Working with drug and alcohol users

New book!! Two weeks until release

Working with drug and alcohol users 

by

Tony White

Topics covered

Chapter 1 - Drugs in society and addiction

Historical and contemporary views of addiction. Drugs are a political issue and how this negatively impacts on drug counselling. 

Chapter 2 - Fundamental components of drug counseling 

Facts about the three groups of drugs. Peak age of use and other drug features. Gateway drugs. Drug of choice. Polydrug use. The need to be truthful about drug effects and dangers with clients. Urine testing. Paruresis. Drug induced psychosis.

Chapter 3 - Transactional Analysis and the theory of addiction

Theory of personality. Ego states and the newborn child. The functional ego states. Transactions. Transactional analysis theory of dependence and addiction. Addiction and attachment. 

Chapter 4 - Why people use drugs and their treatment

The effects of alcohol on personality. Reasons for using drugs. Experimental drug use and counselling. Rebellious drug use and counselling. Recreational drug use and counselling. Situational drug use and counselling. Symptomatic drug use and counselling. Dependent drug use and counselling.

Chapter 5 - The harm reduction contract and harm reduction counseling

The moral issue in harm minimization. The difficulty of using harm minimization information. Ego states and negotiating safety. Therapeutic relationship and negotiating safety. The harm reduction contracting process. Harm reduction counselling. Suicide and drug use. Harm reduction counselling and defence mechanisms. Harm minimization and youth.

Chapter 6 - Assessment of the drug and alcohol user

Presenting issues. Taking a client history. Drug use history. Drug use timeline. Assessing drug users who have been in prison. How do they get their drugs? Relationships with peers and partner. Stages of change.

Chapter 7 - Drug use ambivalence

The drug use ambivalence therapeutic technique.

Chapter 8 - Relapse process work

Diagnosing the type of drug use. The relapse process. The dependent drug using career. Problems with the stages of change model. Geographically relocating as a therapeutic strategy. Relapse prevention counselling. Drug/drink refusal skills. Assessing the level of deprivation in relapse prevention. The parts party technique in relapse prevention. Drug use ambivalence and relapse work. 

Chapter 9 - Motivational interviewing

Two types of motivational interviewing. Cognitive (Adult ego state) motivational interviewing. Experiential (Child ego state) motivational interviewing. Motivational interviewing and the impasse. 

Chapter 10 - The teenage drug user

Changes in the adolescent stage of development in the last 50 years. Why teenagers use drugs. Peers and drug use. Working with the teenage client. How the counsellor relates to the teenage drug user. Teenage drug use and family structure. The hot potatoe and the teenager. Parents and the teenager. Scare tactics with the teenager. Dealing with a disclosure by the teenager. Urine testing teenagers.