Discussion Board #9
Chapters 31 &32
Chapter 31-
-Briefly discuss in no more than two paragraphs the effective characteristics needed for
a clinician working with persons with SUDs.
Hard skills are tangible evidence of a person’s experience and ability to perform specific
tasks. These skills include: Education, Training, Certifications, and On-the-job
experience. Soft skills are equally important, are generally described as interpersonal
skills. In the field of substance use counseling, important soft skills include a
combination of personality traits, communication abilities, and the ability to pick up
easily on social cues to improve communication with others. To put it simply it’s
important to know your stuff as a professional. If you are uninformed, then your client is
going to pick up on that and then you’re really no help to anyone.
– Briefly discuss in no more than two paragraphs the importance of treatment planning.
The treatment planning process is particularly important for the patient and you as a
professional. It’s the best way to have all related documents in the same place and a
way to have everything laid out so that you know the goal of treatment, the treatment
options for the disease and possible side effects, and the expected length of treatment.
Chapter 32–
1. Identify the stages of recovery from SUDs.
• Precontemplation. May still be using. Doesn’t think it’s a problem.
• Contemplation. using but has ambivalence to stop using.
• Preparation/ Determination. Decide to quit in the future
• Action. Started to avoid further drug use
• Maintenance. Has made behavior change and continues to work to learn
behaviors that will support recovery.
• Termination. Made cognitive changes to support abstinence.
Although people can move through these stages in order, it’s also common for
people to go between stages, forward and backward, or be in more than one stage
at a time.
2. Discuss in no more than one paragraph if your feel abstinence should be the goal
of treatment.
I think this is a hard question but overall, yes, abstinence should be the overall
goal. If you are seeking help for any issue, then clearly it has affected your daily
life in some way, shape, or form. I don’t think abstinences needs to be pushed on
people, because everyone should be given their own time to get there.
Original Post Due- Nov. 16 ,2020
Reply to the post of another student– Nov. 18,2020
Notes:
The foundation on which a client’s recovery might be established appears to include:
Interpersonal Relationships: Individuals who drink more have been found to have few
interpersonal resources to draw upon for support.
Cognitive Reappraisals: Many former drinkers report that their realization that alcohol was
causing physical, emotional, and emotional damage to their lives was the point when they
decided to stop drinking.
