
SMART Recovery for Treatment Centers & Professionals
ON THIS PAGE:
- The SMART Recovery 4-Point Program®
- SMART Recovery Tools
- Training Options for Counselors & Recovery Facilities
- SMART for Courts & Corrections
- SMART for Veterans & Veteran’s Administration Facilities
- SMART Recovery’s MAT/OAT Behavioral Care Support Program
- The SMART Recovery Activity Scale (SRAS)
- Recommended Reading
- 2019 SMART Recovery National Conference
- Recommended Podcasts
Contact Us • Treatment Centers & Professionals Page:
To learn more about our Treatment Centers & Professionals program, please contact us:
Use SMART Tools in Your Community Treatment Centers & in Your Professional Counseling Services
At SMART Recovery, we believe that individuals with addictive problems need to know there are multiple pathways for change. If you work in the behavioral health treatment industry and feel the same way, we want to talk with you!
You can bring SMART Recovery to your community in three major ways:
1. Use SMART Recovery in your Treatment Center:
At SMART Recovery, we believe that individuals with addictive problems need to know there are multiple pathways to lasting change and freedom from negative behaviors. If you work in the behavioral health treatment industry and think similarly, we want to partner with you.
Our SMART Recovery for Professionals training course is designed for addiction professionals who wish to use SMART Recovery’s self-empowering, science and evidence-based
4-Point Program in their efforts to support recovery. Individuals under your care can benefit from SMART Recovery’s practical tools and mutual support. A variety of SMART resources are available to help professionals and their patients or clients, including:
- A growing network of free in-person and online meetings.
- Access to online recovery tools, including 24×7 chat and online forums.
- A science and evidence-based program for recovery.
- A program that supports medication-assisted treatment (MAT) as a valid recovery option for many.
- SMART Recovery Handbooks, Facilitator’s Manuals and other publications tailored to specific audiences, available in a variety of languages
For individuals, this professional training is available in an online, self-study format. For groups, we offer group discounts for the purchase of two or more of our self-paced courses,
as well as onsite and Zoom training, which can include licensed and unlicensed professionals.
Visit www.smartrecoverytraining.org for additional information.
SMART Recovery USA, Inc., is a NAADAC-Approved Education Provider (#86948).
SMART Recovery for Treatment Professionals with Addiction
Because your privacy is important to us, SMART Recovery holds a restricted access online meetings for licensed professionals who need support recovering from addiction problems. SMART also has a manual devoted to this subject titled Motivational Guide and Workbook for Recovering Healthcare Professionals.
Register Today
Visit www.smartrecovery.org/community to register for SROL. Once registered, you can find more details in the forum on our message board for Medical and Mental Health Professionals.
2. Use SMART Recovery in your professional role: We are pleased to announce the launch of our GSF 301: Professional Facilitator Training course, designed for licensed health care professionals who wish to use SMART Recovery’s self-empowering, evidence-based 4-Point Program® and Tools in their professional role and with their patients to support recovery.
This professional training is available through an online, self-study and self-paced format, as well as onsite (your location or ours) for groups of professionals. Group rates are available; please click here for details and pricing for groups and onsite training.
This professional training has been approved for 25-hours of Continuing Education credits by SMART Recovery USA, Inc. as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider (#86948).
Visit our Training Website to learn more about our Professional Facilitator Training course.
3. Volunteer to facilitate SMART Recovery meetings in your community or online: In addition to using SMART in your profession, we invite you to volunteer with SMART Recovery by leading face-to-face meetings in your community, or to help with SMART Recovery Online (SROL), our active online community, in a variety of roles.
What SMART Recovery Offers Your Clients
Individuals under your care can benefit from SMART Recovery philosophies through your interactions and guidance. They can also benefit from a variety of supplemental SMART resources through our organization, such as:
- 24/7 access to online recovery information and message board
- An ever-growing network of free local and online meetings
- Choice: participate in SMART Recovery, or 12-Step, or both
- A science and evidence based program
- A program that supports the scientifically informed use of psychological treatment and legally prescribed psychiatric and addiction medication (medication-assisted treatment/MAT)
- SMART Recovery Handbooks and other publications available in a variety of languages
The SMART Recovery 4-Point Program®
Self-Management And Recovery Training (SMART) helps individuals gain independence from addictive problems (involving substances or activities). Our approach incorporates tools based on evidence-based addiction treatments, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing. Our efforts are based on scientific knowledge and evolve as scientific knowledge evolves.
Our program 4-Point Program®:
- Building and Maintaining Motivation
- Coping with Urges
- Managing Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviors
- Living a Balanced Life
SMART Recovery Tools

A variety of tools and techniques is employed for each of SMART’s 4 Points. Our program is abstinence-based. We also welcome those considering, but not yet committed to abstinence. Point 1, Building and Maintaining Motivation, can help individuals determine whether to choose an abstinence recovery path. Newcomers are invited to attend several SMART Recovery meetings to gain an understanding of the program and tools, and to enhance their motivation to determine whether to pursue abstinence.
Program tools include the Cost/Benefit Analysis, the Change Plan Worksheet, Hierarchy of Values, ABCs of Rational-Emotive Behavioral Therapy (for both urge-coping and emotional upsets); DISARM (Destructive Imagery and Self-talk Awareness and Refusal Method); Brainstorming; and Role-playing/Rehearsing.
Training Options For Counselors & Recovery Facilities

