Individual CEU Courses

$85.00
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 10 Hours Total
Professional Readiness / Treatment Planning

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

In today’s Addiction Recovery paradigm, addiction services are provided by multi-disciplinary teams. These teams are made up of various clinical professionals along with peer supporters who collaborate with their clients and work with each other and the greater community. Their shared goal is to provide effective treatment and holistic care that lead to long term recovery outcomes.

This course is intended to help peer supporters, recovery support specialists, peer recovery coaches, clinical counselors and other helping professionals to understand concepts specific to addiction counseling in a clinical setting. As members of the treatment team, peer supporters may be called upon to assist at any phase of the treatment and recovery process, from intake to treatment planning to discharge to aftercare. Although people in various peer recovery support roles will not be directly delivering clinical counseling services, it is important to establish clarity for both counselors and those in peer support roles.

This course is designed to clarify terminology and roles for all members of the treatment team in the clinical setting. The resources we have chosen for this course are from agencies that have helped to define standards for best practices in treatment as well as the scope of practice for professional roles within the field of addiction and behavioral health.

COURSE GOAL:
Students will gain an overall understanding of addiction treatment and gain an understanding that the activities and processes of treatment may be called competencies and/or core functions. Major processes include clinical evaluation, treatment planning, documentation and counseling.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Learn the phases of recovery as well as common treatment approaches.
• Review principles and processes of effective treatment.
• Understand components of clinical evaluation.
• Review the treatment planning process.
• Understand the importance of referral and good documentation.
• Learn how service coordination is administered through the treatment team.
• Learn how to work with clients across cultures as well as special populations.

$29.97
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 2 Hours Total
Professional Readiness / Treatment Planning

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

Learn alcohol’s effects, the neurochemistry of tolerance and withdrawal, and the social and legal consequences of abuse and alcohol addiction.

Listen to the voices of recovering users, top alcohol researchers, and treatment professionals as they explore the emotional and physical reasons for drinking, the craving, plus the role genetics and environment plays, as well as strategies for treatment and recovery.

This video is divided into two parts: Overview & Effects, plus Addiction, Other Programs & Treatments. It describes alcohol’s effects based on blood alcohol levels and length of use; the neurochemistry of tolerance and withdrawal; the social and legal consequences of drinking, and its toxic effect on a developing fetus.

COURSE GOAL
You will promote the benefits to clients in alignment with this quote by Dr. Daryl Inaba, “My own experiences have convinced me that accurate non-judgmental and comprehensive knowledge about psychoactive drugs and their effects is the most effective method of preventing substance abuse problems.”

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Understand the physiology of Absorption, Distribution, and Metabolism of Alcohol and the concept of Blood Alcohol Level.
• Compare and contrast the five levels of alcohol use.
• Understand the role of tolerance and withdrawal and the development of alcoholism.
• Learn the effects of chronic long term high use of Alcohol on the brain and body.

$105
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 15 Hours Total
Understanding Addiction / Treatment Knowledge

Book Purchase REQUIRED: Recover to Live: Kick Any Habit, Manage Any Addiction, Christopher Kennedy Lawford Amazon Purchase Link

In Authentic Recovery you will learn valuable strategies and tools to support such a process of change. You will hear from more than 100 of the world’s top experts who share their research and wisdom on how to determine if your bad habit has become a dependency through self-assessments and symptom lists as well as which treatments will work best for you.

As we move from a pathology paradigm to a recovery paradigm, peers and professionals in the addiction field need training and information that help them to empower individuals and families facing addiction. Recover to Live written by Christopher Kennedy Lawford shows you how best to help yourself or a loved one recover from addiction and how to lead a fulfilling and productive life in recovery.

Substance use patterns are not black and white; the cumulative and long-lasting effects of drug and alcohol use even at low levels can have devastating effects. Recover to Live was written to help people reach their full potential, no matter where they are on the problem continuum.

