AADC Elective Courses

This course focuses on the unique issues and best practice philosophies for addressing the specific needs of adolescents in substance abuse treatment.

Topics covered include:

• Special issues and unique needs of adolescents in substance abuse treatment
• Patterns and prevalence of alcohol and substance use among adolescents
• Consequences of adolescent drug use
• Brain development and adolescent drug use
• Tailoring treatment to adolescents needs
• Addiction medication issues
• Special populations
• Legal issues and considerations

20 Hours – $140

This course focuses on the unique issues and best practice philosophies for addressing the specific needs of women in substance abuse treatment.

Topics covered include:

• Special issues and unique needs of women in substance abuse treatment
• Women’s biopsychosocial uniqueness
• Principles of gender responsive treatment
• Patterns and prevalence of alcohol/substance use among women
• Physiological effects of alcohol, drugs and tobacco on women
• Pregnancy and birth outcomes
• Screening and assessment issues
• Barriers to treatment
• Recovery management and special populations

30 Hours – $175

This course offers substance abuse counselors a four-step process for addressing suicidal thoughts and behaviors in substance abuse treatment.

Topics covered include:

• Link between substance abuse and suicidality
• Risk and protective factors
• Demographic correlates
• Suicide assessment
• Techniques and procedures for addressing suicidal thoughts and behaviors
• Warning signs and safety plans
• Counselor skills and competencies
• Documentation and confidentiality issues

20 Hours – $140

This course focuses on the physical, psychological and pharmacological effects of alcohol on the human body and on the human condition.

Topics covered include:

• Scope and prevalence of alcohol use in the United States
• Pharmacology of alcohol
• Tolerance and withdrawal issues
• Predisposing risk factors
• Misconceptions about alcohol use
• Short- and long-term behavioral effects
• Health consequences and medical complications
• Alcohol use during pregnancy

20 Hours – $140

This course offers a conceptual framework for working with diverse cultural groups in a substance abuse treatment setting.

Topics covered include:

• General principles for delivering culturally competent treatment services
• Health and social consequences of drug use
• Help seeking behaviors
• Access to care issues and barriers to treatment
• Core competences and skills
• Adapting treatment approaches to clients from culturally diverse backgrounds
• Drug cultures and the culture of recovery
• Culturally responsive assessment and treatment planning

25 Hours – $150

This course focuses on the interplay between domestic violence and substance abuse and best-practice philosophies for working with domestic violence survivors and batterers in substance abuse treatment settings.

Topics covered include:

• Connection between substance abuse and domestic violence
• Crisis intervention and treatment planning for the survivor client
• Characteristics and profiles of batterers
• Emotional and behavioral effects of violence on children
• Screening and assessment issues
• Treatment issues and considerations
• Cultural considerations
• Legal and ethical considerations

20 Hours – $140

This course focuses on the principles and techniques of motivational interviewing and the application of motivational enhancement approaches to substance abuse treatment.

Topics covered include:

• Transtheoretical stages of change
• Principles of motivational interviewing
• Adapting motivational strategies and interventions to client stage of change
• Building readiness and commitment to change
• Engaging and retaining clients in treatment
• Motivational enhancements with coerced clients
• Measuring components of client motivation
• Integration of motivational approaches to diverse treatment populations and settings

30 Hours – $175

This course focuses on group treatment approaches with substance abusing clients.

Topics covered include:

• Advantages of group treatment for substance abusing populations
• Group models commonly used in substance abuse treatment
• Criteria for placement in groups
• Assessing readiness for group
• Group development and phase-specific tasks
• Managing common problems in groups
• Group therapy strategies and techniques
• Group leadership competencies and skills

30 Hours – $175

This course focuses on the integration of family therapy models and family therapy practices into substance abuse treatment.

Topics covered include:

• Family systems theory
• Primary models of family therapy
• Impact of alcoholism and substance abuse on families
• Differences between family therapy and substance abuse treatment approaches
• Family assessment issues
• Integration of family therapy practices into substance abuse treatment
• Cultural considerations
• Family therapy skills and competencies

25 Hours – $150

This course focuses on best-practice philosophies for managing anger and depression in substance abuse treatment settings.

Topics covered include:

• Nature of anger and depressive symptoms
• Relationship between anger and depression and substance use disorders
• Impact of anger and depression on treatment participation and treatment outcomes
• Screening and assessment
• Techniques to manage anger and depression in substance abuse treatment settings
• Transference and countertransference
• Behavioral, cognitive and emotionally focused intervention strategies

20 Hours – $140

This course focuses on medication-assisted approaches currently utilized in the treatment of alcohol and opioid use disorders.

Topics covered include:

• Brief history of medication-assisted treatment in the United States
• Pharmacology of medications used to treat alcohol and opioid addiction
• Treatment guidelines and protocols
• Duration of treatment considerations
• Side effects and contraindications
• Use of medication-assisted treatment with special populations
• Use of medication-assisted treatment during pregnancy
• Creating a supportive counseling experience
• Expanding access to medication-assisted treatment

40 Hours – $225

This course focuses on patient placement criteria for clients in need of chemical dependency services.

Topics covered include:

• Advantages of adopting uniform patient placement criteria
• Guidelines for level of care determination procedures
• Placement criteria categories and characteristics
• Implementation strategies
• Placement issues for special needs populations
• ASAM criteria dimensions and guiding principles
• ASAM levels of care
• ASAM withdrawal management levels of care

10 Hours – $115

This course focuses on the physical, psychological and pharmacological effects of drugs of abuse. Psychoactive substances covered include cocaine, hallucinogens and dissociative drugs, heroin, inhalants, marijuana, MDMA (ecstasy), methamphetamine, prescription medications, steroids and other APEDs, and tobacco.

Topics covered include:

• Scope and prevalence of psychoactive substance use in the United States
• The pharmacology of addiction
• Brain chemistry and neurotransmission
• Brain rewards mechanisms and systems
• Tolerance and withdrawal
• Predisposing risk factors
• Short- and long-term behavioral consequences
• Short- and long-term medical complications and consequences
• Effects of prenatal and maternal use

45 Hours – $245

This course focuses on screening and assessment procedures in substance abuse treatment.

Topics covered include:

• Screening and assessment instruments
• Interviewing skills and competencies
• Ethnic and cultural issues
• Co-morbid psychiatric disorders
• Screening and assessment skills and techniques
• Screening and assessment with special populations
• Essential concepts in drug testing
• Drug toxicology testing procedures

25 Hours – $150

This course focuses on the unique issues of substance abuse among older adults and best-practice philosophies for treating older alcohol and or other substance abusing clients.

Topics covered include:

• Scope of the problem
• Vulnerabilities and risk factors
• Barriers to treatment
• Use and abuse of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications
• Screening and assessment,
• Referral and treatment issues
• Measurement of multidimensional outcomes for older adults
• Legal and ethical considerations

30 Hours – $175

This course focuses on theoretical models of addiction and various theoretical approaches to substance abuse treatment.

Topics covered include:

• Behavioral approaches
• Cognitive-behavioral approaches
• Strategic-interactional approaches
• Humanistic and existential approaches
• Psychodynamic approaches
• Family-based approaches
• Group therapy approaches
• Evaluation and outcome studies

30 Hours – $175

This course focuses on best-practice philosophies for effective substance abuse treatment planning.

Topics covered include:

• Prioritizing client needs
• Components of treatment planning
• Treatment goals, objectives and interventions
• Re-evaluation of treatment plans
• Client participation in the treatment planning process
• Treatment planning skills and competencies
• Client motivation and readiness for change
• Co-Occurring disorders and special populations

15 Hours – $125