This is the Toolkit that can get you started on a change plan to make your life healthier, safer and more fulfilling. It quickly and simply shows how to track your drug/alcohol use and set targets for change. And just as important, the Toolkit also helps you develop the inner and outer resources you will need to make those change happen.

But you have to know that the Toolkit does not work for everyone. The Toolkit works best if your drug/alcohol use is socially driven or feels like a bad habit you can adjust, as in:

• Partying because you like parties;

• Drinking/doing drugs mainly because that’s what your social set is doing;

• Your use is more casual and occasional, rather than really heavy and regular;

• You’ve been able to make changes in the past when you’ve set your mind to it.

The Toolkit is less likely to work when:

• It feels like your use is based on a highly-charged need to self-medicate or self-numb;

• Your use is spiraling (or has already spiraled) out of control;

• Your use is ingrained by many years of habitual heavy drinking/doing drugs;

• You are highly disturbed by your use and totally at a loss as to why you really do it.

If you are not sure if the Toolkit will be useful for you, then take the Self-Led Assessments. They should help you figure out which of the following three places you come down to in the end:

• I’m ready to start the Toolkit on my own.

• I want to do the Toolkit, but I need some extra support, like Positive Change Coaching.

• I don’t think the Toolkit will work for me – I want the support of a psychotherapist, or drug/alcohol treatment.

If you find yourself in either of the last two categories, read About My Services at the end of this Toolkit to find out more about the Positive Change Coaching and the Holistic Psychotherapy that I offer. Perhaps the extra support of Positive Change Coaching can help you reach the place you want to be, or maybe you should be looking for Holistic Psychotherapy to help you grapple with what’s really causing your problem.

But if your drug/alcohol use has slipped beyond your control, just do yourself a favor and get into a detox! There is a world of medical and behavioral risks involved in uncontrolled drug/alcohol use, and there is also a world of help out there to keep you safe, so please take care of yourself right now. Once you’re stable again, then you can take stock and make a real plan.

Permission is granted to reproduce, unmodified, the SLS Toolkit for free, non-commercial distribution, provided this statement is included. You may link directly to the Toolkit, at http://www.selfledsolutions.com/toolkit.html but you may not download it to another server.

To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

—St. Augustine

Life is a series of little deaths out of which life always returns.

—Charles Feidelson, Jr.