Curriculum: Substance Abuse Counseling Certificate

This course is designed to provide an overview of the field of substance abuse counseling and its graduate level academic trajectories (counseling, social work, psychology, etc.) Students will be oriented to the learning expectations of the program and the university consistent with UC's baccalaureate competencies. Students will develop a portfolio, including a career plan and personal learning contract, which will be supplemented throughout the course of the substance abuse counseling program.

This course provides students with concepts in pharmacology explored through the lens of substance use disorders. Students will gain an understanding of the human nervous system, learning how it reacts to addictive drugs and the physiological reasons one becomes dependent. In addition, students will learn about clinical trials and the research designs used to test the safety and efficacy of prescription medications. Finally, students will explore the role of drug therapies, including opioid replacement therapies,in substance abuse treatment settings.

In this course, students will review the individual, family, and societal factors that are associated with individual substance use. In addition, this course will explore the biochemical and predisposition variables of chemical dependency, as well as the psychological and behavioral effects on the dependent person and the family system. Primary therapeutic and relapse interventions are presented as well as an overview on prevention models.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to clinical assessment and diagnostic processes in substance abuse counseling. The students will learn the key elements of the multidimensional assessment process, which will include the use of various screening and assessment tools, proper interviewing techniques, and impediments to the assessment process. Students will be introduced to the Multiaxial System in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) with specific concentrations on substance use disorders.

This advanced class focuses on the development of fundamental skills necessary for individual counseling of client with a substance use disorder. Drawing from a variety of approaches andtechniques, the student will develop a greater depth of therapeutic communication skills. Experiential exercises, skill demonstration, and self/peer assessment, guide the student to a broader ability to successfully influence a positive therapeutic outcome.

This course is an introduction to group process, leadership and practice for substance abuse counseling. Students will gain insight into theoretical and practical concepts of group counseling used within a substance abuse clinical setting. Ethical, legal, and professional concernsof group process will be addressed, along with parameters for best practices. Within the course, students will conceptualize and develop a group proposal that can be implemented for recovering clients or their families.

Using systems perspectives, this course provides students the core framework with which to provide substance abuse counseling to families and other intimate relationships. Students will learn the etiology of substance abuse from a relationship perspective, understanding how families and other relationships relate to substance addictions. Overthe term, students will learn how to apply systemstheories and relationship counseling skills to various clinical scenarios.

This course is designed to help student build their treatment planning and case management skills in substance abuse counseling. Students will apply best practices in treatment planning tovarious case scenarios including clients from populations including men, women, AIDS/HIV infected persons, dually diagnosed individuals, adolescents, older adults and some culturally-specific populations. In addition, students will learn skills to develop community relationships with other service providers and howto appropriately make referrals consistent with best practices and state and federal regulations.