CEUs and Addiction Counselor Precertification training are available at AllCEUs.com
hey there everybody and welcome back to the addictions and mental health
Disorders Treatment manual I'm your host Dr Donnelly Snipes this video is
on unit 1 part 17. stages of Readiness for change this stage is preparation the prior
two videos talked about pre-contemplation and contemplation now we're moving into preparation
in the preparation stage of change the person is getting ready to make that change they've
identified that there's a problem they've decided that okay I need to do something about it now I
need to figure out what it is I need to do I need to start getting all my proverbial ducks in a row
like packing for a trip the person is going to do it soon it's important for you to clarify
goals and strategies for change how are you going to approach this process are you going to check
into residential are you going to start seeing a therapist are you going to get a self-help
book what is it that you are going to start doing in order to begin this change process
and then examine your confidence that you can change and it's important to believe that you
can change and figure out okay what is it that I need to do or what resources do I need to build up
to ensure My Success spend about 50 minutes visualizing change and I love this activity
get a poster board or you can do it online if you want but a poster board and make a collage
of the positive aspects of recovery what's the big picture what is life going to look like when you
have achieved your goal of recovery ask yourself what would it be like if I woke up tomorrow and
were recovered we're sober we're happy once you've identified all of those things and you've made
this collage and you know this is what I'm headed towards this is that rich and meaningful life
then it's going to be important to identify the first step toward each of those aspects
so maybe you identify improved relationships okay that's great what is the first step you
need to do to start improving your relationship with Sally what is the first step you need to
take in order to start a proof improving your relationship with Tom Etc this will start
helping you identify ways to use your energy to move toward your rich and meaningful life
other preparation activities howdy from the future and you don't have to do all three of these
different people ha have different preferences in howdy for the future again you spend about
50 minutes write a letter to yourself with a future date and describe what life is like at
that point and when you're writing this letter be very detailed about how you feel physically your
relationships what you're doing your attitude your mood Etc a different activity again 50 minutes
write down the directions to what we call Destination recovery that is where you want to go
and then identify any obstacles in the way and those are going to be your construction zones
explore how you're going to manage all the other facets of your life while on your trip
when you go on a trip especially a long trip a lot of times you have to plan for who's going to pick
up your mail how your bills are going to get paid who's going to feed the dog what are your plants
Etc same sort of thing in recovery recovery is a long process and you're going to be devoting
a whole lot of energy to that process so who can help you out or what do you need to do
to make sure that the things that have to get done get done and you can focus on your recovery