Professional Facilitator Training: Designed for licensed health care professionals who wish to use SMART Recovery’s self-empowering, evidence-based 4-Point Program® and Tools in their profession role and with their patients. Click here to learn more.
On-Site Training for Professionals: Would you like to quickly bring your rehabilitation or counseling center staff up to speed with SMART Recovery? We offer two choices of onsite trainings – either at your location or our National Office Training Center – that range from 2-3 days and can combine a group of licensed and unlicensed professionals. Click here to request info.
SMART Recovery for Courts & Corrections

SMART Recovery works with correctional institutions worldwide to provide SMART Recovery meetings for inmates, as well as mutual support meetings for those returning to the general population.
Our FAST Distance Training Program prepares counselors, officers, and drug court officials to run SMART Recovery meetings.
SMART Recovery works equally well with male and female populations, lowers recidivism rates, and complies with First Amendment case law by making secular programming available to offenders.
You can find information about our correctional outreach efforts and offerings by visiting our Courts & Corrections page.
SMART Recovery for Veterans & Veterans Administration Facilities

To learn more about providing SMART Recovery in your facility, please contact us at [email protected].
SMART Recovery’s MAT/OAT Behavioral Care Support Program
Do you have clients who take prescribed medication, or who would benefit from medication as part of their overall treatment; or, more specifically, opioid agonist therapy (OAT)? Are you interested in learning more about medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for your practice? SMART Recovery offers a variety of educational resources about MAT.
Our stance on MAT: SMART meetings have always welcomed people who appropriately use prescribed medications (i.e., for treatment of mental health conditions, initial withdrawal from substance use, and recovery from addiction).
If you are a treatment professional, please click on the link below to learn more about the SMART Recovery MAT/OAT Behavioral Support Program.
Gauge Your Clients’ Progress with SMART Resource Activity Scale (SRAS)
Assess your clients’ level of engagement with SMART Recovery activities and beliefs.
Understand and address your clients’ obstacles.
Engage would-be participants to join SMART Recovery® and treatment, highlighting potential benefits of treatment.

Click below for more information about:
Listen to the SRAS Webinar with Dr. Donald Meichenbaum and Dr.
Julie Myers (1h:1m)
Recommended Reading for Addiction Professionals and Their Clients
Addiction and Co-Occurring Disorders from a SMART Recovery Perspective: A Manual for Group Therapists
This manual aims to engage individuals in the recovery process, increase their insights, motivate and sustain change through education and skill development. The program has been adapted and delivered in a community setting to individuals with co-occurring mental disorders.
This is an easy-to-use therapy manual with helpful exercises and a strong scientific base. The group therapy format is particularly desirable for front-line treatment programs. Each session includes discussion, exercises and/or role-plays, questions for the facilitator to pose to the group for discussion, and self-help homework. Chapter topics from this manual include:
- Getting Started/Motivated (4 sessions).
- Changing Your Beliefs (8 sessions).
- Coping with Cravings (10 sessions).
- Following Through (9 sessions).
Eight optional sessions address drug facts, definitions, the relationship between drug use and mental disorder and offending behavior, and more.
Motivational Guide & Workbook for Healthcare Professionals
by Maria Elsa Rodriguez, DNP, ACNS-BC
Chapter topics from the Motivational Guide & Workbook for Healthcare Professionals include:
- Motivation.
- The Prevalence of Addiction in Healthcare Providers (physicians, nurses, psychologists, pharmacists, and dentists).
- Information About SMART Recovery.
- The Brain, Drugs, & Motivation.
- An Overview of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.
- The Transtheoretical Model of Change.
- Self-Efficacy.
- Self-Esteem and Self-Worth.
- Locus of Control.
- Resilience.
- Coping Skills for Emotions & Behaviors.
An Appendix reviews The Background and History of Narcotic & Alcohol Use in the United States.
Interactive activities are included throughout the workbook
SMART Recovery Facilitator's Manual
This manual provides an excellent overview of how to start a SMART Recovery group meeting and also serves as a superb refresher for individuals who have been leading groups for some time. The topics include:
- Leading a SMART Recovery Meeting.
- Start-up and Basic Operations.
- REBT.
- Basic Counseling and Communication Skills.
- SMART Recovery News & Views Newsletter Reprints.
- Frequently Asked Questions.
This book is meant to accompany the Facilitator Training course, which can be found and registered for at: www.smartrecovery.org/training. Before starting a SMART Recovery meeting, you must complete the facilitator training and register your meeting with the SMART Recovery National Office.
SMART Recovery Handbook
The SMART Recovery Handbook is available in Arabic, Danish, English, Farsi, French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Vietnamese. Handbooks can be ordered from the SMART Recovery Shop.
SMART Recovery Teen & Youth Handbook
Developed with a grant from The Community Coalition for Teens in Greenfield, Massachusetts, the SMART Recovery Handbook was adapted to be helpful to teens.
The SMART Recovery Teen & Youth Handbook is intended for use in adolescent-only settings when used in a group.