Participant tools
and worksheets

Further information about the SMART Recovery participant tools listed below can be found in the SMART Handbook, available HERE in our bookshop.

 

To see the tools in action and discuss with other SMART participants, consider attending a SMART meeting either in-person or online Find meetings HERE

  • Tool

Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA)

You get something out of every behavior—even the ones you’re thinking of changing. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have engaged in it. At some point you decided the benefits outweighed the costs. Do they now? The Cost-benefit Analysis tool (CBA) is useful to take a look at the positives and negatives of a behavior. 

  • Worksheet

Create a Change Plan

You’re getting clearer about what you want for your future, now you need a plan. This tool provides a worksheet to identify steps you can take to your envisioned future. It includes identifying changes, reasons for wanting changes, steps to take, who can help, and more. 

  • Tool

Urge Log

Urges are the social, mental, and emotional experience of wanting something. This is different than physical dependence or withdrawal symptoms. One tool that can help with urges is the Urge Log, where we can identify when and why they occur. With this information, we can begin to see patterns, reflect on how we coped with the urge, and understand how best to respond in the future. 

  • Worksheet

ABC Exercise

The ABC Exercise is rooted in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy’s practice of outlining events in order to understand them and change behavior in the future. By looking at the Activating event, our Beliefs about it, and the Consequences, we can reduce that event’s power over us. When we add a D (Dispute your beliefs) and E (Effective new Belief), we have a tool that changes our beliefs, how we feel about it, and thus we can change how we react. 

  • Tool

Goal Setting

Goals help set priorities and point your life in the direction you want it to go. They are most meaningful when they connect to your values. The Goal Setting tool can help build clear and effective goals. 

  • Tool

Lifestyle Balance Wheel

The process of change is not only about stopping addictive behavior. It involves regaining your health, creating a lifestyle that is satisfying, and achieving balance. The Lifestyle Balance Wheel tool can help you understand and respect each area of your life and help change your perspective in the areas where you feel stuck. 

  • Worksheet

Put DENTS in Your Urges

The DENTS tool provides an easy way to remember effective ways to manage urges. It Stands for Deny or Delay, Escape, Neutralize, Tasks, Swap. 

  • Worksheet

Disputing Unhelpful Beliefs

Beliefs may be characterized as helpful, unhelpful, or somewhere in between. SMART Recovery, a program grounded in empowering individuals to reduce or resolve addictive behaviors, underscores the importance of addressing unhelpful beliefs through the Dispute Unhelpful Beliefs tool. This is a central pillar in the SMART Recovery approach, guiding individuals through the process of identifying and challenging beliefs that might fuel addictive behaviors.

  • Worksheet

Personify and Disarm

The urges you feel aren’t you. They’re an impulse or a reaction-something separate from you. For some, personifying urges can create a helpful boundary. To help something abstract like an urge feel more concrete and manageable, you can use the Personify and Disarm tool.

  • Worksheet

Define Your Values (Hierarchy of Valules)

We all have values in life, and they underpin all our feelings and decisions. However, we rarely think about them explicitly. The Define Your Values tool provides a structured way to write them down and then focus on what matters most. 

  • Tool

Role-Playing/Rehearsal

When we think of role-playing, we might imagine actors rehearsing for a play. They try out different lines and actions, preparing for their performance. But did you know that a similar strategy can be super helpful for people working to overcome addictive behaviors? This strategy, known as the Role-play/Rehearsal tool in SMART Recovery, is a powerful way to get ready for tough situations and make smart choices.

  • Worksheet

Explore New Pursuits and Passions

Think back to before your addictive behavior started taking up a lot of your time. Maybe there was something you loved to do when you were younger but got distracted from. Now’s the time to bring these interests back and/or explore new ones. The Explore New Pursuits and Passions tool will help identify the pursuits or passions that can help bring the pleasure of living back into your life. Remember you don’t have to choose just one. Find pursuits and passions and keep looking for more that satisfy you.

  • Tool

Unconditional Acceptance

Unconditional Acceptance is the belief that something has worth just as it is. Adopting this belief is a valuable life skill that is easier to preach than practice. Note that Unconditional Acceptance includes yourself, others, and life in general. Building this skill includes reminding yourself that you’re human, replacing negative thoughts, being patient and kind with yourself and others, and avoiding comparisons. Practice can include recognizing unhelpful beliefs when they arise (chapter 5 of the 4th edition handbook discusses this topic in detail).

  • Worksheet

Five Questions

The Five Questions tool explores how to go about getting what you want. Sometimes it’s hard to see what you could do differently to achieve your goals. The tool provides direct questions about future wants, current actions, current feelings, alternative actions, and future feelings.  Helpful examples offer guidance along the question path.