COURSE GOAL
You will review what the author calls the Seven Toxic Compulsions: Alcohol, Drugs, Eating Disorders, Gambling, Hoarding, Smoking, Sex & Pornography. Students will learn effective strategies to self-manage compulsive habits and addictions.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Be introduced to the concept of alcohol and drug dependence on a continuum.
• Review the seven toxic compulsions and what dependence looks like.
• Understand codependency and how it plays into addiction and dependence.
• Learn seven proven self-care tools to manage addictions.
• Be informed on how 12 Step groups really work and how they can help.

$85.00
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 10 Hours Total
Case Management / Referral

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

The term case management has appeared in social services literature more than 600 times in the last 30 years, referring to everything from the routing of court dockets through the judicial system to the medical management of a hospitalized patient’s care.

The Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP 27) used in this course uses the term case management to refer to interventions designed to help substance abusers access needed social services. The use of case management for substance abusers who seek treatment provides support for other significant problems besides using psychoactive substances. Alcohol or other drug use often damages many aspects of an individual’s life, including health, housing, employment, and relationships.

Because addiction affects so many facets of the addicted person’s life, a comprehensive continuum of services promotes recovery and enables the substance abuse client to fully integrate into society as a healthy, substance-free individual. The continuum must be designed to provide engagement and motivation, primary treatment services at the appropriate intensity and level, and support services that will enable the individual to maintain long-term sobriety while managing life in the community.

COURSE GOAL:
Student will understand the absolute need for effective case management in the current delivery of substance abuse treatment services.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Review definitions, function and models of case management.
• Learn the guiding principles of case management as well as the knowledge, skills and attitudes of an effective case manager.
• Compare and contrast strategies for creating community linkages for the good of clients.
• Review the skills necessary in working with clients with special needs.
• Examine approaches for funding case management services including managed care.

$105.00
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 16 Hours Total
Supervision

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

Understanding the role of supervision is vital for those pursuing a career in the addiction field. Clinical Supervision is generally provided by a trained, certified or licensed professional with extensive knowledge, skills and experience in addiction and/or mental health counseling practices. A seasoned Clinical Supervisor often leads case reviews for the counseling staff as well as oversees interns and counselors-in-training. This course will outline the specific areas of supervision as identified in SAMHSAs TIP 52: Supervision and Professional Development of the Substance Abuse Counselor.

This course is designed to increase your confidence and commitment to the critical role of quality supervision.

COURSE GOAL:
Through this course, students will learn the competencies of Clinical Supervision and gain the ability to provide quality supervision to appropriate clinical counselors and staff. This course is also designed for current supervisors who are seeking to grow their supervisory skills. Students will be encouraged to develop a supervision style that will enable them to meet the diverse needs of the people they supervise.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Identify the principles, methods and techniques of clinical supervision.
• Explain the practical issues involved in clinical supervision.
• List the developmental stages of counselors and supervisors.
• Know the cultural, ethical and legal issues in supervision.
• Develop appropriate, supportive roles with supervisees.
• Determine what style of supervision and leadership will work best in their work environment.

$60
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 5 Hours Total
Understanding Addiction

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

The term “co-occurring disorders” refers to co-occurring substance use (abuse or dependence) and mental disorders. Clients said to have co-occurring disorders (abbreviated as COD) have one or more mental disorders as well as one or more disorders relating to the use of alcohol and/or other drugs.

By the 1990s, substance abuse treatment programs typically reported that 50 to 75 percent of clients had co-occurring mental disorders, while clinicians in mental health settings reported that between 20 and 50 percent of their clients had a co-occurring substance use disorder.

The objective of this course is to use the TIP 42 Quick Guide to highlight the major developments in the addiction treatment field relating to co-occurring disorders, in an effort to help substance abuse and mental health professionals develop a plan for a more integrated treatment community that can better address the needs of clients with COD.

COURSE GOAL:
You will review techniques for working with COD clients and those within special populations, as well as an overview of specific mental disorders that are commonly seen in co-occurrence with substance use disorders (SUD).

