Accountability, Sponsorship & Relapse Prevention

Course Syllabus

Course Description

This course equips recovery ministry leaders to walk alongside others through accountability, sponsorship, and relapse prevention, with special attention to the re-entry season. Building on The Restoration Path from RML 251, you will study what Scripture teaches about walking together, learn the role and the limits of a sponsor or accountability partner, and understand relapse as a process that usually begins long before a return to use. You will learn to recognize warning signs, plan for triggers and high-risk situations, use the HALT check (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired), prepare for the critical first days and weeks after release, build a support network, and respond to a lapse with grace and a plan. You will also consider family relationships and reconnecting to church and community supports. You will finish with a Relapse Prevention & Re-entry Plan and a sponsorship or accountability covenant. This is a lay ministry credential, not a clinical license. Sponsors and leaders walk alongside and refer out. Every activity can be completed on paper.

Faith Integration

Second Corinthians 1:4 says God comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. God never meant recovery to be walked alone: Two are better than one... For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10). In this course we hold together grace and responsibility. We bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2), and each of us still carries her own (Galatians 6:5). We prepare wisely for temptation, and when someone falls, we help her rise again without shame (Proverbs 24:16; Micah 7:8). We also honor the ways God works through doctors, treatment programs, medication, case managers, and community services. Faith and good planning are not opposed; a wise plan is one way we watch and pray (Matthew 26:41).

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Explain a biblical theology of accountability and mutual care (Ecclesiastes 4:9–12; Galatians 6:1–5; James 5:16).
2. Describe the role of a sponsor or accountability partner, including healthy boundaries, same-gender pairing, and what a sponsor is not (not a counselor, bank, or supervising officer).
3. Describe relapse as a process with emotional, mental, and behavioral warning signs, in general terms and without diagnosing anyone.
4. Identify triggers and high-risk situations and plan healthy responses, including the HALT check (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired).
5. Plan for the critical first days and weeks after release, including continuity of medical care and the higher overdose risk after incarceration.
6. Build a support network by role and reconnect to church and community supports, with respect for supervision conditions.
7. Respond to a lapse with grace, safety, and a clear plan, and know when to refer out to medical, crisis, or clinical help.
8. Write a Relapse Prevention & Re-entry Plan and a sponsorship or accountability covenant.

Course Materials

• This student workbook
• A Bible (King James Version)
• A notebook or lined paper and a folder for your plan
• Pen or pencil (no devices are required; every activity has a paper version)
• Your Restoration Path card and When to Get Help card from RML 251 (new copies provided in Module 1)

Weekly Schedule

How You Will Be Graded

To pass this course: earn 70% or higher overall and attend at least 80% of sessions.

Classroom Covenant

• We begin and end each session in prayer. Participation in prayer is always welcome, never required.
• What is shared in class stays in class. We protect one another's stories.
• We speak with respect, listen without interrupting, and disagree with grace.
• We come prepared, do our own work, and ask for help when we need it.
• We follow all facility rules. Safety and security come first.
• We believe the best about one another and about what God can do.

Support & Accommodations

If reading, writing, vision, hearing, or any other need makes a part of this course harder, tell your instructor privately. Materials can be read aloud, enlarged, or completed orally. Missed sessions can be made up using the module pages. If you are transferred or released, your completed work stays on record and you can finish online.

Welcome

Welcome to RML 253. This companion walks beside you with a weekly reading, five devotions for the days between sessions, and a Quick Guide to accountability, warning signs, HALT, the first days home, and responding to a lapse. Read it with grace. You may be walking your own recovery, preparing to go home, or getting ready to walk with someone else. Wherever you are, remember: God never meant recovery to be walked alone, falling is never the end of the story, and a sponsor or recovery leader is a lay minister, not a clinician. We walk alongside, point to Christ, and know when to bring in more help.

How to Use This Companion

• Read the weekly reading after each class session. It takes about 10 minutes.
• Reflect on the questions. These are for you; you do not have to turn them in.
• Meet with God through the five daily devotions between sessions.
• Keep the Quick Guide at the end to carry home after release.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.— Psalm 119:105 (KJV)