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Relapse Prevention Workbook for Chemically Dependent Criminal Offenders

Introduction

If you are reading this workbook, you probably have had trouble with alcohol or drugs and have gotten into trouble with the law. Many people who have trouble with alcohol and drugs don't believe it is a problem for them. You may not believe it is a problem for you.

The purpose of this workbook is to find out if you have a problem with alcohol or drugs and how this connects with your problems with the law. If you can understand how the two are connected, you may be able to prevent problems from happening again.

Problems with the law usually occur for one or both of the following reasons.

• The way you think gets you into trouble
• You have an alcohol or drug problem that gets you in trouble.

Some people know they have an alcohol or drug problem. They want to stop using, but they haven't been able to. These people are called chemically dependent. This workbook is designed to help you if you have a problem with alcohol or drugs and the law, whether or not you believe you are chemically dependent.

One thing you probably want to do is to resolve your problems with the law. In order for that to happen, you must be willing to do several things.

• Consider that you might have a problem with alcohol and/or drugs. If alcohol and drugs get you into trouble with the law, your family, or your job, it is likely that you are chemically dependent. If this is true, the only way you can resolve these problems is to stop using alcohol and drugs. This may not be easy, but you can do it if you will accept help.
• Consider that your thinking might be wrong on some issues. If your thinking is wrong, it can cause you to act in ways that get you into trouble. It can cause you to feel like you don't fit in, prevent you from getting what you want out of life, and cause you to not get along with other people. When this happens, the only way you know how to feel good is to try to fool or "con" other people.
• Decide that you can change your life. No matter how much people try to help you, you must be willing to believe that you can make your life better if you do certain things. You must be willing to look honestly at your life and want to change. If you are willing to do this, you can make your life different. This workbook can help you.

Section I: What Are My Problems?

The first section of this workbook has two self-tests. If you are honest when you answer the questions, you will find out

• If you are chemically dependent (can't stop using alcohol and drugs without help). By finding out whether you are chemically dependent, you can make decisions that will change your future.
• If your personality is like that of other offenders. You will see evidence of these similarities in your life. Your personality is made up of the way you think, feel, and act. These questions will help you to decide if you want to change your personality.

Understanding your problems is important in getting where you want to go. It is all right if you don't like what you find, but if you want to change, you must accept that you have problems.

To get where you want to go, you have to be honest about where you are. It is like the man who called somebody to ask directions to get to his house. He didn't want to tell the person where he was at the time because he didn't want him to know, so he told him he was somewhere else. Of course, the directions he received were useless to him.

Section II: How Did I Get Here?

The second section of this workbook will help you understand how you have gotten into trouble in the past. By understanding your past thoughts, feelings, and actions, you can understand what will happen in the future unless you change. This section will show you what you have to change.

This section will also help you to understand your thinking, feeling, and ways of acting that caused you to use alcohol or drugs or break the law. It will help you understand how one thing leads to the other.

Sections III, IV, and V: How To Change

The final three sections of this workbook teach you how to change your thoughts, feelings, and ways of acting that have gotten you into trouble in the past. They will show you how to make a plan that you can use on a daily basis to change your life for the better.

This workbook alone will not change your life. You must also use other forms of help. You can change your life for the better if you are willing to do several things.

• Not Use Alcohol or Drugs. The first thing you must do is be willing to stop using alcohol and drugs. Recovery from chemical dependency must begin with abstinence. There is help available to do this.
• Attend Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA) Meetings. The best place to find out how to recover is somewhere you can be with people who have been in the same situation as you. You should attend as many meetings as possible. The more you talk with recovering people, the more you can learn from them.

When you go to meetings, listen to what people say. Ask yourself, "How am I like these people?" "How did they change?" "What things did they do that I can try?" Ask someone to be your sponsor. A sponsor is a person whom you respect who has been sober for quite a while. This is someone you can talk to on a one-on-one basis. He or she can help you by listening and sharing his or her own experiences.

When you speak at these meetings, be as honest as you can. You will get more help if you tell people how you really think and feel than if you try to impress them. Read as many of the AA or NA books as possible. The more you read about recovery, the more your thinking will change. When your thinking changes, you will start to feel and act differently.

• Get Counseling. Go to one-on-one counseling sessions at least once a week, and more often if you can. Counseling will help you work on issues that may cause problems in recovery.
• Read This Workbook. By reading and doing the exercises in this workbook, you will have a better chance of recovery and less chance of relapse. Follow the instructions very carefully. Sometimes it will seem as if you are doing the same thing over and over again. This repetition forces you to see certain things again and again so you will remember them. Many times the instructions will have you copy answers from previous exercises. This is to help you understand how all of the exercises and all the things in the exercises and in your life work together.

Sometimes you won't understand why you are doing a certain thing. The reason will become clearer as you move on. Sometimes you may get angry and frustrated. Sometimes you will want to quit. This is normal. Quit for a while, but then try again later. People who do not quit are more likely to recover.

Try to work in the workbook for 1 or 2 hours, once or twice a day. There is plenty of space available for each answer. You do not have to fill in every line for every question.

If you have trouble reading this workbook or understanding it, ask for help. It may not be easy, but learning how to ask for help is one of the things you must do to recover.

Most of all, you must put your work into action. It is only by working on changing that we will change and our lives will get better. It can happen to you if you try.

We know of a man who spent over half of his life in reform schools and prisons. He finished high school in prison but had no further education. He began attending AA in prison, and got out of prison at age 35. He worked very hard at his recovery. Today, he has two college degrees, is married and has a family, and works as a counselor with inmates. He has been sober for over 10 years.

You can change your life too. But, you must understand that it will take time and hard work.

The "Big Book" is the "school book" of AA that shows you how to recover. It uses the letters H-O-W to explain how to recover. This workbook will work for you in the same way.

Honesty—This means being totally honest about how you think, feel, and act. Unless you are willing to be honest, you cannot make progress.

Open-mindedness—You must be willing to think that you may be wrong about some things. Unless you can do this, you cannot change. If you do not change, the same things will keep happening to you.

Willingness—You must be willing to try difficult things that you do not like and that sometimes hurt at first. The easiest thing for you to do is what you have always done. The hardest thing to do is change. But you can do it if you work on changing day by day. If you change a little each day, in the end you will be a different person.

Section I: What Are My Problems?

This first section contains two tests. (1) the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Test and (2) the Offender Personality Self-Test. Completing each test will help you to understand yourself better and begin to change.

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Last Updated 11-7-02