Seeking Safety

Book excerpt: This manual presents the most widely adopted evidence-based treatment for co-occurring trauma and addiction. For clients facing one or both of these issues, the most urgent clinical need is to establish safety--to reduce addictive behavior, build healthy relationships, manage symptoms such as dissociation and self-harm, and restore ideals that have been lost. Seeking Safety focuses on coping skills in the present; it can be implemented with individuals or groups, by any provider as well as by peers. It offers 25 topics, such as Asking for Help, Taking Good Care of Yourself, Setting Boundaries in Relationships, Healing from Anger, Honesty, and Coping with Triggers. The model is highly flexible, practical, and engaging, and can be conducted with any other treatment, including the author's past-focused model, Creating Change. The book has a large-size format and features reproducible client handouts that can be photocopied or downloaded. See also Creating Change: A Past-Focused Treatment for Trauma and Addiction, and the self-help guide Finding Your Best Self, Revised Edition: Recovery from Addiction, Trauma, or Both, an ideal client recommendation.