ACCEPTANCE

GROUP EXPECTATIONS: 

• You are expected to attend consistently and to participate in a constructive manner.
• Group runs 9:00 AM through 12:00PM, there are two 10 minute breaks.
• Maintain Confidentiality. It is essential that everything said in group therapy is kept private by all group members and leaders. 
• Be Respectful to the other Group Members.  Listen attentively, refrain from disruptive behavior, and tolerate differences in personal opinion and opposing value systems. 
• No Cellphone Use.

Ice-Breaker - What is your recovery goal?

“Just say no” is good advice to stop people from trying drugs. But it does not help people who are substance dependent. Overcoming substance dependence requires that you recognize its power and accept the personal limitations that occur because of it. Many people accept the hold that substance dependence has over them when they enter treatment. But entering treatment is the first act of acceptance. It cannot be the only one. Recovery is an ongoing process of accepting that substance dependence is more powerful than you are.  Accepting that dependence on drugs has power over you means accepting that human beings have limits. Refusal to accept a substance use disorder is one of the biggest problems in staying drug free. This refusal to give in to treatment can lead to what is called “white-knuckle abstinence”— hanging on to abstinence desperately because you isolate yourself and refuse to accept help. Admitting that you have a problem and seeking help are not weaknesses. Does getting treatment for diabetes or a heart condition 
mean you are a weak-willed person? 

Accepting the idea that you have a substance use disorder does not mean you cannot control your life. It means there are some things you cannot control. One of them is the use of drugs. If you continue to struggle with trying to control the disorder, you end up giving it more power. There is a paradox in the recovery process. People who accept the reality of substance dependence to the greatest degree benefit the most in recovery. Those who do not fight with the idea that they have a substance use disorder are the ones who ultimately are most successful in recovery. The only way to win this fight is to surrender. The only way to be successful in recovery and get control of your problem is first to admit that it has control over you.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO “HIT BOTTOM” TO BEGIN RECOVERY. 
I have a substance use disorder. Yes____ No____ 
I hope someday I can use again. Yes____ No____ 

What experiences did you have with trying to stop using substances before you entered treatment. Did you try to “just say no”? Did you practice “white-knuckle sobriety”? What outcomes did you realize?
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Discuss the paradox of surrendering control to take back control of his or her life. Have clients discuss this paradox as well.
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The idea of radical acceptance or the ability to accept what's not in our control for what it is rather than spending time and energy trying to change it or being upset about it. The idea is that suffering is created by attaching ourselves to painful experiences situations people and realities they may be in our past or part of our present or like in the case of my fears about something happening to everly a projection into the future acceptance is about learning to experience or prepare for these realities while accepting what is out of your control with regards to them. Now these thoughts and experiences are of course scary and painful, radical acceptance is not about pretending they aren't, or saying to ignore them. It's about acknowledging and experiencing that without getting consumed by it or trying to avoid or fix it, it's about taking from an experience what serves you allowing yourself to grow from and continue your evolution as a self and let go of judgment so that you don't get stuck in the pain of that experience the stuckness is what breeds that deeper
suffering and is often predicated on that drive to over control the idea derived from this concept is that when we can relinquish control over the things upon which we ultimately have none we can shift to the things we do have control over.

So where do we go from here? Think back to some of the questions I asked; What and who are you trying to control?What is it doing for you? What scares you about letting that go and what freedom and gains might come by doing so.

• Consider the role of acceptance and how it can play into neutralizing your relationship with emotions
  rather than avoiding pain or negative emotions. Can we see them as neutral and in each situation.
• List what is in your control whether that's how you react to something prepare for or plan for something by bringing your focus here.
• Come up with one action step or pivot that can allow you to shift from an anxious response to an integrated response meaning how can you respond not out of reactivity but out of a sense of preparedness (responding rather than reacting).

God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, 
Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference. 

ACCEPTANCE