Substance use recovery / SUR-A18-1
Co-occurring Concerns Bridge — Concept brief
Understand the idea behind co-occurring concerns bridge and consider whether it fits your context.
8 minutes · Handout · Adults; supported use as appropriate
Fictional example: Jordan notices that low mood and urges sometimes rise together.
Use an ordinary or fictional example, with a clinician when appropriate. Mental health and substance-use concerns can be discussed together.
The idea
Mental health and substance-use concerns can be discussed together.
An ordinary example
Jordan notices that low mood and urges sometimes rise together.
What this can look like
Prepare a shared-care summary of concerns, goals, current supports, and questions without assigning a diagnosis.
Check the fit
What would you like your providers to understand about the connection? You may disagree with the framing, use fiction, or decide that this approach is not useful today.
A useful distinction
A return to use is information for reassessing care and support, not a verdict on personal worth.
Prompts for this resource
- What part of this idea makes sense to me?
- What would you like your providers to understand about the connection?
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.