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What I Need From Substance Use Care

Clarify treatment preferences and barriers so care can address the person's actual needs.

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Standard fillable PDF

A treatment plan is more useful when its purpose, expectations, and practical demands are clear. You may be starting care, returning after a gap, or questioning its fit. Use this page to identify what you want understood and what makes participation difficult.

How to use this page

Choose a current or possible service. List one goal, one access concern, and one question about how care would work.

Clarify the fit

Ask how care addresses your substance concerns, physical health, emotional needs, culture, and preferences. Include medication and nonmedication support questions without assuming one pathway suits everyone.

Make barriers discussable

Name cost, transport, scheduling, language, privacy, or past experiences of judgment. Request a concrete adaptation or referral rather than treating difficulty attending as a character flaw.

Reflection prompts

Use these questions in conversation, on paper, or in the downloaded PDF. You may adapt or skip a prompt.

  1. What goal or need would I want treatment to address?
  2. What would respectful and useful care look like for me?
  3. What barrier could interfere with participation?
  4. What question or requested adaptation should I raise at the next contact?
Facilitator notes and adaptation

Use appropriate substance-specific assessment, including withdrawal and overdose risk, and support continuity of existing treatment. Do not guarantee access or confidentiality. Avoid presenting a preference worksheet as a diagnostic or treatment-matching instrument.

Sources behind the concepts

These sources inform the concepts in this original resource. They do not validate or endorse this specific page.

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