Addiction and mental health are so heavily intertwined that it's impossible to focus on one without looking at the other. It has long been proven that addiction and recovery are as mental as they are physical. Those with addictions who do recover are those who not only remove alcohol and substances from their lives, but receive the support they need to change the way they relate to the world from the inside out. We're here to help you every step of the way by giving you the information you need to make a mental health recovery plan. 

What Is Good Mental Health? 

The internet is saturated with information about bad mental health and the many forms it can take, like anxiety, depression, and trauma. In contrast, there is far less focus on the characteristics of good mental health and what they look like. A person who is in good mental health will have little difficulty in: 

• Learning new things 

• Expressing, feeling, and healthily managing a wide range of positive and negative emotions

• Forming and maintaining positive relationships with others 

• Coping with change and uncertainty

Feelings of peace, wellbeing, and having a true purpose outside of any personal or professional relationship form the foundations of a healthy attitude towards life. Those in good mental health tend to be part of a community where they feel their contribution is valued and are working to realize their potential. Hallmarks of a person who is mentally healthy include: 

• Being able to draw on knowledge from previous experiences when approaching new ones 

• Feelings of optimism about the present & future 

• Setting and achieving realistic goals

• Favorable opinion of self and consistent feelings of high self-esteem 

• Having a wide social & support network 

A good mental health recovery plan will contain all of these characteristics as overall objectives and the action points required to achieve them.

Making a Mental Health Recovery Plan 

A mental health recovery plan should include four different routinely revised components and be adjusted as circumstances evolve and change. They have a detailed breakdown of: 

1. Goals

While the end goal of a mental health recovery plan is to be mentally healthy, it's essential to have clearly defined objectives for success unique to the individual. Their plan can include a description of what they're like at optimal mental health and what goals they will have achieved in this state. This could consist of: 

• Full-time employment

• A new social circle 

• Tapering off medication 

• A healthy romantic relationship 

• Complete abstinence from alcohol and drugs 

• Partaking in regular exercise, or 

• Moving to a new city

Meditation and visualization exercises are great at helping clarify what success looks like to you. 

2. Action Points

Goals will not achieve themselves. Although creating them is important, breaking down the baby steps required to accomplish them is even more so. If staying sober is fundamental to your mental health recovery plan, then action points can include:

• Attending sobriety support groups.

• Having a sponsor.

• Avoiding bars or nightclubs.

• Not attending social activities that could involve substance use.

• Changing apartments. 

They could also include a daily routine checklist to monitor your healthy habits, including meditating, exercising, eating healthily, and asking for support. Action points focused on finding employment would involve networking, creating new resumes, and committing to contacting a minimum of, for example, ten recruiters a week. 

3. Trigger Events 

Most people seeking help for addiction and mental health recovery have relapsed in the past. Relapsing is usually the result of the accumulation of emotional, psychological, and environmental stressors without engaging in self-care practices to manage them, like attending therapy, exercising, or meditating. On reflection, it is often easy to see the chain of events that led to relapse and how intervention at different stages could have prevented it. 

To prevent it from happening again, it is essential to include a detailed account of any previous relapse events, their causes, and what could have been done to prevent them. This works as a reminder to the individual when they encounter similar circumstances to choose a different outcome. 

4. Crisis Plan  

Anyone can find themselves in crisis, and an excellent mental health recovery plan should include what to do in the event of a crisis. Their crisis plan should have breathing techniques, calming meditations, contact numbers of trusted friends and family, and addresses of local hotels or safe places to stay should they be necessary. The most important thing is to get through a crisis without making things worse by engaging in self-harming or destructive behavior. Role-playing crisis scenarios in individual or group therapy can help remind individuals that they have resources to draw on in the event of highly emotional situations. 

Everyone deserves a happy, fulfilled life, free from addictions. With a mental health recovery plan, you can put your best foot forward and begin to see all the good things life has to offer. Most importantly, it will help you realize that you deserve them too. For more information on mental health and addiction recovery, check out our blog or get in touch for a free, confidential consultation now. Recovery is possible. 

Do you want to set realistic goals for recovery? Download our free guide to setting realistic recovery goals below!

Realistic Recovery Goals

How to set, track and accomplish your recovery goals this year. In this guide, we cover:

• Proven & effective methods for sticking to your recovery goals

• Printable worksheets to help you put it all to action

• Plus additional tips & resources to help you recover from drug or alcohol dependencies