New on the Counselor's Corner: Relapse Prevention: A Tribute to Terrence Gorski
During the holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year’s many counselors work with clients on relapse prevention plans. One effective relapse prevention strategy comes from the late Terrance Gorski, known as a pioneer of relapse prevention.
Father Joseph Martin said that Terrence Gorski had impeccable timing (Maher,1997). Between 1986 to 1996, many inpatient substance use disorders (SUD) treatment programs closed because of managed care restrictions (White, 2014). Treatment was in disarray. At the same time of that crisis, Gorski introduced his model, Counseling for Relapse Prevention. This model was adopted worldwide and did not require inpatient hospitalization to be successful. In this post, I would like to share some of the lessons Terrence Gorski taught about relapse prevention.