Recovery Tools

Recovery tools are the cognitive behavioral self-help techniques people use to guide themselves through difficult situations. These tools are quoted or adapted from our self-help books Mental Health Through Will Training, Manage Your Fears Manage Your Anger, and Selections From Dr. Low's Works, which you can buy from our online bookstore. Although you will be trained on the use of these self-help tools at meetings, it is important to have the books to more quickly learn them.

The following is a sample of some basic Recovery tools and terms. Click on one of the following links to download a more complete tools list, which you will need if you are going to a meeting:

A Sampling of Recovery Tools and Terms.doc (Microsoft Word)
A Sampling of Recovery Tools and Terms.pdf (Adobe Reader)

Sample Recovery Tools

• Treat mental health as a business and not as a game.
• Humor is our best friend, temper is our worst enemy.
• If you can't change a situation, you can change your attitude towards it.
• Be self-led, not symptom-led.
• Symptoms are distressing but not dangerous.
• Temper is an intellectual blindness to the other side of the story.
• Comfort is a want, not a need.
• There is no right or wrong in the trivialities of every day life.
• Calm begets calm, temper begets temper.
• Don't take our own dear selves too seriously.
• Feelings should be expressed and temper suppressed.
• Helplessness is not hopelessness.
• Some people have a passion for self-distrust.
• Temper maintains and intensifies symptoms.
• Do things in part acts.
• Endorse yourself for the effort, not only for the performance.
• Have the courage to make a mistake.
• Feelings are not facts.
• Do the things you fear and hate to do.
• Fear is a belief—beliefs can be changed.
• Every act of self-control leads to a sense of self-respect.

Remember, you are not alone. Recovery International meetings are a safe place to talk about life's struggles with others who have experienced similar struggles in their life.

If you have a question or need information pertaining to Recovery International meetings in Canada you can write to us using the form below.

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