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Review the guiding principles and essential attitudes in working with COD clients.
• Learn techniques for working with COD clients.
• Learn techniques for working with COD clients in special populations.
• Review specific mental disorders that are commonly in co-occurrence with SUDs.
• Obtain additional resources for further professional development.

$52.50
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 15 Hours Total
Understanding Addiction / Application to Practice / Clinical Evaluation

REQUIRED BOOK PURCHASE: Carnes, P., Delmonico, D., Griffin, E. (2007). In the Shadows of the Net: Breaking Free of Compulsive Online Sexual Behavior, 2nd Ed. Center City, MN: Hazelden. Amazon Purchase Link

This course is based on the book In the Shadows of the Net: Breaking Free of Compulsive Online Sexual Behavior. Because the Internet has become such an integral and dominating force in our lives and culture, once a person is entangled in compulsive online sexual behavior it is just as powerful a force as any drug addiction.

This book defines the problem by explaining what the problematic behaviors are and what drives them, and the effects these behaviors have on individuals, families and society as a whole. The book also lays out specific tools to help individuals achieve freedom from destructive compulsive behavior by changing how to live in this Internet Age.

COURSE GOAL:
You will gain insight into cyber-sexual compulsive behavior, what drives it, and how it affects individuals, families and society. Gain an understanding into key components of recovery and healing for the cyber addicted.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Identify what compulsive online sexual behaviors are as well as the driving forces behind them.
• Recognize signs of hidden problematic behavior.
• Gain insight into what it takes for an individual to admit there is a problem and take action.
• Understand the treatment process for individuals, codependents and couples, along with its challenges and rewards.

$105
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 15 Hours Total
Clinical Evaluation / Treatment Planning

REQUIRED Book Purchase: Purchase Diagnosis & Treatment Planning Skills: A Popular Culture Casebook Approach, 2nd Ed.  Amazon Link Here

Using Diagnosis and Treatment Planning Skills: A Popular Culture Casebook Approach by Alan M. Schwitzer and Lawrence C. Rubin, this course comprehensively addresses the clinical thinking skills required in professional counseling settings.

Fully revised to include DSM-5, the text discusses diagnosis, case conceptualization, treatment planning and the interplay of various clinical tools and their application.

Student learning will be enhanced by using popular culture architypes to better understand counseling issues as they utilize their skills in a practice format.

COURSE GOAL:
You will learn how to utilize the DSM-5 to diagnose client disorders, make sense of the client’s presenting problems through case conceptualization and finally design a treatment plan to assist clients in implementing change.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Understand clinical thinking skills required for diagnosis and treatment planning.
• Learn how to utilize the DSM-5 in assisting with client diagnoses.
• Learn a process of case conceptualization that includes identifying problems, grouping those problems into themes, and selecting a theoretical approach for treatment and counseling.
• Learn how to design a custom treatment plan for diverse client presentations.
• Review a “popular culture” caseload to implement and reinforce learning concepts.

$60
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 5 Hours Total
Professional Readiness

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

This course will present an overview of the issues likely to affect survivors of domestic violence seeking treatment for substance abuse.

In order for holistic care to be achieved, the treatment provider must understand the profound effect of domestic violence on a survivor. Additional victims of domestic violence are the children in these families and this course will cover the emotional and behavioral effects of violence on children.

And finally an overview of the batterers themselves will be presented, along with the reasons why substance abuse counselors should address the domestic violence of clients who batter their partners.

COURSE GOAL:
To give an overview of the issues likely to affect survivors of domestic violence, psychological and behavior issues for children of survivors and the batterer profile.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Identify goals in treatment and the needs to be addressed for the victim of domestic violence.
• Understand the importance of linkage to domestic violence referral and intervention services.
• Become familiar with the issues that children of survivors face.
• Become aware of the batterers profile as well as the importance of addressing this issue in the context of substance abuse treatment.

