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1. Vulnerabilities
Part of the Co-Occurring Disorders Recovery Coaching Series
Recovery & Resilience International in partnership with AllCEUs.com
Co-Occurring Disorders Recovery Coaching Curriculum

2. Objectives
• Define vulnerabilities
• Identify some of the most common
vulnerabilities
• Their effects
• Ways to prevent them
 Note: Each of the vulnerabilities has its own presentation. This section is
designed to give you an overview and get you thinking about possible small
changes that might have a big impact.

3. Why I Care/How It Impacts Recovery
 Vulnerabilities are situations or things that
 Make it more difficult to deal with life on life’s terms
leading to depression, anxiety or “stress”
 Make it easier for you to over-react or get stuck
 Depression occurs if you feel helpless or hopeless
 Anxiety occurs if you feel powerless or out of
control
 Addictive behaviors increase when you feel a
need to escape because of stress, anxiety,
depression or pain
Recovery & Resilience International in partnership with AllCEUs.com
Co-Occurring Disorders Recovery Coaching Curriculum

4. Individual Vulnerabilities: Physical
Pain
Effects
Sleep problems
Difficulty concentrating
Irritable mood
Medications are depressants and can worsen all of the
above
Interventions
Talk with your doctor
Explore nonpharmacological interventions

5. Individual Vulnerabilities: Physical
Poor nutrition
Your body needs the building blocks to
Recover from injury
Keep you from getting sick
Make happy chemicals
Interventions
Water…. 60 ounces per day
Have three colors on your plate at each meal
(condiments don’t count)
Try to eat smaller meals every few hours

6. Individual Vulnerabilities: Physical
Lack of sufficient, quality sleep
Drug/alcohol induced sleep is rarely good
quality
Lack of Sleep Effects
Fogginess
Difficulty concentrating
Irritability
Over eating
Interventions
Develop a sleep routine
Cut back on caffeine 6-12 hours before bed.

7. Individual Vulnerabilities: Physical
Illness
Effects
Sleep disruption
Exhaustion
Foggy head/difficulty concentrating
Irritability
Interventions
Compassion
Good nutrition

8. Individual Vulnerabilities: Physical
Brain changes
 Brain changes can be
Hereditary
From an accident
As a result of addictive behaviors
 Effects
Changes in the structure of the brain have all kinds of
effects including memory, concentration, and mood.
 Intervention
Eat a good diet to give the body the necessary building
blocks
Get adequate quality rest
Medication

9. Individual Vunerabilities: Emotional
 Anger
 Anxiety
 Depression
 Grief
 Guilt
 Jealousy
 Resentment
 Inability to self-soothe

10. Individual Vunerabilities: Emotional
 When you are feeling negative emotions
Effects
It causes the brain to keep the fight-or-flight
reaction going (which takes energy)
It lacks or prevents the happy, calming
neurotransmitters from being excreted
Interventions
Develop coping skills to deal with them
Insert positive/rewarding experiences
Get plenty of rest
Eat a healthy diet
Exercise

11. Individual Vulnerabilities: Mental/Cognitive
 Global, internal, stable attributional style
Effects
When everything is always it adds extra stress
When anything that happens reflects on you as a
person, it adds extra stress
Interventions
Focus on things being specific and alterable
Identify what is good about you as a person
Explore the difference between what makes you a good
person vs your skills

12. Individual Vulnerabilities: Mental/Cognitive
 Extremely external or internal locus of control
Both situations add stress
Effects
External locus of control means you feel you have
no control over anything
Internal locus of control means you feel like you
should be able to control everything.
Interventions
Identify what things you can control and use your energy
for them
Figure out how you are going to cope with things you
cannot control

13. Individual Vulnerabilities: Mental/Cognitive
 Low Self-esteem
Self esteem is how you feel about who you are
compared with who you think you should be
Effects
Low self-esteem can cause people to feel helpless or
not deserving of love or success
Interventions
Explore what characteristics you think you should have
but do not
Decide if they are important.
Decide what to do about it.

14. Individual Vulnerabilities: Mental/Cognitive
 Negative perceptions/cognitive style
Effects
Seeing the world as negative, depressing, out of
control or scary makes life more stressful
If you see everything as negative (not rewarding) you
will not want to do anything
Interventions
Look for the silver lining: When you start to think about
something as negative, find the positive
Look for exceptions

15. Individual Vulnerabilities: Mental/Cognitive
 Poor organization/time management
Poor time management effects
It can lead to being over committed
It cause people to feel rushed/harried
It can cause people to forget to do things leading to
conflict
Interventions
Make a list of must-dos at the beginning of every week
Stop saying yes right away
Identify and address time sucks

16. Individual Vulnerabilities: Social
Poor communication skills
Effects
Impedes you from stating your needs
May cause misunderstandings
Can hurt your relationships
Interventions
Learn about effective verbal and nonverbal
communication
Don’t assume you understand what the other person is
talking about

17. Individual Vulnerabilities: Social
Weak emotional boundaries
Effects
You may have difficulty feeling happy unless
those around you are happy
You may take everyone else’s bad mood
personally
Interventions
Examine why it is not safe to feel how you feel
Start paying attention to your wants, needs and
feelings

18. Individual Vulnerabilities: Social
Need for external validation
Effects
Not feeling okay unless you are constantly
surrounded by people who tell you you are okay
Interventions
Identify why you are okay
Look at why you need other people to validate
you and work on that.

19. Apply It
 Identify 3 ways you could have used this information
in the past week.
 What vulnerabilities did you have in the last week?
 What impact did it have on you?
 If you would have had this new information, what could
you have done differently?
 How would that have changed the outcome?
 How can you start integrating this knowledge into your
routine
Recovery & Resilience International in partnership with AllCEUs.com
Co-Occurring Disorders Recovery Coaching Curriculum

20. Summary
 Addressing vulnerabilities frees up energy so you
can deal with other “stuff” that comes your way
 Eliminating vulnerabilities can help you feel less
stressed, exhausted and overwhelmed all the time
 Persistent vulnerabilities are the first relapse
warning sign (HALT)
 Being mindful of when you are vulnerable and
taking positive steps to address it are crucial to
recovery success.
Recovery & Resilience International in partnership with AllCEUs.com
Co-Occurring Disorders Recovery Coaching Curriculum