Treatment plans with their problem statements, goals, objectives are usually touted as key elements for a recovery process. Yet, they always sound so starchy and boring. I have yet to find a client thrilled by holding their treatment plan in hand. In a similar vein, should you ever watch an HBO special or typical addiction training video, they are always so morbid. The stories are gloomy, the actors or real people sound depressing, and even the music is dark.
My point is our treatment plans, and client portrayals just seem lifeless.
Why do these things have to be depicted in these ways?
Quite frankly, I am beginning to think such portrayals add to the less than stellar recovery we often encounter.
Might there be a way to alter the context of our present starchy, boring, and morbid style to something infused with a bit more dash?
Something brisk, more alluring, something with fire.
No! Not those silly activities some programs offer. Something deeper, something with profound meaning.
The thought turns on context, from dragging oneself from stodgy treatment plans and glum videos to an adventure.
Adventure fills us with possibilities and yearning to do it.
Adventures are all about traversing challenges, engaging monsters from the bowels of hell, and only with much effort do we finally stand humbled but tall. It is about attainment, and being the better person because of it.
Think of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Odyssey, where heroes and heroines endure all kinds of dark lords (envision cravings), menacing creatures (drug pushers), and after a long and hard quest (recovery), step into the light.
What would it be like if we could help infuse such a notion in the minds of newly recovering people?
“You are about to embark on an adventure. It is filled with challenges and difficult tasks. But, if done well, it will bring untold riches of the mind and soul. Are you up for it? ”
I wonder then what clients would feel as a treatment plan was handed to them?
