2: Protecting What Is Valuable

In addiction recovery, while it is accepted there can be vital lessons in relapse, it is still viewed as a period of failed recovery and a high-risk position for someone with a history of addiction to be in (Guenzel & McChargue, 2023; Miller, 2015). Relapse prevention is an approach, which typically uses cognitive behavioural intervention to help an individual in recovery mitigate the risk of relapse (Menon & Kandasamy, 2018). It is a long established and popular concept endorsed by drug and alcohol treatment services, which is intended to support people develop skills and strategies that recognise and address prodromal symptoms of addiction (Guenzel & McChargue, 2023; Irvin et al., 1999). Recovery protection does not question the legitimacy or effectiveness of relapse prevention, but it does dispute its accepted emphasis on relapse not recovery and its disposition for corrective intervention as a long-term strategy for maintaining abstinence (Guenzel & McChargue, 2023; Miller, 2015; Ogilvie & Carson, 2024). Recovery protection is a novel alternative, which better aligns addiction recovery with mental health recovery. This is said to be empowering and is ‘a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential’ (SAMSHA, 2012, p. 3). This axiom is very much concerned with encouraging what is desirable, not preventing what is not, which when charted against addiction recovery presents recovery as something that has value and is worthy of protecting for the positive lifestyle it affords.