Seeking Safety In Recovery

What Is Seeking Safety and How Does It Work?

During recovery, safety and stability are often elusive concepts. Everything is changing from the inside out as you or your loved one pursues healing. Seeking Safety is a present-focused therapy model created to address Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Substance Use Disorder symptoms.  The method was developed by Lisa Najavits, PhD, at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital, funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

The Seeking Safety framework was designed as a flexible program that focuses on the present moment rather than digging up the past.[1] The emphasis is on what you can do right now and on practical ways to build a better, healthier life free from harmful patterns. This approach is also helpful in other contexts like general counseling, mental health challenges, incarceration, medical conditions, homelessness, crisis, and more.

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Our Approach to Seeking Safety

We want to see you or your loved one living in safety and building stability in life. These achievements create confidence in your new lifestyle and promote your continued success in recovery. Seeking Safety treatment sessions are available in both individual and group formats, which can be either gender-specific or mixed-gender, and are part of the broader treatment spectrum across all levels of care, as well as in more casual settings for practicing valuable coping skills.

What Does a Mindfulness Session Look Like?

Most Seeking Safety sessions follow a structured format. It begins with a general check-in, followed by an inspiring or motivational quote, a group or individual discussion, and concludes with a closing check-out. The purpose of the structured format is to ensure that each person can use the time efficiently and get the most out of each session.

The key principles of the Seeking Safety approach are: [2]

1. Safety is the Overarching Goal: Safety in thinking, functionality, patterns and cycles, relationships, behavior, and emotions is something that must be learned, established, and nurtured within boundaries.
2. Integrated Treatment: PTSD that presents with substance use disorder is relatively common. The VA reports that 44% of those with lifetime PTSD also meet the criteria for AUD or SUD.[3] Both should be treated together for the best results.
3. Focusing on Ideals: Reconnecting with intrinsic values and ideals to counteract the loss of ideals that may have occurred as a result of either PTSD, substance abuse, or both.
4. Covering Four Key Areas: The four primary areas of life and treatment addressed in Seeking Safety are cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal, and case management. The outcome for each person varies based on their treatment plan.
5. Attention to Clinical Processes: This is a safeguard for clinicians to protect them against countertransference (emotional reactions to patient contributions).

What Are The 25 Topics of Seeking Safety?

The Seeking Safety curriculum encompasses 25 key topics that cover the full spectrum of life experiences and challenges. While all of these topics offer an immersive and comprehensive perspective for rebuilding a new, healthy life, not everyone will need to complete every topic. According to official training literature, those 25 topics are: [4]

Let’s Seek Safety Together On Your Recovery Journey

If you or your loved one is struggling with alcohol or substance use disorder, contact us today to start your path to recovery. At Soba NJ, we create individualized treatment plans for every patient to ensure their addiction treatment program is tailored to their specific needs.

Frequently Asked Questions About Seeking Safety Treatment Innovations