4-Point Facilitator Guides and Handouts
These facilitator guides are meant to support you—not script you. Use them as a starting point and adapt them over time to match your voice, facilitation style, and the needs of your group.
Below you’ll find a list of SMART Recovery tools with a brief description of each. Click the links to access the corresponding facilitator guides. Participant handouts are also available and may be printed for in-person meetings or shared digitally (including screen sharing) during Zoom meetings.
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Journaling
A space for reflection and self-awareness. Journaling can help participants process thoughts, identify patterns, and explore progress.
(No participant handout- discussion only)
Practice Self-Compassion
A reminder that self-kindness is a skill that supports change. This tool helps participants recognize and soften their inner critic.
Cost Benefit Analysis
Explore the short- and long-term costs and benefits of a behavior of concern to build insight and motivation.
Define Your Values (Hierarchy of Values)
Identify the things that matter most, and consider how behavior supports or conflicts with those values.
Five Questions
A powerful tool for weighing a behavior’s impact and imagining life without it.
Create a Change Plan
A structured worksheet to help participants define goals and outline next steps for change.
Identify Triggers
Helps participants recognize the situations, people, or emotions that tend to lead to urges or risky behavior.
Rank Trigger Risks
Organize triggers by how risky they feel to help prioritize planning and support.
Log Your Urges
Build awareness by tracking urges, including their triggers, intensity, and coping strategies.
Plan Your Week
Use structure and planning to reduce risky downtime and align the week with recovery goals.
Customize DENTS for You
Explore the DENTS acronym to understand common thinking traps.
Personify and Disarm
Turn your inner urge voice into a character or image to make it easier to talk back and reduce its power.
Dispute Unhelpful Beliefs
Identify distorted thinking and practice disputing those beliefs with reason and evidence.
ABC Exercise
Work through Activating Events, Beliefs, and Consequences to reduce urges and emotional reactivity.
Practice Problem Solving
A five-step model to help participants work through challenges in a practical, step-by-step way.
Planning Positive Conversations (PIVA)
Practice Positive language, I-statements, Validation, and a clear Ask to prepare for healthy communication.
Setting Healthy Boundaries
Discuss what healthy boundaries look like and how to communicate them respectfully.
Check Your Lifestyle Balance
A visual “wheel” tool to help participants reflect on how their time and energy align with their values.
Explore New Passions and Pursuits
Brainstorm meaningful or enjoyable activities to replace time previously spent on the behavior of concern.
Set an Effective Goal
Learn to set SMART goals that are Specific, Measurable, Agreeable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
Meditation Practice
Introduce basic mindful breathing or awareness practices to reduce stress and increase focus.
Try Progressive Muscle Relaxation
A simple tension-release technique to bring attention to the body and ease stress.
(No partcipant handout- discussion only)
Visualize a Relaxing Space
Use guided imagery to reduce stress, create calm, and strengthen motivation.
(No participant handout- discussion only)