$42.50
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 10 Hours Total
Treatment Knowledge

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

Substance abuse, particularly of alcohol and prescription drugs, among adults 60 and older is one of the fastest growing health problems facing the US and nations with aging populations. Alcohol and prescription drug misuse affects up to 17 percent of older US adults. Because of insufficient knowledge and hurried office visits, health care providers often overlook the symptoms of substance abuse and misuse among older adults because they can mimic symptoms of other common disorders such as diabetes, dementia, and depression.

You will learn facts and myths related to aging and substance abuse plus practical tools for bringing help and wholeness to older individuals in many settings.

Discover why standard abuse criteria do not apply to older adults. Become an informed advocate. Learn respectful ways to begin the dialog with people in our neighborhoods, congregations, and our families.

COURSE GOAL:
Gain insight into how substance abuse and misuse are often overlooked with older adults, and the dangers older populations face with increased use of prescription and over-the-counter medications.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Uncover misperceptions society can have regarding older adults.
• Understand the dangers of mixing alcohol with prescribed and over-the-counter medications.
• Explain the effects of alcohol on an older person including gender differences.
• Learn effective techniques for screening and review assessment tools.
• Review treatment options recommended especially for older adults.

$85
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 10 Hours Total
Ethical Responsibility

REQUIRED BOOK PURCHASE: Geppert and Roberts (2008). The Book of Ethics, Expert Guidance for Professionals Who Treat Addiction. Center City, MN: Hazelden Foundation. Amazon Purchase Link

This course is based on a collection of essays written by various experts in the field of addiction treatment. These essays on various topics in ethics were compiled and edited by Cynthia M.A. Geppert, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H. and Laura Weiss Roberts, M.D., M.A. and entitled “The Book of Ethics, Expert Guidance for Professionals Who Treat Addiction”.

This course systematically finds the best solutions in ethical areas where there often seem to be no right answers.

Topics include the therapeutic relationship, harm reduction, co-occurring disorders, cultural and spiritual dimensions of treatment, as well as women, children and adolescents in treatment.

COURSE GOAL:
You will develop an overall understanding of core ethical responsibilities as well as take a more in depth look at specific areas of concern and desired outcomes.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Understand the ethical foundations for addiction clinicians.
• Establish ethical guidelines for the therapeutic relationship.
• Consider both sides of controversial treatment methods and ethical dilemmas.
• Review cultural, spiritual, gender and age related considerations in addiction treatment.

$105.00
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 15 Hours Total
Ethical Responsibility

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

Peer-based Recovery Support Services are expanding within addiction treatment and behavioral health care.

The evolving role of Recovery Support Specialists (or Peer Recovery Coach, Peer Specialist, Recovery Mentor, etc.) within clinical settings and community based programs means that complex ethical and legal issues will arise with the performance of this role. Once a person takes on the role of a Recovery Support Specialist, responsibilities are assumed that may not be obvious. Although one may still be a peer to someone in recovery, the role has obligations regarding competence, safety, resources and accountability.

The purpose of this course is to define the responsibilities of the Recovery Support Specialist, to introduce ethical concepts and legal issues, to outline a model of ethical decision making, and to provide possible scenarios where these types of decisions must be made.

COURSE GOAL:
Students will learn concepts and models of ethical decision making and the importance of these concepts.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Understand the trends in addiction treatment and the emerging Recovery Management model.
• Develop an understanding of ethical concepts relating directly to Recovery Support Services.
• Understand the ethical responsibility to prevent harm or injury to those we serve.
• Be able to use a model of ethical decision making by applying it to simulated examples.
• Consider the merits and challenges of this newly emerging model of treatment.
• Become familiar with legal issues specific to Recovery Support Services.
• Learn through a series of possible situations the best ethical routes to take.

