Stages Of Change

There are six stages of change and each is a legitimate place in the decision making process for all persons. The stages of change are a theoretical construct developed by James Prochaska and Carlos DiClemente to understand behaviour change.

Persons with addictions may have difficulty in making behavioural changes related to the reduction or elimination of substance use or problem gambling. This will often be due to physical tolerance, behavioural patterns that are well ingrained and personal and environmental cues and triggers to continue to use or gamble.

However the decisioning process is the same for anyone who wants to change a behaviour whether it is related to substance use, problem gambling, tobacco cessation or weight loss and all persons will travel through the six stages in similar ways. See below for a full description of each stage.

Precontemplators	•	Precontemplators do not intend to make changes at this time and are not contemplating altering their behaviour. It is thought they may be aware that they need to change but they are not prepared to "pay the price of change" at this time. Precontemplators benefit from education and information to raise consciousness and awareness.
Contemplators	•	Contemplators think that they may have a problem, but do not know yet what they want to do about it, or whether they want to do anything about it. They may say they'll quit "soon" or "later". The contemplator expresses "ambivalence" about change in that they feel both the pros and cons of change. Ambivalence must be explored so that the person can move forward with decisions.
Preparation	•	People in this stage have begun to make some changes or have set a target date and have a strategy or potential strategy in mind. Persons in this stage need support to “tip the balance and stay tipped in favour of change”.
Action	•	This stage is where people are actively doing something to help themselves change a habit or behaviour. This is a very active period.
Maintenance	•	This stage is where change has been achieved and now must be maintained long term.
Termination	•	This stage does not apply to all persons. Some people feel they are always in recovery and not “recovered” They maintain behaviour change by imagining it always to be in the present and not in the past. Some persons believe that their work is done and therefore they are in a termination stage of behaviour change. There is no “right version” of this. It is up to the individual and how they choose to see their recovery, behaviour changes.

In addition to the six stages there is also Relapse:

This is the process where the person has slipped into old behaviours and has stopped practicing their changed behaviours. Relapse can be brief or lasting and persons usually have to re-enter the stage of contemplation to start again in the decisioning stages to make changes.