Alder Creek Editions
Recovery worksheets
Free, printable resources for the practical work that recovery asks of a person, one useful page at a time.
Browse The Mile Marker Library
If there is an emergency or suspected overdose, call 911. For suicide or crisis support, call or text 988. For treatment referral information, call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
A page for the next moment
Recovery has practical work, not only private intentions.
A difficult hour can make ordinary tasks harder to hold. A person may need a phone number, a question for a provider, a place to write down what happened, or a prompt that makes the next action easier to name. Recovery worksheets give that work a visible place. A page does not settle every decision, but a useful page can keep an important detail from disappearing while a person is tired, overwhelmed, or trying to begin again.
The Mile Marker Library brings together books and free printables for different stages of recovery. Some resources are for the immediate hours after a person stops drinking or using. Some support a daily practice. Others address the practical areas that recovery touches, including money, work, housing, court, and family relationships. The point is not to create a perfect plan before a person can move. The point is to make the next useful action easier to see.
Choose the immediate job
Start with the question that is already in the room.
A person in the first hours of change does not need the same resource as a person looking for a new place to live. Someone preparing for a meeting may need a written prompt. Someone facing a difficult conversation with a family member may need help naming what has happened without turning the conversation into an argument. Someone trying to return to work may need a place to prepare for the questions that work will raise.
That is why The Mile Marker Library is organized around real situations. The “Right Now” resources are for urgent questions, early decisions, and support that needs to be close at hand. “Daily Practice” resources support routines that can be written down and revisited. “Rebuilding” resources address the practical systems around a person. “The People Around You” resources recognize that family members, peer groups, employers, and community organizations often need a clearer way to help without taking over another person's choices.
Begin with the resource that makes the present situation more manageable. A worksheet can be printed and marked up, saved for later, or used as a starting point for a conversation. A reader does not need to complete every page in a library for a single page to be useful.
When the first hours are hard
Keep urgent information close enough to use.
Early recovery can require decisions before a person feels ready to make them. A printable guide can help a person gather the questions that need an answer, the people who can help, and the next safe action. The Mile Marker Library includes “Don't Panic: The First Hours After You Stop,” a practical resource for the period after a person stops drinking or using. The guide belongs alongside professional care, emergency support, and trusted people, not in place of them.
For a person looking for treatment, meetings, helplines, or lower-cost care, the Free Help Directory offers a place to begin. For a person who needs a small card with numbers nearby, the Wallet Crisis Card is designed to be printed and kept close. These are modest tools. Their value is that they reduce the number of details a person has to reconstruct in the middle of a difficult moment.
Safety comes before paperwork. If there is an emergency or a suspected overdose, call 911. If a person is considering suicide or needs crisis support, call or text 988. A recovery worksheet can support a conversation or a plan, but it cannot assess a medical emergency or provide crisis care.
A daily practice
Use a written page to return to what matters.
Recovery is often described in large terms: commitment, discipline, hope, change. A person usually experiences recovery in smaller terms. A person makes it through an evening. A person notices a craving before acting on it. A person attends a meeting, makes a call, writes down a thought, or begins a morning again after a difficult day. A worksheet or journal page can hold those smaller actions without asking a person to turn life into a performance.
The library includes a general edition and a Christian edition of “One Day at a Time, Written Down,” both intended for a daily gratitude practice. “Tools You Can Use on Your Own” and the “Cravings and Hard Hours Workbook” offer material for a person who wants practical prompts for recovery work between appointments, meetings, or conversations. The right resource depends on what feels usable now. Some readers will want a page with more structure. Others will want an open place to reflect.
Writing something down does not make every feeling clear. It can make patterns easier to notice. A page can show what happened before a difficult hour, what helped after a difficult hour, and what a person wants to remember before the next one. That record can also support a more concrete conversation with a counselor, sponsor, peer, family member, or trusted friend.
The life around recovery
Make room for money, work, housing, and other real pressures.
Recovery does not happen outside the rest of a person's life. A person may be trying to understand a debt, find stable housing, return to work, meet a court requirement, or explain a change to a family member. Those pressures can feel separate from recovery until they become the reason a difficult day becomes harder. Practical resources help a person prepare for the questions that come with those systems.
The Mile Marker Library includes guides about money in early recovery, work and recovery, finding a safe place to live, and court, probation, and recovery. These resources are written to help a reader identify the questions, records, and next conversations that may matter. They do not replace an attorney, a clinician, a housing provider, an employer, or any other qualified professional. They help a person arrive at the right conversation with a clearer starting point.
That distinction matters. A good worksheet does not promise to solve a person's situation. It gives the person a more usable way to prepare, remember, and follow through. When the work involves a medical decision, legal requirement, financial obligation, or emergency, the appropriate professional or service remains the right source of advice and action.
People around the person
Support works better when the role is clear.
Family members, peer groups, churches, shelters, community organizations, and employers can all be part of a person's recovery story. Each group faces a different question. A family member may want to help without controlling the person. A peer group may need a resource that can support a conversation. An employer may need a more realistic understanding of work, recovery, and accountability. A clear resource can give each person a place to begin without pretending that every role is the same.
The library includes “For Families,” a Group Facilitator Guide, and an Employer Guide. These resources are not instructions for managing another person's recovery. They are practical reading and writing tools for the people who want to show up with more clarity. A person in recovery remains a person with choices, privacy, and a life that cannot be reduced to a worksheet.
Useful support is specific. It can sound like an offer to make a call, a plan to attend a meeting, a question about what kind of help would be welcome, or a commitment to keep a boundary. The resources in this collection can help a person prepare for that kind of support one page at a time.
Free recovery resources
Open the library and choose what helps today.
The Mile Marker Library is a practical collection, not a prescribed program. Read a guide, print a page, save a resource, or return when the next situation calls for something different. Start with the resource that makes the present day more understandable, then leave the rest available for later.
Frequently asked questions
Are the recovery worksheets free?
The Mile Marker Library includes free printables, along with paperback and ebook editions. Each resource lists the formats currently available.
Which recovery worksheet should I start with?
Start with the page that fits the current problem. A person facing an urgent first day may need a short list of next steps. A person trying to establish a daily practice may need a journal page. A person dealing with work, housing, money, court, or family pressure may need a more specific guide.
Can a worksheet replace treatment or emergency help?
No. A worksheet is a practical support, not medical care, treatment, legal advice, or emergency guidance. Call 911 for an emergency or suspected overdose. Call or text 988 for suicide or crisis support.
Can family members use these resources?
Yes. The Mile Marker Library includes material for family members, peer groups, churches, shelters, community groups, and employers. Each person can choose a resource that matches the role and situation in front of them.