$105.00
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 15 Hours Total
Treatment Knowledge / Application to Practice / Clinical Evaluation

Book Purchase REQUIRED: Nakken, C. (2000, 2010). Reclaim Your Family from Addiction: How Couples and Families Recover Love and Meaning. Center City, MN: Hazelden Foundation. Amazon Purchase Link

This course is based on the Craig Nakken text “Reclaim Your Family from Addiction”. The focus of the material is on what happens to the “we” of a family when one member opts for the blind and single-minded “me” of addiction.

In an instructive and reassuring way, Craig Nakken explains just how families and couples who have spent years building a life together can lose their cohesive identity and meaning in the wake of addiction.

With histories, stories and the latest research, this book helps readers chart their own way out of the hell of addiction and back to the fullness of family by using principles that restore the “we” of lasting, loving, relationships.

COURSE GOAL:
You will gain insight into the addictive family, how it came to be, and its dynamics as well as the pathway out addiction and into wholeness.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Gain insight into a framework of human drives as well as key principles that can shape behavior.
• Understand the stages of family addiction and their characteristics.
• Recognize how the addictive process affects family relationships.
• Understand the stages of family recovery and their characteristics.

$85.00 Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 10 Hours Total Professional Readiness / Client, Family and Community Education

REQUIRED BOOK PURCHASE:  Living From the Heart Jesus Gave You, 15^th Anniversary Edition. East Peoria, IL: The Shepherd’s House, Inc. Amazon Purchase Link

Holistic Recovery is based on a bio-psycho-social-spiritual model. The Life Model encompasses the human experience from birth to death. It gives practical guidance on how to maximize each stage of life and minimize blocks that prevent living life to the fullest.

The Life Model is unique in that it lays out the brain science behind the power of Joy as the basis of bonding, attachment, human growth, development, and recovery from trauma and addiction. The model provides a framework for understanding the trauma that occurs when needs are not met, and how to help people when they are “stuck” in various stages of maturity. This is valuable because addiction is a developmental disorder that responds to long term involvement in a supportive group or community.

This faith based course on recovery is included in our training program in recognition that Christian organizations in over one hundred nations provide food, shelter, clothing, medical care, social services, trauma and addiction services at low or no cost to hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children as well as care for victims of horrific circumstances. The Life Model is robust, holistic and effective in both Western and non-western cultures.

COURSE GOAL: You will be given an expanded understanding of how people are created with the God given ability to recover from the wounds and tragedies of life.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Wholeness: The challenges of living in a fractured world and the necessity of a spiritual family and community.
• Maturity: What it takes to move through the various stages, brokenness and the Transformation Cycle, bonds and attachment.
• Recovery: Brain function and trauma, Type A & B trauma, and the role of Joy.
• Belonging: Spiritual adoption and what it looks like.
• Knowing your heart: Understanding the difference between your heart, or your true identity, and the ‘sark’ or false self and the battle between them.
• Ways the Life Model can be transformational within churches and congregations.

$19.97
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 1 Hour Total
Understanding Addiction

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

This course covers marijuana as a psychoactive substance that induces its effects by manipulating natural brain chemicals known as the endocannabinoids. The toxic and addictive impact results from the drug’s disruption of the natural endocannabinoids, one of our most widespread and versatile signaling molecules.

While the perceived dangers of marijuana use have decreased, the potency of marijuana has actually increased and our youth are caught in the crossfire.

The powerful video presentation by CNS Productions includes research by the scientists studying its effects on different physical, perceptual and mental processes as well as personal stories of people whose lives have been affected by using the drug.

THIS COURSE will address the many myths and misconceptions regarding the effects of marijuana.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Understand how high potency marijuana impacts the neurochemical processes of the brain.
• Review the physical, perceptual and mental effects of marijuana, including memory, mood, appetite, and pain sensation.
• Realize marijuana decreases reaction time and slows physical movements while disrupting depth perception.
• List six symptoms of marijuana withdrawal.

$19.97
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 1 Hour Total
Addiction

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

A new perspective on the science of pain recovery from opiate addiction. Interviews with recovering addicts and treatment professionals illustrate the challenges of opioids and offers a message of hope.

