Developing individualized relapse prevention plans with young people has been shown to have positive outcomes for young people.
Relapse prevention plans attempt to:
- Enhance a young person's resolution for change
- Identify "high risk situations":
- negative emotional states
- interpersonal conflict
- social pressure
- Identify ways to increase coping strategies and skills
- Provide helpful hints to avoid temptation
- Assist a young person to prepare for a lapse
- Look at appropriate alternatives to substance use.
The specifics of each of these areas is discussed below.
Some ways to enhance motivation to change include:
- utilising motivational interviewing techniques
- writing down reasons for change so that they can be easily accessed as reminders and motivators, particularly in difficult periods
- being clear about your plan.
Coping strategies can include using problem-solving skills for high risk situations:
- define the problem
- brainstorm the options to deal with it
- choose best option(s)
- generate a detailed action plan
- put into action - (mentally) rehearse
- evaluate.
Besides this situation-specific approach, practising generic coping skills is also very important, for example, relaxation, coping with social pressure, depression, anger, anxiety, urges and cravings.
Helpful hints to avoid temptation can include:
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Discuss with the young person "apparently irrelevant decisions", where people put themselves in situations where relapse is the most likely outcome and in so doing help them to alter events early and to plan interactions so that temptation to use does not get so overwhelming
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Other hints that are drug specific may also be used, such as sip water, eat before going out, and counting your drinks, amongst other things.
Preparing for a lapse
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Working with a young person to develop a contingency plan ("Back Up") to help them stopping a "slip" turning into a fully blown "relapse"
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Brainstorm with a young person strategies to assist when a slip occurs.
Assisting a young person by identifying alternatives to substance use, such as:
- statements / sayings / affirmations
- activities
- organisations
- people.
For examples of relapse prevention plans download Sample relapse prevention plans PDF file (500KB). These relapse prevention plans were developed with clients - names have been changed.
Task: Relapse prevention plan
You can also download a blank template relapse prevention plan (PDF 93KB). Your task is to develop a specific relapse prevention plan with a young person. If you are not working directly with young people, think of a particular clients (or a number of clients), and fill out a plan that you think a young person might find useful in helping with minimising relapse.
Discuss with a colleague, and write below, how you think you might be able to incorporate aspects of relapse prevention planning within your work with young people.contents list / about the package / quick feedback / previous page / next page
Working with Young People with Alcohol or Other Drug Issues: A self-paced learning package Published: 2006 Funded by NSW Drug & Alcohol Workforce Development Council. Written & compiled by Kristy Delaney, YAPA, and Matt Stubbs & John Howard, Ted Noffs Institute. Additional material by Nick Manning, YAPA, & by Shopfront Youth Legal Centre. Opinions are the author's.
Be careful! YAPA and the authors took reasonable care to ensure that this information was correct at the time of publishing. However health information, and government regulations, laws and standards are complex and changing. The authors may not have health, safety, or legal qualifications, and information provided is general - it is not specific health, legal or professional advice. Do not rely on it - check with other publications and authorities and if necessary get qualified, medical, legal or professional advice for your situation.
