Places left: TBA

Day one: Drug Awareness

• What is a drug, who is a drug user?
• The Pleasure Principle: exploring own dependencies and/or excessive appetitesl
• Drugs: the hidden history
• Reasons for drug taking / theories of drug use
• Drugs: categories and effects
• Drug, set & setting
• Understanding altered states of consciousness

Day two: Alcohol Awareness

• Names & labels
• Alcohol: Myths & Facts
• Alcohol: societal attitudes, patterns of consumption and UNITS
• Alcohol: needs awareness, needs replacement
• Alcohol: permission giver for forbidden feelings, behaviours and parts of the self
• The Recovery Movement: abstinence based approaches
• Core conditions and the cycle of change
• Harm Minimisation: history, philosophy and strategies
• Motivational Interviewing: working with ambivalence, rolling with resistance
• Lapse, relapse and collapse prevention: strategies and interventions

Learning Objectives:

Over the 2 days, the training will offer participants the opportunity to –

• Explore notions of addiction and dependency
• Dispel some common and not so common myths about drugs and alcohol.
• Improve appreciation of the ‘hidden history’ of drugs
• Explore patterns of alcohol use and be able to calculate UNITS.
• Have a better understanding of the physical and psychological impact of alcohol use.
• Have developed an understanding of different drugs, categories and effects.
• Enhance awareness of drug, set & setting.
• Develop understanding of altered states of consciousness
• Consolidate skills in dealing with drunken behaviour.
• Value the core conditions of ‘helping relationships’
• Improve understanding of appropriate interventions for the different stages of the Cycle of Change.
• Value the process, motivation and difficulties of change.
• Be more aware of, and confident about, making harm minimisation interventions around a service user’s drug and/or alcohol use
• Appreciate the tools and techniques of Motivational Interviewing
• Explore lapse, relapse & collapse prevention.
• Become more confident about identifying the role of forbidden feelings, behaviours and parts of the self in defining an individual’s relationship to their alcohol use.

Fee: £65.00 (£50 students) per day –

negotiable reduced fee for low cost placement/service providers

Light refreshments, course materials provided

Limited places to afford maximum learning experience – deposit of £75(£60) to secure a place.