You are likely familiar with crisis plans if you have received or are currently in treatment for a substance use or mental health disorder. Crisis plans, which may be acknowledged within aftercare plans, provide detailed guidelines on how to respond to crisis situations while in recovery. Since experiencing adversity is a part of the recovery process, crisis plans become a valuable resource for how to best prioritize your sobriety when navigating crises.
Everyone in recovery will benefit from a crisis plan. Crisis plans are helpful not only during times of urgent need but also during the moments that you may feel unmotivated or unengaged with treatment. It is essential to recognize the value these plans will have on your long-term recovery journey.
It is essential to recognize the value of a crisis plan in addiction recovery.
Crisis plans offer a valuable framework for how individuals can best respond to triggering or otherwise challenging situations during their recovery journey. Crisis plans are individualized to fit the unique needs, goals and triggers of the individual working on abstaining from substance use. Crisis plans may be in digital or paper format and should be accessible wherever you go.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness suggests the following factors that all individuals in recovery should include in their crisis plan:
- Important phone numbers, which can include your therapist, psychiatrist, other healthcare providers, family members and close loved ones, especially those that would be helpful during a crisis
- Local crisis line number
- Your address and phone number
- Your diagnoses and medications
- Your personal history of drug use
- Your unique substance use or mental health triggers
- Your choice of well-known, working coping mechanisms
- Exit plans
- Relapse prevention tools
- Other treatment resources
It is important to remember that crisis plans are individualized, meaning that for them to be effective, they must cater to your unique needs and goals for long-term recovery. Similarly, it would be best if you recognized that anyone could perceive a situation as that of a crisis due to its subjective nature. In other words, any situation that could threaten your health and wellbeing, as well as your sobriety, can be identified as a crisis.
Crisis plans eliminate the pressures of decision-making.
One of the most significant benefits of crisis plans is that they eliminate the pressures of deciding on the spur of the moment. Depending on the situation, when we feel pressured to make a decision, we may not consider the long-term consequences of the choices that we are making. Specifically for individuals in recovery, we may feel pressured to act or behave a certain way if placed in environments that could potentially jeopardize our recovery. Instead of bearing the pressures of needing to make a decision, we can turn to our crisis plan for direction.
Consider all scenarios.
As everyone’s crisis plan will look different, your crisis plan must outline different scenarios you may find yourself in during your recovery journey. For example, if you know that you will always be offered alcoholic beverages at family parties, you will want to plan how to respond to the situation when you find yourself in it. For this particular case, you may feel confident enough to politely decline a beverage when offered to you. However, if this is too much pressure, you may want to develop a different plan. Instead, your exit plan may remind you to bring your own non-alcoholic beverage to family parties and carry it openly wherever you go.
To create a good crisis plan, you must reflect on your past and current substance use triggers and prepare for any situations that could threaten your sobriety and recovery.
Crisis plans remind you that there are healthy ways to cope with distress.
When you find yourself in high-stress situations, you may feel an urge to use alcohol and other drugs to temporarily self-medicate. First, remember that a quick fix can surface long-term consequences, even for those that have been in recovery for years. Second, your crisis plan can remind you that there are other, healthier ways to navigate your emotional distress.
Within your crisis plan, you should have several valuable coping mechanisms you can utilize during the moments you feel a loss of control. These coping mechanisms may range from listening or playing music to journaling to meditating. Recognize what coping mechanisms you best respond to and remember them for when you need to navigate crises.
Crisis plans help to prevent relapse.
Crisis plans are essential because they work to prevent relapse in individuals that utilize them. When you are recovering from substance use, the biggest concern is relapse. Crisis plans help to prevent relapse because:
- They lay out a plan of action that keeps your recovery at the highest priority
- They remind you of coping mechanisms that can replace your urge to use substances
- They encourage ongoing engagement with treatment
- They help you develop necessary exit plans when you have to leave a situation quickly
- They allow you to connect with emergency contacts promptly, whenever necessary
- They motivate you to engage in continuous self-reflection
Associated Behavioral Health Care is a treatment facility that helps individuals manage and overcome their substance use and mental health disorders. We believe in the value of crisis plans and help our patients create them while receiving treatment. We offer various therapeutic interventions to help you discover applicable coping mechanisms for your long-term healing. Don’t delay your start to a more abundant, healthy life. Begin your journey by calling us today at (844) 335-7384.