An overdose prevention strategy can go a long way toward avoiding the most devastating consequence of a substance use disorder (SUD). An overdose and relapse prevention plan is critical in BlueCrest Recovery’s relapse prevention program. Call 888.292.9652 to get started with effective substance use treatment, and start your path to sobriety today.
What Is an Overdose Prevention Plan?
An overdose prevention strategy is a comprehensive approach to ensuring that fatal drug overdose does not occur. While the goal of any addiction treatment program is to achieve total abstinence and recovery, the fact is that relapse is often a part of recovery for many people.
Training people in skills and techniques to prevent overdose is a harm reduction strategy. The idea is to ensure that people can survive addiction long enough to recover. While each client gets a unique overdose and relapse prevention plan, several core elements comprise a comprehensive harm reduction strategy. These include:
- Identifying high-risk situations and developing methods to avoid or deal with them
- Recognizing that relapse can occur and that it does not mean an end to recovery
- Equipping people with tools and resources to prevent overdose
When combined with effective evidence-based strategies, these core elements can prevent relapse and reduce the risk of overdose if a slip happens.
Benefits of an Overdose Prevention Plan
Recognizing the risk of overdose is an essential component of evidence-based treatment. An overdose prevention plan’s benefits can be lifesaving and even benefit those who never relapse. These benefits include the following.
Facing Relapse Head-On
Every treatment center aims to help its clients achieve a lifetime of recovery, but the fact is that relapse happens. To ignore the possibility of relapse is to stick your head in the sand and rob yourself of strategies to help you overcome this challenging experience.
An overdose prevention plan recognizes that the path to recovery is not always linear, and that people can still be on the path to sobriety if they slip up or make a mistake.
Providing Resources to Reduce Overdose Risk
Acknowledging that relapse happens means that our team of addiction professionals can teach our clients how to mitigate the risk of overdose. This could include using resources such as:
- Fentanyl testing strips
- Public health groups
- The opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone
- Harm reduction strategies that minimize the risk of bloodborne illness or accidental overdose
Critics may say that these strategies teach people how to use drugs, but the truth is that they teach people how to survive an SUD that is out of their control. This enables our clients who continue to struggle with addiction to pull themselves out of substance use patterns over time.
Staying Vigilant
Even for people who never face the challenge of relapse during their recovery, an overdose prevention strategy can provide the benefit of helping them to stay vigilant in the face of triggers.
An overdose prevention strategy makes one point abundantly clear: the danger of returning to substance use exists for anyone in recovery, and staying aware can help you maintain your sobriety.
Sometimes, in early recovery, people can make the mistake of feeling invincible. They may think that they have conquered addiction. The truth is that substance use is a danger that can last a lifetime. By remembering why you got sober and understanding the consequences of relapse, you can more easily achieve long-term recovery.
Develop a Harm Reduction Strategy at BlueCrest Recovery
If you or a loved one is living with an SUD, contact the team at BlueCrest Recovery by dialing 888.292.9652. Our team of addiction professionals is standing by to take your call and will be there every step of your recovery journey.
