Description

How to Operate a Human Being — Part I: Addicts Do Not Crave the Drug

What if we have been starting the conversation about addiction in the wrong place?

Part I of How to Operate a Human Being begins before the drug—with the human body itself.

Through visual lessons, memorable characters, plain language, counselor guidance, and hands-on exercises, students explore the physiological systems that existed long before a substance ever entered the picture: survival signals, reward, problem solving, basic physiological needs, adaptation, and homeostasis.

Rather than asking students to memorize complicated terminology, the curriculum gives those processes recognizable personalities and jobs. Scaredy Cat represents the survival alarm. Jezebel represents the powerful artificial reward and shortcut. Mr. Fix-It represents the problem-solving system that remembers what worked. Finally, Balance brings the story together through the concept of homeostasis.

The goal is not to remove the science. It is to make the science understandable, memorable, and useful.

One Story Told Through Ten Lessons

Part I progresses as a continuous story:

1. Meet Scaredy Cat — The Survival Alarm
Understand why the body can create extraordinarily powerful signals when it believes something important is needed.

2. Meet Jezebel — The Counterfeit Reward
Explore how drugs enter an existing reward system and can become an extraordinarily powerful learned shortcut.

3. Meet Mr. Fix-It — The Real Cause of the Insanity
See addictive behavior through the lens of problem solving: the alarm sounds, a solution has been learned, and Mr. Fix-It goes to work.

4. Getting Back to Natural
Stopping the drug is the beginning. Attention now turns toward restoring the conditions that support natural human function.

5. Oxygen
Return to one of the most fundamental requirements of human physiology.

6. Water
Explore hydration as a basic condition required for normal regulation and recovery.

7. Food
Look at nourishment as the raw material and energy the organism needs to operate, maintain itself, and repair.

8. Sleep
Understand how sleep and recovery affect energy, thinking, mood, motivation, stress tolerance, and the body’s opportunity to regulate and repair.

9. Excretion
Recognize that survival requires removal as well as intake—the body is continually taking in, using, transforming, recycling, and removing.

10. Meet Balance
Bring the entire story together through homeostasis: the body’s continual effort to regulate, adapt, repair, and survive.

From Information to Practical Understanding

Part I does more than explain addiction.

It gives students a framework for investigating discomfort instead of immediately trying to escape it.

Instead of simply thinking, “I feel bad because I don’t have my drug,” students begin learning to ask different questions:

How have I been sleeping? Have I eaten? Am I hydrated? What has changed? What does my body actually need? Is something pushing me out of Balance?

The curriculum does not suggest that every craving or uncomfortable experience has a physiological cause. Addiction and craving can involve physiological, psychological, learned, environmental, and social factors.

Instead, Part I adds an important piece to the picture: when a genuine physiological need is contributing to discomfort, students can learn to recognize it and respond to the actual need rather than automatically reaching for the old solution.

That understanding can become a practical part of recovery, health education, and relapse prevention.

Designed to Be Taught

This is not simply a collection of informational PDFs.

Each lesson includes three coordinated components:

Visual Lesson — introduces the concept through illustrations, characters, metaphors, and accessible language.

Counselor Notes — gives the educator additional context and guidance for teaching the material.

Field Exercise — helps students interact with the concept and begin applying it to their own observations and behavior.

The included Big Picture Counselor Overview connects all ten lessons into one continuous physiological story, while the Survival Essentials Reminder Poster provides a visual reference for reinforcing the concepts after the lessons have been taught.

What’s Included

Digital Curriculum Package

This product is delivered as a downloadable ZIP file containing PDF curriculum materials and high-resolution visual resources. No printed or physical materials are included.

Your digital download contains:

10 Visual Lessons
10 Counselor Notes
10 Field Exercises
1 Big Picture Counselor Overview
1 Full-Color Survival Essentials Reminder Poster

32 coordinated teaching resources in one downloadable curriculum package.

Materials can be viewed digitally or printed for use in educational and teaching environments.

Who Is It For?

How to Operate a Human Being — Part I was created for settings where complicated health science needs to become understandable to ordinary people, including:

Addiction treatment programs • Counselors • Recovery educators • Group facilitators • Health educators • Schools and classrooms • Students • Community education programs

The concepts are intentionally presented through visual storytelling and accessible language rather than textbook-style scientific instruction, making the material approachable for a wide range of learners.

The Bigger Idea

Much of the science people need already exists.

The problem is that scientific information is often delivered through textbooks, clinical terminology, research, and professional education—and not everyone learns that way.

Root & Rise bridges that information gap.

The science hasn’t changed.

The language has.

Usage & Printing

Your purchase includes permission to use these materials for your own professional, educational, or personal use. Counselors, educators, and facilitators may print and reproduce student-facing materials for the clients, students, or groups they personally serve.

Digital files may not be shared, redistributed, uploaded, resold, or provided to other organizations or professionals for their independent use.

© 2026 Root & Rise. All rights reserved.