Drug addiction alcoholism treatment alcohol abuse

Helping an Employee Who has Relapsed

If an employee or union member has attended treatment but is struggling with relapse it’s probably because the treatment plan was not as complete as it needed to be to counter the threat of relapse.

People who struggle with addiction are prone to relapse – the return to use after a period of abstinence. This can be extremely painful for newly recovering addicts, their families and workplaces.

In the absence of support, relapse can dampen the hope of recovery. However, with the right support, many turn brief relapses into learning experiences that help to create stronger foundations for long-term recovery.

Renascent Complete Care addresses relapse by offering clients a 15 week structured relapse prevention program, family care and lifelong access to Renascent’s alumni community. A short-term residential treatment program alone is usually not sufficient to lay the foundation for lifelong recovery.

If you work with someone who’s attended an abstinence-based treatment program and is struggling with relapse, we recommend the following:

• Get Complete Care by augmenting short-term residential treatment with Renascent Continuing Care, Family Care and Alumni Care. Unless people are assessed as needing it, most who’ve completed intensive treatment in the last six months won’t need to take Renascent Primary Care.

Make 12-step meetings and working with a sponsor part of the person’s return-to-work agreement. Our outcome studies show Renascent alumni who regularly attend meetings and work with a sponsor are twice as successful.