Staying on Track
Relapse Prevention Planning
Spot the warning signs early and build a practical plan to protect the progress you're making.
Your relapse prevention plan starts before the crisis.
Many people think relapse begins with drinking, using, gambling or returning to another behaviour. But often there are changes before that point.
We may start isolating, bottling things up, becoming irritable, neglecting ourselves, missing support, romanticising the past, keeping secrets, bargaining with ourselves — or gradually moving closer to situations we once knew were risky.
Those changes matter. Not because they guarantee relapse. Because they give us information.
The earlier I notice
the more options I have.
Understand the process
Relapse can be a process, not just an event.
Real experiences don't always follow a perfectly linear three-stage sequence. This model is a practical way to notice warning signs — not a diagnosis or a prediction.
Stage 1
Emotional
Something is changing in how I'm living or feeling.
Stage 2
Mental
My thinking is beginning to move back towards the old behaviour.
Stage 3
Physical / Behavioural
I return to the substance or behaviour.
Stage 1 · Emotional
Emotional Relapse
“I might not even be thinking about using yet.”
At this stage, the warning signs may show up more in how you're living, feeling and looking after yourself.
Which of these tend to show up first for you?
If I notice these signs, what will I do?
This is why the early stage matters.
You may still have plenty of room\nto change direction.
Stage 2 · Mental
Mental Relapse
“My thinking is starting to change.”
This is where old behaviours may begin looking attractive again. The mind can become selective. We remember the relief, excitement or escape — and conveniently forget the cost.
Notice any of these?
Thought Check
What is my head telling me?
What part of the story is my head leaving out?
If I follow this thought all the way through, where could it take me?
What would I tell someone I cared about if they were having this same thought?
Play It Forward
When our thinking becomes selective, we can stop the story at the part we want. This exercise asks us to continue it.
If I act on this urge — what happens in the first hour?
What might happen later tonight?
What could tomorrow look like?
What could this affect?
What could happen instead if I don't act on it today?
Stage 3 · Physical / Behavioural
Physical or Behavioural Relapse
“I've returned to the substance or behaviour.”
If this has happened, the priority isn't shame. It's what happens next.
Something happened. Let's respond to what has happened now. No “you've blown it”. No “back to square one”.
Know your pattern
What tends to put your recovery under pressure?
My Trigger Map™
Emotional
Social
Environmental
Physical
Personal
Add my own
People
Who needs to know when you're struggling?
My Recovery Circle™
A support list isn't much use if you only look for it once everything has become overwhelming. Build it now.
Person 1
Person 2
Person 3
Professional Support
Counsellor / Therapist
Recovery Support
Fellowship / Peer Support
Other
Contact information is stored only on your device and never sent anywhere automatically.
Practice Reaching Out
Don't wait for a crisis to practise asking for help. Pick one you could actually use.
Or write your own:
Prepare
Rehearse the difficult moment before it happens.
Practising your responses to potential situations makes them easier to reach when it matters.
Scenario 1 — I'm at a social event and the substance / behaviour is available
What would I notice?
What would I do first?
Who could I contact?
How could I leave?
What boundary would protect me?
Scenario 2 — I've had an awful day and want to escape
What is my first response?
Which coping strategy would I use?
Who would I tell?
What do I need physically?
Scenario 3 — My head says “I can handle it this time.”
What would I remind myself?
What evidence do I have?
Who could I talk this through with?
Scenario 4 — Create my own
The situation:
What would I notice?
What would I do?
Who would I contact?
Learn your early signs
What changes first when you're beginning to struggle?
These are the signs I want to catch early.
Connect to Relapse Radar™
Use it to notice when something begins to change.
Mark's original plan
The simple plan that helped me.
Aftercare
Stay connected with structured recovery support.
Connection
Attend fellowship / peer support that works for me.
Purpose
Reconnect with sport, interests and meaningful activities.
Movement
Use exercise as part of looking after myself.
Honesty
Tell the truth about how I'm actually doing.
Practical Barriers
Reduce unnecessary access to things that could make an impulsive decision easier.
People, Places & Things
Create distance from environments that put recovery unnecessarily at risk.
Mark's plan worked for Mark. Your plan needs to work for you.
Build my plan
My Relapse Prevention Plan™
Bring everything together. What you've answered above feeds in here — add anything that's still missing.
My recovery goal — what am I protecting / working towards?
My reasons — why does this matter to me?
My first warning signs:
- Add your early signs above.
My main triggers:
When I'm emotionally slipping — I will:
When my thinking starts changing — I will:
My coping strategies (pull from My Coping Menu™ where available):
My Recovery Circle:
- Add people in My Recovery Circle above.
People / places / situations I need to be careful around:
Practical barriers I can use:
My first action if I feel close to acting:
If I have a setback — my first three actions will be:
Who I will tell:
Especially right now
My Next 24 Hours Plan
If you feel at increased risk or have had a setback, make the next 24 hours deliberate.
Where will I be?
Who will I be around?
Who will I contact?
What will I avoid?
What will I do this evening?
What will I do tomorrow morning?
What support will I attend?
What practical barriers do I need?
What is the ONE thing I will not keep secret?
Saved to this browser only. Your answers stay private.
Relapse prevention isn't
Instead
A setback is something to respond to — not hide from.
Shame can make us want to disappear. Relapse prevention asks us to do the opposite: tell somebody, look at what happened, identify what changed beforehand, strengthen the plan, and get the support you need.
Don't turn one difficult moment
into a reason to abandon everything\nyou've been building.
A note about abstinence and harm reduction.
Empowerment supports different recovery goals. For somebody choosing abstinence, this plan can help protect that decision. For somebody working through harm reduction, use the same framework to notice when agreed limits begin to move, when risk is increasing, when safeguards are being dropped, when behaviour is becoming more secretive, or when consequences are increasing.
We don't force one pathway. Neither do we imply all levels of substance use are medically safe — if there's risk, get appropriate professional support.
Closing
My plan wasn't complicated.
It was a few things I committed to doing consistently. And when my attitude, thinking or behaviour wasn't right, I had something to come back to. Your relapse prevention plan doesn't have to be perfect either. It needs to be honest, practical, and somewhere you can find it when your head isn't giving you the best advice.
Catch the change before the change catches you.
— Mark
Where to next?
The AI Recovery Guide can help you work through this, one step at a time.