The Wacky and Wonderful Recovery Workbook

Coming soon, or eventually:

The Wacky and Wonderful Recovery Workbook*

by Kim Rosenthal, MD

Are you in recovery from drugs and alcohol? When it comes to treatment, do you seek something new, something outside-the-box?  What about creativity, humor, artwork, coloring, puzzles, moving parts, and a super soundtrack?  If you’re looking for a light-hearted but paradoxically demanding workbook chock full of traditional substance abuse treatment handouts presented in a very different light….well, you’ve reached the right place.

Except for the moving parts.  We’re still working on that.

And despite the super soundtrack playing in the background, the book won’t be available until 2021, if fate allows.  (The author requests you play a super soundtrack now.)

Substance abuse counselor, creativity guru, brain coach, and humor in one, THE WACKY AND WONDERFUL RECOVERY WORKBOOK (WW) balances evidence-based medicine with that right-brained energy needed to survive addiction and create a life worth living.

Imagine Monty Python, Gary Larson’s Far Side, Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) sitting together in one room.  Ask them to process their childhood, solve world hunger, and establish a treatment program for addiction, and there you have it.

Perhaps that’s aiming too high.  Nobody can top Monty Python. Far Side is oh-so-cool, and Cameron’s writing is astounding.  But you know what the author’s hoping for, anyway: something inspiring, joyful, and totally recovery-oriented.

People in recovery work hard to stay clean.  That’s a priority.  Life is about accountability, changing habits and environment, dealing with the consequences of using, and earning back trust.  WW walks alongside you as you navigate through all this.

But recovery is so much more than staying clean: you’re starting something new, and new needs silliness and exploration.  It needs joy.  It needs creativity. It means learning to love life without drugs and alcohol. The workbook takes the reader on a 100-day journey through a world where sobriety and passion walk hand-in-hand.  It’s about seizing the moment.  It’s also about creating a positive tomorrow, where a delightful future awaits, if only you reach for it.

Overview

WW features 100 worksheets for 100 days, including:

• Clinically-oriented recovery and coping skill handouts
• Brain exercises (cognitive rehab)
• Creativity therapy, like art, poetry, journaling, and creative writing therapies 
• Playfulness handouts, like bizarre personality tests, word search puzzles, multiple choice ad lib, drawing exercises
• Outside the box concepts, like alter ego, invention, newspaper articles, and odd scenarios

Sample worksheets

• Getting to know yourself after recovery
• Coloring Handout  
• A puzzle: find the mask that matches  
• The Quit Plan 
• Grieving the Loss of Addiction
• Relapse Prevention Plan

Want to learn more about the workbook?  Visit the WW Specifics.

Want something a little more light-hearted?  Check out (Useless) information About WW.

“His sobriety was like that new, brilliant, colorful hat on his head, the one with all the bells and whistles: it measured blood pressure, played Beethoven and ACDC at the same time, came with a round of government-quality artillery, and gave him the right answers when he played Trivial Pursuit.  It would have been superb — if he hadn’t felt like he just got broadsided by a box of crayons.” 

*Note that the name of the workbook recently changed. We’re in the process of fixing everywhere, but you’ll still see other names from time to time. So sorry for the confusion!