Problem Solving Model
Problem Solving Model for Alcohol Rehabilitation and Treatment
The Problem Solving Model seeks to create a sequence of smaller lifestyle changes rather than major or significant lifestyle changes occurring all at once.
This methodology for Alcoholic Treatment involves breaking down the challenge of rehabilitation into smaller, more manageable steps. Once initial resistance in the individual seeking treatment has been overcome and a person becomes open to the idea of change the Problem Solving method can be a highly effective treatment for Alcohol Rehabilitation.
There are three basic steps which define process:
- Define the Problem - Explore all of the reasons why alcohol is a problem. These include areas of an individuals life such as social, work, family and their health
- Explore Courses of Action - Goals towards effective change are planned with the individuals strengths and weaknesses in mind.
- Set a Course - Obstacles are considered and planned for, more information is researched, success and failures are monitored, evaluated and corrected.
Exploration including learning, self exploration and diagnosis leads to Goal Setting which itself includes motivation and a commitment to change. From there the individual seeking treatment can develop and implement plans which are then put into action.
The Problem Solving method is not finished after the first three steps are undertaken. The action part of the plan requires constant monitoring and you will often find that an individual will have to go back to Step 1 as more experience is gained. New perspectives will arise and new situations which were unplanned for will occur. It is then time to go back and reevaluate, explore new avenues and courses of action and make adjustments to their program.
The Alcoholic treatment process is about finding what works and what doesn’t work for the individual. What works for one person will not work for everyone else. Change must be tailored to to each persons values if it is going to be successful. The Problem Solving method creates a basic framework on which the individual can create specific steps that are meaningful, and achievable.
The Problem Solving method increases the likelihood of success in Alcoholic Rehabilitation by breaking change down into manageable steps. Piece by piece the Alcoholic is building a new life.
Being actively involved with your own rehabilitation through planning out steps towards for ones own treatment is far more empowering than passive counseling. Treating Alcoholism as a psychological disease often slows down the healing process by spending too much time dredging up the supposed causes of an individuals drinking problems without focusing on those aspects of their life that are happening now over which they have the power to change. Psychotherapies so called “Magic Bullet”, the moment of realization that changes a persons attitude towards drinking almost never happens in traditional counseling and Alcoholics Anonymous settings.
Change should be the focus of treatment.
The Problem Solving model offers a practical, personal guide to treatment. It will also highlight problems, people or situations, which are interfering with an individuals Alcohol rehabilitation so that these can be planned for and dealt with as the process continues.
Many individuals will go from resistant to treatment, to being an active participant in planning the changes in their recovery. It is the hope that the Alcoholic on the road to recovery will in essence become their own counselor using the Problem Solving model.
