Individuals making efforts to overcome addiction have several experiences in 12-step treatment program. These can take the form of outpatient, intensive outpatient or treatment from the home. They may also receive services in luxurious environments, community health centers, or prisons. They may experience cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational speeches, or home therapy (Crawford, 2016). A client who fails to complete the 12-step program two times in a year have a basis of doing so. It must have been a challenging experience on the two occasions as they progress through and out of the program. An alternative to the 12-step approach for this client would be effective in the treatment process. Even though the alternatives to the 12-step approach have been resisted over the past decades, they can achieve much with the advent of new technologies in the world. This, coupled with the upsurge of a new generation of individuals in treatment who need more control over their treatment process could make the recovery program comfortable and a possibility. In fact, the program recommended for this client is what the he takes control over his recovery plan.
The process of getting an alternative program has to begin with a client a choice. As a practitioner, offering a number of alternative groups matter so that the client can select a program that fulfils most of his needs if not all. Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART) recovery would be the best alternative for the client. Van Wormer and Davis (2016) explain that such a program is geared towards helping the client to have control over his addictive behavior by concentration on inherent thoughts and perceptions. The client would acquire skills that will help him to counter cravings and desires for the long term.
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In contrast to the 12-step approach, SMART banks on being a self-empowering process to the client. On the hand, the 12-step program needs the clients to admit powerlessness over the addiction. Therefore, SMART program becomes effective as practitioners help the client to examine particular behaviors to discover challenges that need the most care. They are then trained on how to rely on themselves to take control over the addictive behavior. Whereas the 12-step program is procedural and one has to tackle a particular point in the order provided by the approach, SMART recovery does not. The practitioner will help the client handle each step of a 4-point program based on his needs. There are a number of similarities between the 12-step programs and SMART program. Each entails a series of assignments availed to the client to overcome their addiction (Van Wormer & Davis, 2016). The programs are done privately whereby the identity of the client is not revealed but stays within the meetings. SMART is different from the 12-step group because it allows participants not to be referred to as addicts or possessing some form of a ‘disease.” The client in question must have not found the 12-step productive because he did not appreciate the notion of admitting powerlessness or surrendering to a higher authority. In the SMART approach, the client will like the idea of taking charge of his life instead. Another variation is that recovery is not deemed a lifetime process in SMART. The client will graduate from recovery and start a new, productive life.
In conclusion, both 12-step approach and SMART offer productive support to clients. The practitioner must be keen in assessing the client to discover what may work for him or her. The client can also be encouraged to choose what is best for him or her. Simply put, the 12-step approach could not just work for the client, but an alternative would.
References
Crawford, M. (2016). An Analysis of substance-abuse treatment programs: Comparing the efficacy of treatment between SMART Recovery and Alcoholics Anonymous at the duration of 30, 60, and 90 days on the SASSI-3 (Doctoral dissertation, Alliant International University).
Van Wormer, K., & Davis, D. R. (2016). Addiction treatment . Cengage Learning.
