. By learning about and exploring things like PAWS, Euphoric Recall, Bargaining, Minimizing, Fear, and other relapse dangers, we can fill your relapse prevention toolbox with the things you need to stop relapse in its tracks.

For clients using ALCOHOL AND OPIOIDS, we can also discuss Medication Assisted Treatment. Medication Assisted Treatment is a newer tool being used to help people with alcohol and opioid abuse disorder free themselves from their addiction. MAT is use of approved and prescribed medications that prevent or stop withdrawal, block the euphoric effects of the drugs, and reduce physical and psychological cravings while individuals are receiving counselling and other help. By working with a counsellor and an approved and trained MAT physician, MAT has been increasing client survival rates, increasing treatment retention rates, and decreasing criminal activity related to opioid use and other drug use. By helping stabilize the client’s body chemistry in relation to withdrawal and preventing the client from getting high if they do use, MAT also provides the ability to help increase a client's ability to gain or maintain employment and live a more productive and higher quality of life. For clients with complicated histories of relapse, MAT may be a new option to try by working with a certified Medication Assisted Treatment Specialist like myself.

In 1943 Abraham Maslow wrote a paper, called “A Theory for Human Motivation.” In his paper, he presents a theory in which he identifies what he believes are the universal needs of all people. As time has passed, professionals working with people in addiction recovery have identified how addiction corrupts each level of “Needs” people have by hijacking and replacing it with drugs and alcohol. By working with clients and helping them reduce their use and restore their NEEDS, their health and overall well-being improves.

Case Management in ADDICTION RECOVERY can help individuals receiving out patient treatment make road maps and create an action plan on what they need, and how and when they intend to obtain it. Having a single point of contact when working with an addiction professional can help clients identify and access services to retrieve these “Needs”. This adds an extra layer help by providing a wrap-around approach with extra guidance and safety when clients have someone to help and rely on.

By meeting their “Needs”, the client will become closer to stabilizing themselves and their life. Client-driven case management looks like assisting clients with things like assessments, planning, linking clients with other agencies such as criminal justice and social service supports, assisting in intake forms, monitoring progress after applying for services, working towards goals, and advocating for the client in the community. Planning and goals addressed when accessing case management services will be adapted to fit the particular needs of each client to help them get closer to the life they want.

Looking at the needs of the client and helping connect them to outside help can make their life more manageable so they can focus on recovery and stay in recovery. Setting goals and working with an ally can be a stepping stone to a better tomorrow. Connecting clients with needs such as food, shelter, clothing, transportation, employment or educational resources, or child care can change a person’s world and help rebuild their pyramid of needs.

Having worked doing Case Management since 2005, I bring a wealth of knowledge and help clients identify their needs and strengths to successfully execute a plan of action. My knowledge of community services and networking helps my clients have a reliable amount of information and options to choose from when deciding what they need, and when. Sending professional referrals on behalf of clients will also help build relationships with community partners, allowing for greater advocacy for the client and their needs.