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Substance use recovery / SUR-A04-4

Trigger Context Detective — Session activity

Facilitate a structured practice of trigger context detective with preparation, reflection, and an agreed closing.

30 minutes · Session guide · Mental health professionals

Download printable PDFPreview / add to packet

Fictional example: Jordan notices stronger urges after a stressful shift and an empty evening.

Use within your training and assessment of readiness. A cue is part of a wider sequence rather than proof that use is inevitable.

0–5 min | Agree on purpose and fit

Explain the educational scope. Ask what would be useful, check readiness and access needs, and establish choices to observe, adapt, or pass. Use an ordinary example; do not solicit trauma narratives.

5–10 min | Orient with an example

A cue is part of a wider sequence rather than proof that use is inevitable. Fictional example: Jordan notices stronger urges after a stressful shift and an empty evening. Ask what is observed and what remains uncertain.

10–20 min | Practice and compare

Map an ordinary high-risk situation through setting, thoughts, feelings, body cues, and available choices. Offer quiet individual work, a supported conversation, or an observing role. Compare two possible responses without evaluating people as right or wrong.

20–25 min | Reflect on meaning

Where could support enter before the urge becomes harder to manage? Ask what fit, what did not fit, and how culture, power, disability access, or external conditions affect the options.

25–30 min | Integrate and close

Invite one optional next step or support request. Orient to the current setting, allow an unfinished question to remain unfinished, and agree how to revisit it. End early or adapt if activation increases.

Adaptations

For a group, use fiction and no compulsory round-robin disclosure. For remote use, allow off-camera reflection and private notes. For brief use, keep one example and one question while retaining opening and closing choices.

Prompts for this resource

  1. What outcome would make this practice useful?
  2. Where could support enter before the urge becomes harder to manage?
  3. What adaptation or follow-up is needed?

Conceptual background

Substance Use Disorders — National Institutes of Health

Background on the approach only. Original exercises and wording are by More Than Therapy with AI assistance; the source does not validate or endorse these materials.

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