Target Exercise: Relapse Prevention Planning
© NAMI Peer-to-Peer Recovery Education Course Week Seven Class Handouts (Rev. 2006) included the Target Exercise shown above, the text of which I’ve summarized below.
- In the bull’s-eye, we put what we MUST do, or MUST not do, to live well with mental illness.
- I MUST take my medicine, sleep, and not overdo it.
- In the next ring, we include what we MIGHT do to improve our health. These we suspect prevent or trigger relapses, and we may move these items into thebull’s-eyeasMUSTS.
- I MIGHT walk, exercise, and eat healthier.
- The third ring represents what we CAN do. These we can do without risk to our health and that we can do to improve our life now. These include things we are already doing to stay well.
- I CAN (and do) read, write, blog, take part in groups, and meditate.
- Outside the target, we put what we WANT to do ~ dreams, goals, and desires for the future.
- My WANTS include volunteer for NAMI, take classes to further my training as a California licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (perhaps Dialectical Behavioral Therapy training), become an expert public speaker, and travel internationally. Here I got ambitious, and it felt good to once again be ambitious, for I’ve felt hobbled by bipolar disorder for far too long.
© NAMI Peer-to-Peer Recovery Education Course Week Seven Class Handouts, Rev. 2006
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