This video presents a fresh perspective on the science of pain and how it influences recovery from opioid dependency. The content focuses on a new paradigm for understanding chronic pain, showing how the extended use of prescription painkillers increases the sensitivity of the nerve cells thereby magnifying pain (hyperalgesia, hyperpathia, alodynia.)

Interviews with recovering addicts and treatment professionals illustrate the challenges opiate addiction creates and presents a message of hope and encouragement for clients to examine recovery in light of this new view of treating dependency and pain.

COURSE GOAL:
Gain an understanding of the impact of opiate addiction on individuals through personal testimonies and will also gain insight into how these drugs effect the brain and cause an unyielding cycle of needing more and more of the drug for less and less desirable effects..

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Recognize signs of opiate addiction.
• Understand chemical processes of the brain when influenced by opiate painkillers.
• Differentiate between the three phases of achieving drug abstinence.
• Review effective recovery tools used to break opioid dependence.

$60.00
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 5 Hours Total
Advocacy

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

This course will outline the role of peer support in recovery and review relationship building and communication skills, boundaries and ethical issues as well as ways that Peer Recovery Specialists can support their peers in recovery and wellness.

Peer Recovery Keys clearly presents the most widely used definitions and concepts in contemporary Peer services.

Recovery Support is defined as the process of giving and receiving non-clinical assistance to help aid the process of recovery. Peer Recovery Support is provided by individuals with lived experience in recovery. A certified Peer Recovery Specialist or Peer Support Worker is an individual or family member who has lived experience with mental illness and/or addiction to alcohol and other drugs, and has also completed formal training, who provides one-one strengths-based support to peers in recovery.

Learn the Keys that are foundational to all formal training in Peer Recovery Services.

COURSE GOAL:
Outline the role of peer support in recovery and review relationship building and communication skills, boundaries and ethical issues.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Define Recovery and learn it’s guiding principles.
• Learn how a recovery orientation differs from a treatment orientation.
• Understand the role of a Peer Recovery Specialist.
• Review boundaries and ethical issues.
• Learn relationship building and communication skills.
• Understand the concept of wellness and learn ways to support wellness in recovery.

$105.00
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 15 Hours Total
Application to Practice / Case Management & Referral / Documentation

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

Gain the knowledge, insight and tools necessary to implement an effective Recovery Management program. Key concepts of Recovery Management include why this vibrant model has emerged at this time and its potential to expand the benefits of mainstream addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare.

Learn the principals of Recovery Management, Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC), and the similarities and differences between the roles of Twelve Step Sponsors, Recovery Support Specialists (“Peer Recovery Coaches”), and clinical Addiction Counselors. Implement your own Recovery Management program using the Instructional Manual with tips for training Peer Recovery Coaches and Mentors.

The highlight of this course is a practical, step by step tool with individual worksheets for developing and documenting a strength-based Recovery Plan. Gain confidence as you discover how to effectively help others achieve long-term healthy recovery.

COURSE GOAL:
To define what the Recovery Management model is and how it relates to Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC) which expand and support quality addiction treatment and behavioral healthcare.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Understand how the Recovery Management model differs from the acute care model and the challenges of implementing it.
• Understand three facts from the DSM-5 related to substance use disorders.
• Discern the differences in function, scope of practice, and services performed by the roles of a 12 Step Sponsor, a Peer or Recovery Support Specialist, and an Addiction Counselor.
• Learn to use specific tools including a Recovery Plan to engage clients in the recovery process while serving in the role of a Peer Recovery Support Specialist.

$105.00
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 15 Hours Total
Professional Readiness

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

Addiction has long been defined as a chronic progressive disorder, but typically treated in an acute or short term model of care. The substance abuse treatment field is currently experiencing a shift from its acute care model to a long term approach.

Best practices include Professional Recovery Coaching, Recovery Management, and Recovery Support Services. This more integrated approach is referred to as Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC). It is strengths- based and oriented to an individual’s long term recovery and personal goals.

