When It Is Used
Use it when motivation about an addictive or concerning behavior feels mixed or unstable and the participant wants to examine tradeoffs.
SMART Recovery Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)
SMART Recovery Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is a recovery-focused decision worksheet for practitioners and recovery facilitators supporting someone whose motivation about an addictive or concerning behavior feels mixed or unstable. It helps the participant name a specific behavior, list benefits and costs of doing it and not doing it, label entries short-term or long-term, and review the tradeoff pattern.
Try the CBA with sample entries
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Tool guide
Learn more about this tool
Use this background section to understand when the tool fits, how practitioners use it, and what to consider before sharing it with clients.
What It Captures
The CBA captures the target behavior, benefits and costs of doing it, benefits and costs of not doing it, and whether each entry is short-term or long-term.
Relevant Limits
The tool does not diagnose addiction severity, rank values, calculate a decision score, or produce recovery advice.
Does the CBA recommend whether to stop a behavior?
No. It organizes tradeoffs and time horizons so the participant and facilitator can review them together.
Are short-term and long-term labels required?
Entries can be labeled short-term or long-term, and missing labels are shown for review rather than interpreted automatically.
Can one participant complete CBAs for multiple behaviors?
Yes. Separate substances, activities, or behaviors should use separate CBAs so tradeoffs are not merged.
What is saved from the public demo?
The CBA tool itself and selected setup are saved. Fictional sample behavior and demo entries are not saved as real client data.