Maintaining sobriety and recovery.

Recovery is a continuous, progressive process of improvement whereby a person with a substance use disorder first becomes sober and then begins a lifelong commitment to improve his or her health, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach full potential. The nurse plays an important role in the beginning stages of this process by helping the patient identify relapse risk factors along with providing psychoeducational, psychotherapeutic, and psychopharmacologic interventions to decrease the risk of relapse and direct the patient down a path of self-efficacy, personal health, and productive citizenship.