Category
A Compassionate Approach to Motivating and Sustaining Change
Addiction can have a big “scare factor” for clinicians. The stakes are high, and it can feel like you never have enough tools to confidently address it.
But like any other behavioral pattern, substance use serves a function for clients. Addiction grows from underlying needs that may or may not seem obviously related at first.
The sooner you can look at substance use through a functional lens, the sooner you can gain a deeper, practical understanding of the problem and take action, rather than trying to work around it because you fear you don’t have the right tools.
In this course, you'll learn an empowered approach to addressing substance use and addiction using the principles of contextual behavioral science and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).
Using the three ACT pillars as anchors, you’ll learn effective techniques for addressing common clinical presentations, such as managing relapse, working through cravings, and defusing from “addict” self-narratives.
The course will also discuss finding common ground between ACT and mutual help groups, such as 12 Step, SMART Recovery, and others.
Through a functional contextual lens, participants will examine the impact of historical, sociopolitical, and cultural influences on addiction as well as the underlying function of related behaviors, both in and out of the therapy room.
All of this will allow you to:
- Skillfully address substance use and addiction using a range of tools, even when you feel discomfort or uncertainty around these issues
- Build flexibility skills to keep clients moving toward change in the face of relapse, cravings, and limiting self-narratives
- Identify root causes of lying, ambivalence about change, or reactive anger, and apply a trauma-sensitive response to these difficult behaviors when they show up in therapy
- Create stronger therapeutic alliances by noticing and undermining substance use stigma and encouraging more openness and compassion in your interactions
- Keep yourself from burning out by contextualizing difficult client behaviors that show up in therapy, so you can take them less personally and work from a place of flexibility
Each session will introduce new learning material, including concrete skills to share with clients, like dynamic visual learning aids, for example, as well as enlivening small group and breakout discussions and experiential practices to bring key concepts and interventions to life.
Throughout the learning process, Dr. Johnson will support you in looking inward, to identify areas for growth and sources of strength. You’ll also be part of a community inside the course, which will aim to tap into the collective wisdom and experience of participants.