Recovery Training and Self Help (RTSH) for the Treatment of Opiate and Heroin Addiction
Recovery Training and Self-Help (RTSH) is a comprehensive relapse prevention strategy. It combines four strategies, and can be used effectively in the context of continued care and/or follow-up counseling services provided in the course of addiction recovery. RTSH can be used as part of either residential or outpatient programs. RTSH employs a group format which combines cognitive – behavioral, social support, and lifestyle change approaches. RTSH enables clients to learn how to identify and deal with specific threats to recovery. The RTSH program teaches individuals self-sustaining alternative responses to these threats. These new responses are elements of a new pattern of behavior, and a recovering lifestyle.
What are the features of Recovery Training and Self Help?
RTSH employs a group format which combines cognitive –behavio0ral, social support, and lifestyle change approaches in four strategies. The principal strategy is Recovery Training group of 6 – 30 members who meet weekly for 90 minutes under a counselor’s guidance to examine hot to handle common threats to recovery.
Other RTSH components are weekly Fellowship Group Meetings, Group Social Recreation for clients and their friend, and a network of Senior Recovering Persons to offer guidance and serve as role models.
Why is this relapse prevention approach recommended over others?
A variety of relapse prevention approaches are currently in use around the country. Among them are approaches based on cognitive behavioral, social support, 12 step, lifestyle change, cure extinction and pharmacotherapeutic techniques.
The RTSH approach was chosen because careful scientific testing have proven that it works; it helps recovering persons stay off drugs. Treatment programs that are committed to approaches such as NA and AA will find that the two approaches recommended here are compatible with them.
Materials to Support the Transfer and Maintenance of Learning in the Workplace.
Participants attending the workshop receive the support materials listed below. These materials are valuable resources that will help treatment programs successfully implement and maintain the approaches.
An Introduction to Relapse Prevention, which discusses the nature and causes of relapse, gives reason for doing relapse prevention, and describes the two tested relapse prevention approaches.
The Recovery Training and Self Help: Relapse Prevention and After Care Manual. Provides specific instructions on how to organize and implement RTSH. It addresses problems that service providers are likely to encounter and describes how to address them. Each of the 24 curriculum units is presented in detail, including session objectives, background information on the unit topic, key points, suggested format for group meeting, and the handouts for each unit. It is an incredibly valuable resource.
RTSH Administrator Manual; The administrator guide for this approach discuss administrative and planning issues that program managers interested in adding relapse prevention to their programs should consider. These issues include staff training, fitting relapse prevention into the limited time most programs have to work with clients, and adjusting the model to fit specific program philosophies.
