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The Underrated Superhero Tools for Substance Use Counselors

The Underrated Superhero

Resources
for Clinicians

3-Before-3 Rule

Quick Overview

Three questions. Two minutes. One honest gut check. The 3-Before-3 Rule helps you pause before venting crosses into toxicity. Ask yourself: Have I talked to them directly? Is this a pattern or a one-time thing? Am I looking for a solution or an audience? If you can’t answer all three, it might be time to close your mouth and open your journal.
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Resource Details

Format

PDF
Category
Basic Resource Center, Burnout & Boundaries, Self-Care & Professional Development
Best for
This tool is best for addiction counselors, therapists, and clinical staff working in high-stress team environments where coworker tension is part of the daily reality. It’s especially useful for early-career clinicians still figuring out how to navigate office dynamics without compromising their integrity or burning bridges. Works in any setting — community mental health, residential, outpatient, private practice — anywhere people are emotionally spent and sharing space with other emotionally spent people.

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Other Resources

Wellness Map

A printable companion to the Wellness Map. Clients rate eight areas of life from running on empty to going well, connect the dots, and talk through what the shape shows. The session starts with what is going well and ends with one small step, who can help, and when. Based on the Eight Dimensions of Wellness (Swarbrick; SAMHSA). A clinical reflection tool, not an assessment. Prefer to run it on a screen? The interactive Wellness Map walks through the same eight areas one slide at a time, with a group mode for presenting and a one-client mode that prints the plan. Free with an account. Open the interactive Wellness Map →
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Holiday Relapse Prevention Planning

This two-page guide makes the case for starting holiday relapse prevention conversations in October — not December when clients are already in crisis mode. It covers why holidays are hard for clients in recovery (family triggers, social pressure, financial stress, grief, disrupted routines, sensory triggers tied to past use), then offers specific questions to ask now. The middle section walks through building a holiday survival plan with clients: identifying high-risk situations, planning ahead for each one, building in supports, practicing saying no, creating sober alternatives, and planning for loneliness. It ends with a reference list of key holiday dates to plan for, from Halloween through New Year's Day.
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When the Work Follows You Home

This three-page worksheet helps clinicians examine what they're carrying home from work — and build strategies for better separation. It starts with a checklist of what might be following you (replaying sessions, worrying about client safety, checking email after hours, dreams about work, feeling responsible for outcomes), then moves into noticing the pattern: which clients, what time of day, what triggers it, how often. The next section offers concrete strategies for separation — end-of-day rituals, physical transitions, worry time, deleting work email from your phone. There's also a reframing section with alternatives to thoughts like "I should have done more" and "What if something happens to them?" It ends with a commitment to one change this week.
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