Written by Hal Baumchen, PsyD, LP, LADC, this worksheet provides a thorough and compassionate guide to establishing boundaries in the context of addiction and recovery. It opens with a personal writing prompt asking readers to reflect on their history with boundaries – where they have struggled, where they have succeeded, and how substance use has compromised their ability to set and maintain healthy limits. The worksheet then clearly defines what a boundary does and does not do, dispelling common misconceptions such as the idea that boundaries are punishments, relationship enders, or cures for addiction. A section on boundary violators helps readers recognize manipulative tactics – guilt, escalating anger, accusations, and repeated pressure – and understand that resistance to a boundary is not a reason to abandon it. Practical guidance on setting clear, enforceable boundaries includes specific language, tips for communicating firmly and kindly, advice on handling partial compliance, and reminders to keep love for the person separate from rejection of the addiction. Eight reflection questions close the worksheet, asking readers to examine where they need firmer boundaries, how they feel when limits are violated, when they have crossed others’ boundaries, and what it means in practice to hate an addiction without hating the person struggling with it.
