Group Session · One Hour
What You Have
to Work With
An inventory of what you have. Then one thing to build.
Addiction is not only the substance. It is not only willpower.
Environment does not explain everything. It explains enough that ignoring it is stupid.
The Question
What are you building so you do not end up back in the same cage?
No one starts from nothing.
You have things built already. Some you see. Some you forget. Today you count them.
Said Once
What you have
to work with.
Recovery capital is the research term. It means your resources. Housing, money, people, time, skills. Said once. Now in plain words. Four areas.
Watch — About Three Minutes
"The Road Home," StoryCorps. One man, and the person who helped him get his life back.
Four Areas
Here is what you count.
AREA 1
The Practical Things
Housing, money, transportation, paperwork, the law.
AREA 2
Your People
Who is in your corner. Who picks up. Who shows up.
AREA 3
You
Your health, your skills, what you get up for.
AREA 4
Where You Live
Whether the doors in this town open for someone like you.
On Your Handout
Mark each line. Gut call.
No score. No one grades it. Three choices, line by line.
SOLID — you have it
SOME — partway
THIN — not yet
Area 1 — The Practical Things
The ground under you.
- A safe place to sleep that is yours for a while
- Enough money for the basics this month
- A way to get where you have to go
- Your ID and your papers
- Legal matters handled, or in motion
- A phone, and a way to keep it on
Area 2 — Your People
Who shows up when there is nothing in it for them.
- One person you can call at 2 a.m. who will pick up
- People glad you are not using, who act like it
- Family that is steady, or getting there
- Someone who has been where you are
- A way to meet people not tied to the old life
- Someone who will help you fill out a form
Area 3 — You
What you can do, and what you get up for.
- Your body is holding up — sleep, food, movement
- Your head is steady most days
- Skills — for work, or for running your own life
- You believe you can do this. Not certain. Willing.
- Something you get up for
- A way through a bad day that does not cost you everything
Area 4 — Where You Live
Whether the doors open for you.
- A place you belong — a group, a crew, a meeting
- Faith, roots, or traditions that hold
- You can actually reach the help you need
- You have seen people like you make it here
- You are treated like a person, not a case
- Doors that were shut are opening
Step Back And Look
Do not add it up. Look.
The Practical Things
Thin
Middling
Solid
Your People
Thin
Middling
Solid
Where You Live
Thin
Middling
Solid
No one is solid on all four.
A thin area is not a mark against you. It is the next thing to build.
Now — One Thing
Not everything. One thing.
What you will build
Why this one
The first step — this week
Who can help
When you start
You built the areas that are solid.
That took work. The same work builds the next one.