Substance Abuse for Non-Substance Abuse Professionals
Program Description
Mental Health clinicians are increasingly expected to be able to assess and treat an
enormous variety of clients with multiple presenting problems, regardless of the
therapist’s professional specialty training or orientation. Frequently, these clients tend to
display alcohol or drug abuse related issues, which the clinician not familiar with
substance abuse may miss. This workshop is designed to provide an introduction to
substance abuse screening, assessment, counseling and referral, for care providers who
are not directly trained to work with this population.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this workshop, participants should be able to:
1. Describe substance abuse and addiction as a bio-psycho-social illness;
2. Use simple screening tools to detect the possibility of substance related problems with
their clients;
3. State the key elements in a thorough substance abuse assessment;
4. Use several assessment techniques which will help to identify the severity of a
substance related problem and which can motivate clients to accept referral for
substance abuse treatment;
5. Describe treatment options available to persons who have substance related problems
and their families, and be able to make recommendations for specific levels of care;
6. Describe some important differences between mental health counseling and substance
abuse counseling, as well as numerous areas of common ground;
7. Become familiar with the interactions between substance use and other kinds of
psychiatric and physical problems.
Target Audience
This workshop will be beneficial for all human service workers including mental health
counselors, social workers and psychologists who have had little or no training in
working with substance abusing clients.
Contact Hours
6.0 hours
Program Agenda
9:00 AM
Addiction as a Bio-Psycho-Social Illness
10:00
Stages of the Addictive Process
10:30
break
10:45
Use of DSM-IV Criteria for Substance Abuse Disorders
11:15
Practical Detection of Substance Abuse and/or Addiction:
Simple Screening Instruments and Techniques
12:00 Noon
lunch
1:15 PM
Treatment Modalities for Substance Abuse
 Outpatient treatment
 Low intensity outpatient treatment
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2:45
3:00
3:30
4:00
4:45
Intensive outpatient treatment
Partial hospitalization
Detoxification
Methadone Maintenance
Residential treatment
Half-way houses and Oxford houses
break
The Role of Self-Help Programs
Substance Abuse Counseling vs. Everything Else:
The Importance of Coordinating Treatment
What is Dual Diagnosis?
Adjourn
Faculty
L. Worth Bolton, ACSW, LCAS, CCS, is a Clinical Social Worker with over 25 years
experience in Behavioral Health Care Services. He is currently a Clinical Assistant
Professor in the Behavioral Health Resource Program at the UNC School of Social Work.
Worth is a past Board Member and Chairman of the NC Foundation for Alcohol & Drug
Studies and the Substance Abuse Professional Certification Board. His work experience
includes work with adults and adolescents in inpatient, institutional, and outpatient
settings.