The Holistic Health Recovery Program (HHRP) for drug-addicted individuals of negative or unknown HIV serostatus*
*if patient's serostatus is known HIV-positive, click here for the link to
HHRP+HHRP is a Centers for Disease Control DEBI (Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions) project: (for more information go to www.EffectiveInterventions.org)
HHRP Group Therapy Treatment Manual for Health Care Providers
HHRP is a psychotherapeutic intervention dedicated to Harm Reduction, Health Promotion, and Improved Quality of Life for individuals addicted to illicit drugs. It utilizes cognitive remediation strategies (e.g., multimodal presentation of material) to facilitate acquisition and retention of new harm reduction skills and to increase motivation for behavior change. The group treatment manual, handouts, and client workbook are all available in pdf format (see below). The slides referred to in the manual are available at cost by sending an e-mail request to the 3-S webmaster
The primary goals of the Holistic Health Recovery Program (HHRP) are as follows:
1. Harm Reduction.
Drug users are viewed as autonomous individuals responsible for making personal choices concerning behaviors that pose varying degrees of risk to self and others.
- Thus, the primary goal of HHRP is to provide individuals who use illicit drugs the resources (knowledge, motivation, and skills) they need to make informed choices that will result in reducing harm to self and others.
- Continued high risk behavior is addressed clinically, without judgment, but in accordance with federal, State, and local laws.
2. Health Promotion.
Injection drug users have unique medical and psychosocial problems that may contribute to illicit drug use and other high risk behaviors. Furthermore, they may enter treatment with some degree of neuropsychological and/or psychiatric impairment that can prevent them from benefiting optimally from traditional cognitively-based risk reduction and relapse prevention techniques. Addressing these problems may help clients make healthy lifestyle choices that reduce harm to self and others.
- Thus, in addition to providing substance abuse treatment, HHRP addresses medical, emotional, and social problems that may impede harm reduction. Abstinence from illicit drugs is viewed as just one of several treatment goals. Others include reduced drug use, reduced risk of transmission of infectious diseases (e.g., HIV, hepatitis B and C, and other STDs), and improved medical, psychological, and social functioning.
- To further facilitate harm reduction, HHRP uses cognitive-remediation strategies to improve knowledge, increase motivation, and teach skills needed for harm reduction and health promotion.
3. Quality of Life.
Being well involves living well. For most people, living well includes being able to experience serenity in the expression of their lives. Helping individuals to experience an intrinsic sense of well-being may contribute to this and consequently to a reduction in behaviors that cause harm to self and others. HHRP uses a holistic approach to treatment in that it views clients not as "addicts" primarily in need of drug counseling, but as complex human beings in search of physical, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being. Sessions include relaxation strategies to help achieve inner peace amidst a sometimes chaotic environment. Clients' spiritual and religious beliefs are respected and integrated with treatment to facilitate risk reduction, health promotion, and improved quality of life. The entire HHRP Counselor's Manual can be downloaded as Adobe pdf files (for the script for counselors and the client handouts) and as MS Powerpoint files (for the visual presentation included in each HHRP group). To begin downloading, click on the Adobe pdf and MS Powerpoint files below. Note: separate pdf and powerpoint files are provided for each group in order to reduce file size; however, they may still take several minutes to download when using a modem.pdf files
(click to download) | Power-
point files | ||
| HHRP Cover Page | |||
| Table of Contents and HHRP+ overview | |||
| Group 1: Reaching your goals | Text | Handouts | Slides |
| Group 2: Health care participation
| Text | Handouts | Slides |
| Group 3: Reducing the harm of injection drug use
| Text | Handouts | Slides |
| Group 4: Sexual harm reduction with latex
| Text | Handouts | Slides |
| Group 5: Negotiating harm reduction with partners
| Text | Handouts | Slides |
| Group 6: Preventing relapse to risky behavior | Text | Handouts | Slides |
| Group 7: Healthy lifestyle choices | Text | Handouts | Slides |
| Group 8: Introduction to the 12 Steps | Text | Handouts | Slides |
| Group 9: Overcoming stigma | Text | Handouts | Slides |
| Group 10: Motivation: Overcoming helplessness | Text | Handouts | Slides |
| Group 11: Emotional and Spiritual Healing
| Text | Handouts | Slides |
| Group 12: Healthy social relationships and activities | Text | Handouts | Slides |
| HHRP+ Client Completion Certificate | |||
Click here for a link to the downloadable HHRP Client Workbook (for HIV-serostatus undifferentiated)
Click here for a link to the downloadable HHRP+ Client Workbook (for HIV-positive drug users)