Recovery Support Services are most successful with community involvement and follow up by a variety of community based, faith based, peer and professional services.

COURSE GOAL:
You will learn about an array of services that are now defined as Recovery Support Services. Definitions, principals and descriptions of best practices will be covered as well as the primary differences between the acute care and recovery support models.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Become acquainted with the underlying principles of Recovery Support Services, as well as specific descriptions of those services.
• Be introduced to the concept of Recovery Oriented Systems of Care.
• Understand the importance of continuing care and assertive linkage to a variety of community services that support long term recovery.

$29.97
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 1 Hour Total
Addiction and the Brain / Pharmacology / Understanding Addiction

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

The reasons people give up their compulsive behaviors and compulsive use of psychoactive drugs vary, but their reasons almost always include survival. This course explores the phases of recovery: detoxification, initial and long term abstinence and recovery.

Memories are closely tied to relapse and interviews with recovering addicts and treatment professionals provide a window into the most daunting obstacle to any stage of treatment – relapse. The course focuses on understanding the origin of the craving and learning ways to effectively control them.

Recovery is a life-long pursuit and relapse is an insidious specter waiting in the wings to derail the journey. Interviews with people on that journey allow viewers to learn from their real-life stories that form a thread throughout the film. You will learn the “whys” of relapse and the “how's” of remaining clean along with a clear message of hope for those committed to recovery.

COURSE GOAL:
You will learn about the neurochemistry of relapse and recovery.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Understand the varying reasons that people give up their compulsive use of psychoactive drugs, but their reasons almost always include survival.
• Understand that sensory and emotional triggers cause craving and a subsequent relapse due to their effect on memories, and subsequently, the memories’ effects on feelings and actions.
• Explain in your own words how addictive drugs and compulsive behaviors are psychoactive and work on the survival brain.
• Compare and contrast the two types of memories that effect relapse.

$19.97
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 1 Hours Total
Understanding Addiction / Application to Practice

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

This course presents a fascinating look at the quarrel between old brain cravings and new brain reasoning and how these conflicts play out down to the cellular level and it takes a fresh look at the ways biological and environmental factors contribute to addictions and compulsive behaviors.

Research shows that any addiction results from a combination of inherited, learned, and practiced behaviors which can be treated and prevented. Alcohol, tobacco, prescription medications; illegal drugs including cocaine, heroin, and marijuana; and behaviors such as eating disorders, compulsive sexual activity, and compulsive gambling are also addressed. This video presents a fascinating look at the quarrel between old brain cravings and new brain reasoning and how these conflicts play out down to the cellular level. The unique role of spiritual awakening and service to others in recovery are also touched upon.

The information is presented with creative animation, live action, and easy to understand graphics.

COURSE GOAL:
You will explore the biological and environmental causes of addiction and the conflict between old brain cravings and new brain reasoning, plus the unique role of spiritual transformation.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Understand that people use psychoactive drugs and behaviors to change their mood and to alter their states of consciousness.
• Explain the progression of Addiction
• Understand the basic role of the neurotransmitter dopamine in creating compulsion.
• Compare and contrast the role of the “Go” switch and the “Stop/Off” switch in the brain.
• Ability to explain in your own words why addiction is considered a brain disorder.
• Understand that negative changes in the brain result from being bathed with repetitive stress hormones and stress chemicals from prolonged negative life events.

$85
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 10 Hours Total
Counseling

Book Purchase REQUIRED: Sanders, Mark (2011). Slipping Through the Cracks: Intervention Strategies for Clients with Multiple Addictions and Disorders. Amazon Link

Counselors will tell you that they rarely see clients who present with just one problem. Clients today have increasingly complex problems, often presenting with multiple addictions and/or disorders.

