​​​​​​​OUR GROUPS AT UA

WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan)  
WRAP is a way of monitoring wellness, times of being less well and times when experiences are uncomfortable and distressing.  Key principles are hope, personal responsibility, education, self advocacy, and support. It also includes details of how an individual would like others to support them at these different times.

SMART (Self-Management and Recovery Training)
This is more than an acronym: it is a transformative method of moving from addictive substances and negative behaviors to a life of positive self-regard and willingness to change. SMART Recovery is a fresh approach to addiction recovery. SMART stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training. 

Pathways to Recovery
There are many paths of recovery. People choose their recovery pathway based on cultural values, socio-economic status, psychological and behavioral needs, and the nature of their substance use disorder. At UA we explore paths to recovery by utilizing the concept of Recovery Capital,  the whole collection of resources an individual may use to facilitate their ongoing recovery.  Recovery Capital can be broken into four areas: 

1. Social – Family, friends, group, and community supports 
   
2. Physical – Physical assets like money and property 
   
3. Human – Skills, education, personal drive 
   
4. Cultural – Values, beliefs, and attitudes linking social conformity and social behaviors
   

Some types of Recovery Paths we explore are:
Natural Recovery, Recovery Mutual Aid Groups, Medication-Assisted Recovery, Peer-Based Recovery Supports, Family Recovery, Technology-Based Recovery, and Alternative Recovery Supports

WHAM
Whole Health Action Management (WHAM) is an approach for enhancing physical health of people with mental health and substance use challenges. It is especially useful for people with chronic health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other medical conditions. It was developed by people in recovery from behavioral health conditions.

Life Skills

1. Self-care is the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's own health.  It is any activity we do, on purpose, to better take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. Think of it like recharging your battery.
   
2. Planning and Cooking Nutritious Meals (Regularly eating nutritious meals can help the body recover from the harmful effects of substance abuse and improves the ability to focus)
3. Setting and Achieving Personal Goals (Goal setting helps the whaling process, increases self-efficacy, and requires self examination, which is all great in recovery)
   
4. Maintaining a clean environment (maintaining a clean living space promotes feelings of safety, security, and comfort while also improving personal hygiene) 
   
5. Building Healthy Relationships (Relationships built on honesty, trust, communication, and healthy boundaries reinforce recovery, even in stressful times)
   
6. Managing Finances (Money can be a powerful trigger, but saving and spending money can help reduce stress and sustain recovery)
   
7. Finding & Maintaining Employment (sustaining employment in recovery is essential in rebuilding confidence, achieving goals, and paying off debt. 
   
8. Managing Responsibility (effective time management increases efficiency, reduces boredom and anxiety, and provides a sense of fulfillment
   

Hearing Voices Support Group
Hearing Voices is a peer support group for people who hear voices, see visions or have other similar sensory experiences.

DBT Skills
DBT works around developing the four major skills of mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotional regulation.  Benefits of DBT in recovery include:

1. Encourages the individual to set goals for themselves
2. Helps them to cultivate healthier relationships
   
3. Keeps the focus on recovery and improving functioning
   
4. Guides the person to gain more control over their emotions
   
5. Helps the individual make positive changes to things they have control over
   

Creative Expression
Because creativity stems from a deep emotional place inside, the arts enable an unparalleled self-discovery process and helps to hone the healing of common emotional ailments and inhibitions such as perfectionism, “never enoughness”, black and white thinking, and many shades of fear. Creativity becomes a unique journey to expression of inner feelings, deepest desires and long-lost intuition. In other words, the creative process becomes the pathway to emotional health. 
Examples include:

1. Language Arts (poetry, journaling, stories, song writing)
2. Visual Arts (drawing, painting, sculpting, collage, self-portraits, photography)
   
3. Movement & Sound (body awareness, guided imagery with music, making/playing instruments, dance)
   
4. Dramatic Arts (skits, improve, role-playing)
   

Open Forum
Open Forum aims to encourage conversations and spread awareness on critical issues by providing a place on which ideas, thoughts and questions can be expressed and tackled in an open environment.  

All recovery Social hour
Social activities in recovery improve self-esteem, assists in learning healthy ways to spend free time, grows your support system, gets you a new start in social relationships, and helps you to learn how to have fun again.

Our Groups; Our Community.