Understanding Readiness to Change: Key Stages and Strategies for Success

In Los Angeles, 1.4 million struggle with substance use challenges, while 1 in 5 struggle with mental health conditions. These numbers may seem alarming, but the encouraging news is that healing and recovery are readily available options. Yet, how you come to this journey depends on your readiness to change.

Readiness to change is vital to your recovery in Los Angeles, and your therapist will work with you to foster this mindset so that you can take ownership of the meaningful and fulfilling life that lies ahead.

Readiness to change reflects your desire, intention, and commitment to change from problematic patterns or behaviors. While therapeutic interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy and others can be effective in treating substance use and co-occurring mental health conditions, readiness to change is what motivates you toward this journey.

Linda Whiteside, Clinical Supervisor at the NuView Treatment Center, explains, “In therapy, change refers to transforming your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to live a healthier, more fulfilling life. However, change cannot be forced or inflicted on anyone. You will change only when you are willing to change. This willingness is what is known as ‘readiness for change.’”

The stages of change model, or the transtheoretical model, indicates where a person stands in their readiness to change journey so that mental health specialists can personalize interventions to foster motivation and commitment toward a transformational recovery journey.

• Precontemplation Stage: In the precontemplation stage, the person is not yet ready for change. They may be in denial or simply overlook problematic behaviors as they do not consider them to be anything serious.
• Contemplation Stage: In the contemplation stage, the person acknowledges their behaviors are problematic and begins to weigh the pros and cons of change. However, they can still be ambivalent to change.
• Preparation Stage: In the preparation stage, a person is ready to make small changes, seeing the potential for improvement.
• Action Stage: In the action stage, the person is ready to take actionable steps to change their behaviors.
• Maintenance Stage: Even after change, it is important to maintain new behaviors to prevent relapse and ensure lasting recovery. So, by understanding this, the person maintains the changes and ensures that they are lasting.
• Termination Stage: In the termination stage, the person has fully integrated the change and no longer feels the need to return to old behaviors.

Linda Whiteside says, “At every stage, therapists use strategies to promote readiness and enable the person to move forward. Identifying personal barriers to change, psychoeducation, motivational interviewing, developing S.M.A.R.T. goals, providing reinforcement, and aftercare planning are strategies that can be implemented at each of these levels to promote positive behavior toward change.”

Los Angeles treatment centers, like NuView, focus on creating and fostering readiness for change toward a lasting recovery.

A strong rapport between you and the therapist is the cornerstone of fostering readiness for change. Once the rapport has been established, the next step is to help you recognize the risks of your harmful behavior.

Sometimes, you may understand that there is a need for change and struggle with their ambivalence. Therapists use techniques like psychoeducation and motivational interviewing to shed light on how ambivalence is normal, but also explore the benefits of change to instill the motivation for change.

Once you are committed to change and begin to take small steps toward it, the therapist provides positive reinforcements in order to keep you focused on your path to recovery and a fulfilling life. When you seek to maintain the change you have implemented, the therapist implements aftercare planning to ensure a lasting recovery.

Linda Whiteside says, “Therapists often say that creating readiness to change, especially among those who are in denial, is a rewarding challenge. It is one of the most fulfilling aspects of the psychotherapeutic journey, as promoting readiness for change is like building a strong foundation for a fulfilling life ahead.”

Change does not happen in isolation; some factors that can inform and impact readiness to change are:

• Techniques Used: The key here is to provide interventions that move with the client. Using the transtheoretical model to employ various therapeutic interventions, such as psychoeducation, the GROW (Goal, Reality, Options, Will) model, reinforcements, and other strategies, depending on the stages of change, provides the support that the client needs to foster a mindset toward lasting positive change.
• Growth Mindset: A growth mindset enables clients to believe they can improve. When therapists encourage this mindset, clients are more open to change. To cultivate a growth mindset, therapists must focus on leveraging their clients’ strengths and life goals. For instance, the acceptance and commitment therapy aligns the client’s behaviors with their inner principles.
• Relationship Factors: The strength of the therapeutic alliance between the client and their therapist is a crucial factor in determining readiness to change. It indicates the trust clients have in the relationship and the respect and safety they feel within that context. This alliance plays an important role when a client considers changing their behavior(s).
• Expectancy Factors: A client’s expectations for change are an important factor to consider. It includes their belief in the credibility of change, and what they can hope to get from the change, and yet again, it also comes down to the trust they have in the therapeutic alliance.

Linda Whiteside says, “At NuView’s Los Angeles facility, we have seen that when we incorporate readiness to change, we achieve 60% better response rates.”

Readiness to change is highly effective in substance use and mental health recovery. It instills the commitment and confidence needed for an active, intentional recovery.

Recovery from substance use and co-occurring mental health conditions is a transformational journey. How you come to this journey depends on your readiness to change. At NuView, we use the transtheoretical model of change to provide personalized interventions to create and foster your readiness to change toward a lasting recovery.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at (323) 307-7997 to connect with our experts today!

1. Can readiness to change fluctuate during recovery?

Yes, readiness to change is dynamic and can rise or fall in recovery, depending on several factors. This is why personalizing interventions to foster this readiness is crucial.

2. What if I feel pressured into treatment but do not feel ready?

Even if you feel pressured into treatment, external motivation can be a good starting point to build on readiness, even during therapy rather than before it.

3. Does readiness to change look different for mental health and substance use recovery?

Yes, readiness to change in mental health recovery can focus on introspection and insight, while readiness to change in substance use recovery may focus more on behaviors and consequences.

4. How long does it take to develop readiness to change?

There is no fixed timeline. Readiness to change can emerge slowly through therapeutic support, reflection, and increased self-awareness.

5. Can family involvement impact readiness to change?

Yes, strong family support can enhance motivation, while conflict or pressure can sometimes slow readiness to change if not dealt with in a safe, non-judgmental therapeutic setting.