Peer Advocacy for Impaired Nurses, LLC © 2008-
Recovery Mentoring (Personal Recovery Assistant)
What in the world is a recovery mentor?
In today’s substance abuse and chemical dependence treatment community, most follow an “acute care” model.
Picture an acute care model for physical ailments as an example.
Someone has an accident and suffers a broken bone and lacerations. They are taken
to an emergency room where their wounds are evaluated. The appropriate specialists
are contacted and will treat the injured individual. In this example, an orthopedic
surgeon and a plastic surgeon are called in for consult. The orthopedic surgeon sets
the leg and applies a cast, telling the person to make an appointment to be seen
in his office in 3 -
After a week to 10 days, the plastic surgeon is satisfied the patient’s wounds are healing well and that no infection has begun. He leaves the patient with the comment, “You don’t have to come back unless you experience pain, swelling or fever.”
The orthopedic surgeon sees the patient at various intervals over the next 8 -
This is similar to the way many people with substance abuse or addiction are managed.
A crisis event occurs (DUI, accident, domestic violence, accidental OD, etc.), the
person is intervened upon, enters a treatment facility for detox and then moved to
outpatient therapy for 4 -
There are several key research findings that underscore the need for sustained recovery support services and the potential of the recovery mentor role. A growing number of studies confirm that addiction recovery:
• begins prior to the cessation of drug use;
• is marked in its earliest stages by extreme ambivalence;
• is influenced by age-
• involves predictable stages, processes, and levels of change; and that
• those factors that maintain recovery are different than the factors that initiate recovery (Waldorf, 1983; Frykholm, 1985; Biernacki, 1986; Grella & Joshi, 1997; Wechsberg, Craddock & Hubbard, 1998; Klingemann, 1991; DiClemente, Carbonari & Velasquez, 1992; Prochaska, DiClimente & Norcross, 1992; Humphreys, et al, 1995).
Addiction is a chronic, progressive, potentially fatal disease affecting the brain. As a result of the effects of genetics and exposure to prolonged periods of increasing use of mood altering substances, the brain is altered chemically and physically. These changes reinforce the use of mood altering substances to the exclusion of all else. This means the obsession to obtain a preferred substance (also known as a “drug of choice”) and the compulsive, uncontrollable urge to ingest these substances continues even though there are numerous negative consequences of using these substances.
In order to achieve recovery, abstinence from mood altering substances MUST occur in order for the brain to recover as much as possible. Returning to use of these chemicals continues the downward spiral of the disease of addiction.
By hiring a recovery mentor (personal recovery assistant), they have an individual who has successfully sustained a prolonged period of recovery who can assist them in designing and following an individualized plan for sustained recovery.
William White, Senior Research Consultant at Chestnut Health Systems, past-
“People with severe Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) problems are often so deeply enmeshed
in a culture of addiction that they require sustained help disengaging from this
culture and entering an alternative culture of recovery (White, 1996). All of the
above studies buttress the growing call for sustained pre-
As a former licensed health care professional, a registered nurse working in the Emergency Room, and as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, I know the pressure a recovering nurse faces. Society and the nursing profession haven’t truly accepted addiction as a disease. It is still seen as a moral failing and a lack of willpower. Many in and out of the profession believe the training and clinical experience a nurse receives should somehow protect them from becoming addicted. What research is showing is the pressures associated with the profession of nursing (long hours, inadequate staffing, lack of respect from physicians and colleagues, and dealing with increasingly complicated illness in their patients) along with the access to potent mood altering substances, these health care professionals actually face a higher risk of becoming dependent on these medications.
When you combine these obstacles with a nursing board that has a vague, confusing, inconsistent program for nurses in need of treatment, and inadequately managed monitoring programs, it’s no wonder nurses struggle in their early weeks and months after treatment and reentry to practice.
Having someone who will assist this nurse in determining goals and designing and maintaining a recovery plan can increase their chance of sustained recovery and reentry into the profession of nursing. Just as a personal trainer or coach can help an individual meet and exceed training goals, so too a recovery mentor provides the same assistance in achieving and exceeding their goals for their recovery and their life.
A recovery mentor contracts with a recovering individual for variable amounts of time to develop a plan specifically designed to determine their goals and to devise a plan TOGETHER in order to achieve those goals. The client determines the amount of time they wish to spend with their mentor. The mentor doesn’t prescribe the plan. A mentor assists and guides the individual in determining their goals and then assists in developing and altering the plan if the client isn’t achieving their stated goals.
I relapsed and eventually left the profession. I struggled and “floundered” for several years trying to discover a recovery plan that would work for me. I just celebrated 15 years of recovery. I sometimes wonder if I might still be practicing anesthesia if I’d had a recovery mentor. This is the motivation I bring to my mentoring services.
Contact me to learn more about recovery mentoring and if it is something you might find helpful in bringing your recovery to that next level.
Jack
jack@jackstem.com
513-