Our Program
This document outlines goals, objectives, and interventions during treatment.
Treatment plan
This practice increases awareness of thoughts, emotions, and urges without judgment.
What is mindfulness
This dimension focuses on thoughts, emotions, and mental health.
What is Dimension 3?
This chemical messenger is often called the brain’s “feel-good” neurotransmitter — it surges during substance use and natural rewards like eating, laughing and even gambling
Dopamine
This helps create safety and structure for a healing brain.
What is routine
2 or more missed appointments (no call, no show) including group attendance results in
An attendance contract and then with further recovery treatment opportunities missed-Discharge
This DBT skill focuses on accepting reality as it is to reduce suffering.
What is Radical Acceptance
Name one way to increase motivation in recovery.
What is setting goals, reflecting on consequences, values work, support systems?
This neurotransmitter helps regulate mood, sleep, and overall well-being — when it’s low, depression and anxiety often increase.
Serotonin
Skipping meals, isolating, or avoiding appointments are examples of these.
What are behavioral relapse warning signs
Someone dominates the conversation and interrupts others during group. Which rule supports balance?
What is respectful communication (Have a point!)
This DBT skill uses cold water or temperature change to reset the stress response.
What is TIPP
T – Temperature:
Changing body temperature (such as splashing cold water on your face or holding something cold) can activate the dive reflex, slowing heart rate and reducing emotional intensity.
I – Intense Exercise:
Short bursts of physical activity (like jumping jacks or brisk walking) help burn off adrenaline and lower emotional arousal.
P – Paced Breathing:
Slow, controlled breathing (longer exhales than inhales) helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system and reduce stress.
P – Paired Muscle Relaxation:
Tensing and releasing muscle groups helps release physical tension and calm the body.
True or False: Relapse happens suddenly without warning signs.
What is False?
Long-term substance use damages the brain’s reward pathway, causing reduced pleasure from normal activities — a condition known as this.
Anhedonia
Research shows mindfulness can physically change the brain by strengthening this area that helps with focus and decision making
Prefrontal cortex
Name all 6 dimensions included in ASAM
substance use (withdrawal and intoxication),
physical health,
mental & emotional health,
readiness to change,
relapse risk,
environment
You’re in a high-risk situation at a holiday party. What can you do to cope with these feelings? Looking for 2 coping skills....
Instead of isolating or giving in to pressure, you reach out to your support system, use refusal skills, and remove yourself if needed.
A sponsor or mentor should have these three key qualities
solid recovery time, healthy boundaries, and a willingness to guide others without judgment.
This is the brain’s amazing ability to form new connections and adapt throughout life — even after addiction.
What is neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity shows that recovery isn’t just about willpower — it’s about literally rewiring the brain through these three steps: repetition, new behaviors, and positive reinforcement.
When someone tries to guilt you for taking care of yourself, they are crossing this kind of boundary
emotional boundary
Why does American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) recommend IOP clients to attend 9 hours a week? Come up with 2 reasons in your answer
Addiction treatment research consistently shows a “dose effect” — meaning the more hours of structured treatment a client receives, the better the outcomes.
9 hours strikes an appropriate balance between:
Intensity — enough therapeutic exposure to significantly impact behavior change, and
Accessibility — allowing clients to maintain work, family, or school responsibilities.
Frequent, repeated exposure to therapeutic content — about 3 sessions weekly — helps reinforce these new neural patterns.
Clients who attend at least 9–12 hours per week have higher abstinence rates at 6- and 12-month follow-ups.
Practicing this skill builds tolerance for discomfort and rewires the brain’s reward system by breaking the automatic link between craving and use.
What is urge surfing
Spending time with people who use substances is considered what?
What is a high-risk situation?
This primary excitatory neurotransmitter plays a key role in learning, memory, and cravings, and becomes dysregulated in substance use disorders, contributing to relapse risk.
What is glutamate
People often think that Kratom is natural or safe due to it's marketing and availability- but in reality it is risky because it does this....
It activates opioid pathways (binds to opioid receptors) in the brain causing cravings and physical withdrawal, and can lead to relapse on stronger opioids