Relapse Prevention

Medication-assisted therapy alone is not enough to ensure a life free of substance abuse. To successfully overcome addiction and stay sober, you need the right tools and support in place to effectively cope with life’s stresses. At Elite Substance Abuse and Addiction Services, we offer the recovery support you need to prevent relapse.

Relapse Prevention Tools

At Elite Substance Abuse and Addiction Services, every participant (whether eligible for medication-assisted therapy or not) has a personalized treatment plan. While the types of counseling, number, and frequency of sessions, etc. are tailored to meet your unique needs, our therapists will help every participant develop the tools they need to live independently of illicit substances:

  • Ability to identify triggers—you need to know what situations and feelings lead to substance abuse so that you can avoid or eliminate them from your life.
  • Environmental risk assessment—you need to know what living situations and relationships introduce or increase triggers so that you are not putting yourself at greater risk for relapse.
  • Anger management—you need to know what to do with strong feelings that substance abuse used to numb.
  • Support network—you need to know how to cultivate friendships and emotional support to help you when times get hard.

Because “knowing is half the battle,” Elite Substance Abuse and Addiction Services use stages of change model that helps you know what to expect during your recovery journey.

Relapse Prevention Resources

Substance abuse has often eroded participants’ social lives and economic stability, yet these issues need to be addressed to prevent relapse. In addition to equipping, you with the mental tools to prevent relapse, we also connect you with outside resources to find jobs, affordable housing, and health care. Get the tools and resources you need to stay on the path of recovery. 

Risks of Chronic Relapsing

Opioid dependency and drug addiction have well-documented risks both to a person’s health and mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Relapse simply reintroduces those risks.

Health Risks of Relapse

If a participant in a drug addiction recovery treatment program relapses into substance abuse, they increase their risks for illness and disease. Heroin users, for instance, are at a significantly higher risk for contracting:

  • HIV/AIDS
  • Hepatitis


Opioid use is also associated with sweet cravings, often leading to:

  • Weight gain
  • Diabetes
  • Dental problems

Socioeconomic factors compound health risks because affordable health care is often unavailable for people with opioid dependence and/or addiction.

Social Risks of Relapse

Relapsing into substance abuse plunges you back into a world where the only thing that matters is the next fix. As a result, you may find yourself:

  • Associating with toxic peers
  • Participating in criminal activity

Trust you may have built up with your family and/or employers can be destroyed, and each time you relapse, those relationships become harder to repair.

Relapse Prevention

Relapse is often an expected step in the recovery process. However, you can minimize the chances of relapse and manage the damage caused by relapse by having the right resources in place. Elite Substance Abuse and Addiction Services help you get all the help you need by providing:

  • Individual therapy helps you identify triggers and problematic thought and behavior patterns that keep you looping back to substance abuse.
  • Counseling to help you make healthier, life-affirming choices.
  • Peer support resources