Strategies for Co-Occurring Disorders is based on the book Slipping Through the Cracks: Intervention Strategies for Clients with Multiple Addictions and Disorders by Mark Sanders LCSW, CADC. Mark Sanders is not a detached clinician presenting theory. Rather, he is an insightful and gifted counselor drawing from his in-depth experience as he shares practical ways to adapt and tailor evidence based strategies to connect with individuals often referred to as “resistant.”

The new behavioral health model is designed to better serve a range of people who often slipped through the cracks in the past. This course is designed to help you better serve people who may be court mandated, diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, suffer with PTSD or unresolved grief, are using highly addictive drugs, are adolescents, lack motivation to change, are chronic relapsers, or from diverse backgrounds.

COURSE GOAL:
You will identify treatment resistant populations and ways to adapt and tailor evidence-based strategies to their client’s specific needs and help them stay engaged in treatment.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Review the background of addiction recovery movements and how they are integrating with mental health.
• Review specific disorders and circumstances that create greater challenges to treatment.
• Learn how to blend grief therapy and trauma counseling into addiction treatment.
• Learn to use tools such as motivational interviewing and motivational incentives
• Utilize techniques to become credible in cross-cultural counseling.

$60.00
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 5 Hours Total
Application to Practice / Mentoring & Education

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course - DEA Drugs of Abuse Guide

The kinds of drugs on the street include everything from home grown marijuana to non-medical use of prescription medications to methamphetamine cooked up in clandestine labs. The types of drugs and methods of using are constantly changing. This course is a Technicolor snapshot of how today’s drugs are produced, distributed, used and by whom.

You will be given a practical overview of all drugs, legal and illegal, prescription and otherwise that are used and abused all over the world today. The Street Drugs resource provides practical full color photos of the actual drugs, stages of production, charts and graphics, and evidence of damage done to the human body.

An overview of all major classes of drugs is provided along with, common usage, statistical data, signs of use and the general effects of each drug. The text is an essential resource for many occupations and work environments such as schools, recovery programs, law enforcement and medical settings.

COURSE GOAL:
You will become familiar with common street drugs including prescription medications by their appearance, how they are categorized, signs of use, and the effects and dangers of each. You will be ‘armed with knowledge’ when discerning, relating to, or serving youth or adults who are abusing substances.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Understand the general categories of abused drugs.
• Be able to utilize the Street Drugs guide as a resource to identify signs and symptoms of various illicit drugs used today..
• Be exposed to the demographics and trends of where drugs are produced and who is likely to use them.

$60.00
Certification Areas and Continuing Education: 5 Hours Total
Client, Family & Community Education

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Included with course

Often times people in recovery have become so out of sync with their own health and wellness that even basic wellness practices are not implemented in their daily lives. Things as simple as getting enough rest, hydration and nourishment can be key relapse factors in early recovery.

In Wellness and Recovery, students will receive practical instruction through innovative resources to help create balance in their own lives as well as in the lives of those they work with. Course materials are designed so students can review and refine their own state of well-being so they can better assist their clients to do the same.

This course includes Wellness tools that support quality long term recovery. Practical assessments and tools address day-to-day routine needs related to sleep patterns, reducing stress, goal setting, getting organized, money management, communication about financial issues, and overall health.

An emphasis is placed on analyzing possible causes of financial problems and developing practical steps to resolve those problems, plus skills in communication to make money management a satisfying experience.

COURSE GOAL:
To introduce a holistic concept of wellness that goes beyond being free of disease or sickness. students will learn to take clients from a position of knowing about wellness to actively living a lifestyle of health and wellness. Students will experience positive and reinforcing activities through self-assessments and easy to use tools to reduce stress and improve quality of life.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Define wellness and identify the essentials of good health.
• Communicate the body’s need for water as a simple essential of wellness.
• Implement simple steps to improve mood.
• Explain the purpose of sleep and its role in reducing daily stress.
• Identify personal habits through self-assessment.
• List stress management tips to reduce tension.
• Grasp the concept of moving clients from knowing about wellness to actively living it.
• Identify personality profiles and how they can affect financial decision making.