• Inspire rehab residents with bulletin board ideas.bulletin board image by Chad McDermott from Fotolia.com
  
  Patients in rehab facilities spend much of their day going to group and individual meetings to help them understand and conquer their addictions to drugs, alcohol or a variety of compulsions. Even when they're not interacting with a group leader or team psychologist, patients encounter education and advice throughout the rehab facility from its display cases, handouts, brochures, posters and bulletin boards.
  
  

Twelve Steps

• Many rehab facilities distribute the Alcoholics Anonymous "Big Book" and have posters of the 12 steps. An idea for an unused bulletin board is to have patients working on the steps illustrate them to show their progress. For example, patients working on the eighth step--making a list of all persons they have harmed--can create lists and place them on the board. (Instead of using actual names, patients can use signifiers, such as "best friend," "my teacher" or "son-in-law"). As they make amends, patients can cross items off their lists or write their intentions for how they plan to carry out the step. The bulletin board may also be used as a way to enlist new patients just starting out with step one--admitting powerlessness over addiction. Decorate the bulletin board as a sign-up sheet, with step one written out in a big, bold font. Encourage each rehab patient to add his name to the list, showing a commitment to the program.
  
  

Celebrity Rehab

• A large number of celebrities, political figures and sports players have spent time in rehab to kick a number of different addictions. Consider using your bulletin board as an inspiration to current residents. Choose famous addicts who have overcome an addiction similar to the one you're treating. (For example, if you treat drug addicts, select celebrities who have beaten cocaine, meth and crack.) Let patients collect clippings and pictures from magazines or the Internet to add to the board or write essays about how they feel knowing that person spent time in a rehab similar to their own. Patients may also want to choose a "patron saint" celebrity they identify with (such as Etta James, Eddie Van Halen or Dionne Warwick for aspiring singers) and pay tribute to them on the bulletin board.
  
  

Slam Board

• Although "slam books" (notebooks where kids and teenagers wrote sometimes nasty comments about a person whose name was at the top of each page) may have fallen out of popularity, their use may be translated into positive reinforcement for a rehab bulletin board. The rehab coordinator can write each resident's name on a piece of colored construction paper and then tack it to the board. Throughout the day, residents can write compliments and encouragement for each person. (Prior to setting up the board, the coordinator should advise residents not to write anything derogatory, cruel or negative.) Suggestions such as "Congrats on your first week of sobriety!" or "Made a cool sculpture in the crafts session today" may combine with standard advice, such as "One day at a time."