Coping skills are the tools or strategies that people use to deal with the stresses in every day life. These stresses may be positive, like the birth of child or negative, like the death of a loved one. Whether the stress is caused by a positive or a negative event/situation, individuals need to have healthy coping skills that help them manage the stress in order to maintain an well balanced sense of being.

Unfortunately, individuals who struggle with drugs or alcohol, often are limited with their coping skills to begin with and have started to use the substances to cope with the stress of their life, thereby creating additional stress in their life. This requires the development of more sophisticated coping skills, which can be very difficult to obtain while the substance use is still occurring. However, once the individual stops using (often with treatment), he/she can begin the process of developing healthy coping skills to manage the stress that came from the addiction as well as the stress of every day life.

Montco Recovery Center integrates coping skill development into both individual and group therapy and encourages the use of mindfulness, meditation, positive affirmations, physical activity, humor, reading, writing in a journal, expressions through art, practicing gratitude, spending time with animals and many more.