Welcome to Groups

See below: Relapse Prevention Handbook created by the treatment team at GDAS and thought it was worth sharing.

It covers many core relapse prevention topics, including cravings, high-risk situations, support networks, self-care, mindfulness, and includes several practical worksheets that can be used with clients.

No resource is perfect, but I always enjoy seeing how other organizations present evidence-based concepts. Hopefully you'll find something useful to add to your own toolbox.

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Being kind to yourself isn't always easy, especially when it's often easier to show compassion to others than to yourself.

This week's free resource explores self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness while including a simple daily self-reflection exercise to help put these ideas into practice. It can be used in individual counseling, group therapy, or as a personal wellness activity.

Free Download for Group or Individual Therapy:

This week's free resource is SAMHSA's Creating a Healthier Life: A Step-by-Step Guide to Wellness.

The guide explores the eight dimensions of wellness, including emotional, physical, social, financial, occupational, and spiritual well-being. What I like most is that it encourages people to think beyond symptoms and consider the bigger picture of recovery and wellness.

This could be useful for clinicians, peer specialists, case managers, and anyone interested in personal growth. Worth adding to your resource collection.

Free Download:

The attached free PDF document provides guidance and exercises for practicing motivational interviewing techniques to facilitate behavior change.  

It provides practical exercises, scripts, and strategies for eliciting change talk, building rapport, exploring values, and supporting parents in making positive changes for themselves and their children.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

This free workbook from University of Arkansas Counseling and Psychological Services includes practical tools for understanding and managing anxiety and depression, including breathing exercises, self-care planning, CBT worksheets, grounding skills, thought-challenging tools, and more.

Download it here:

This is a thoughtful worksheet and psychoeducational tool that explores how emotional triggers develop, how they affect reactions, and ways to respond more mindfully instead of reactively.

It includes reflection exercises, trigger identification worksheets, and a simple grounding framework (Stop • Breathe • Notice • Reflect • Respond).

This can be a useful discussion tool for groups focused on mental health, substance use, emotional regulation, trauma, stress management, and self-awareness.

Source: National Wellness Institute / Janet Fouts

Free Download:

Introducing a new free Taking the Escalator infographic designed to support family addiction discussions and psychoeducation groups.

“The Family Experience with Addiction” explores some of the common emotional reactions families experience when supporting a loved one with a substance use disorder — including confusion, hypervigilance, emotional exhaustion, hope/disappointment cycles, boundary struggles, and learning healthier ways to cope.

Rather than presenting families as “in denial,” this resource takes a more compassionate and realistic approach: These are human reactions to chronic stress, fear, uncertainty, and emotional pain.

Great for:

• Family groups

• Psychoeducation

Sharing a free Motivational Interviewing-based worksheet from the Centre for Collaborative Motivational Interviewing that can work really well one-on-one with clients who are exploring health, wellness, stress reduction, or behavior change goals.

What I like about this one is that it helps break goals down into small, realistic action steps while also exploring confidence and follow-through in a supportive, non-confrontational way. It is also fillable/write-in friendly which makes it practical to use directly during sessions.

Free PDF below:

It can be surprisingly common how many clients in mental health and substance use treatment also have issues with sleep.

I found this free worksheet on improving sleep and thought it was worth sharing here. It’s practical and easy to use and it covers things like sleep habits, tracking patterns, and how stress and thoughts can keep the cycle going.

It could be a good fit for groups where low energy and poor sleep are clearly part of the picture.

Download: