Addiction Counseling Competencies: The Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes of Professional Practice
Technical Assistance Publication (TAP) Series 21

Section 2: the Professional Practice of Addiction Counseling

VI. Client, Family, and Community Education

The process of providing clients, families, significant others, and community groups with information on risks related to psychoactive substance use, as well as available prevention, treatment and recovery resources.

            1. Cultural differences among ethnically and racially diverse communities.
            2. Cultural differences in consumption of psychoactive substances.
            3. Delivery of educational programs.
            4. Research and theory on prevention of substance abuse problems.
            5. Learning styles and teaching methods.
            6. Public speaking.
            1. Delivering prevention and treatment educational programs.
            2. Facilitating discussion.
            3. Preparing outlines and handout materials.
            4. Making public presentations.

            Attitudes

            1. Awareness of and sensitivity to cultural differences.
            2. Appreciation of the difference between educating and providing information.
            3. Appreciating the historical, social, cultural, and other influences that shape the perceptions of psychoactive substance use.

            2. Describe factors that increase the likelihood for an individual, community, or group to be at-risk for, or resilient to, psychoactive substance use disorders.

            Knowledge

            1. Individual, community, and group risk and resiliency factors.
            2. Social issues influencing the development of substance abuse.
            3. Environmental influences on risk and resiliency.

            Skills

            1. Describing individual, community, and group risk and resiliency factors.

            Attitudes

            1. Sensitivity to individual, community, and group differences in the risk for development of substance use disorders.
            2. Non-judgmental presentation of issues.

            3. Sensitize others to issues of cultural identity, ethnic background, age, and gender in prevention, treatment, and recovery.

            Knowledge

            1. Cultural issues in planning prevention and treatment programs.
            2. Age and gender differences in psychoactive substance use.
            3. Culture, gender, and age-appropriate prevention, treatment, and recovery resources.

            Skills

            1. Communicating effectively with diverse populations.
            2. Providing educational programs that reflect understanding of culture, ethnicity, age, and gender.

            Attitudes

            1. Sensitivity to the role of culture, ethnicity, age, and gender in prevention, treatment, and recovery.
            2. Awareness of one’s own cultural biases.

            4. Describe warning signs, symptoms, and the course of substance use disorders.

            Knowledge

            1. The continuum of use and abuse, including the warning signs and symptoms of a developing substance use disorder.
            2. Role of public policy in prevention and treatment of substance use disorders.
            3. Current DSM categories or other diagnostic standards associated with psychoactive substance use.

            Skills

            1. Identifying and teaching signs and symptoms of various substance use disorders.
            2. Facilitating discussions that outline the warning signs and symptoms of various substance use disorders.

            Attitudes

            1. Recognition of the importance of research in prevention and treatment.

            5. Describe how substance use disorders affect families and concerned others.

            Knowledge

            1. How psychoactive substance use by one family member affects other family members or significant others.
            2. The family’s potential positive or negative influence on the development and continuation of a substance use disorder.
            3. The role of the family, couple, or significant other in treatment and recovery.

            Skills

            1. Educating clients, families, and the community about the impact of substance use disorders on the family, couple, or significant others.

            Attitudes

            1. Recognition of the unique response of family members and significant others to substance use disorders.

            6. Describe the continuum of care and resources available to family and concerned others.

            Knowledge

            1. The continuum of care.
            2. Available treatment resources, including local health, allied health, and behavioral health resources.

            Skills

            1. Motivating both family members and clients to seek care.
            2. Describing different treatment modalities and the continuum of care.
            3. Identifying and making referrals to local health, allied health, and behavioral health resources.

            Attitudes

            1. Patience and perseverance.
            2. Appreciation of the difficulty for families and significant others to seek help.
            3. Appreciation of ethnic and cultural differences.

            7. Describe principles and philosophy of prevention, treatment, and recovery.

            Knowledge

            1. Models for prevention, treatment, and recovery from substance use disorders.
            2. Research and theory on models of prevention, treatment, and recovery.
            3. Influences on societal and political responses to substance use disorders.

            Skills

            1. Organizing and delivering presentations that reflect basic information on prevention, treatment, and recovery.

            Attitudes

            1. Appreciation of the importance of prevention and treatment.
            2. Recognition of the validity of a variety of prevention and treatment strategies.

            8. Understand and describe the health and behavior problems related to substance use, including transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS, TB, STDs, and other infectious diseases.

            Knowledge

            1. Health risks associated with substance use.
            2. High-risk behaviors related to substance use.
            3. Prevention and transmission of infectious diseases.
            4. Factors that may be associated with the prevention or transmission of infectious diseases.
            5. Community health and allied health resources.

            Skills

            1. Teaching clients and community members about disease transmission and prevention.
            2. Facilitating small and large group discussions.

            Attitudes

            1. Awareness of one’s own biases when presenting this information.

            9. Teach life skills, including but not limited to, stress management, relaxation, communication, assertiveness, and refusal skills.

            Knowledge

            1. The importance of life skills to the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders.
            2. How these skills are typically taught to individuals and groups.
            3. Local resources available to teach these skills.

            Skills

            1. Implementing training sessions.
            2. Identifying and accessing other instructional resources for training.

            Attitudes

            1. Recognition of the importance of life skills training to the process of recovery.
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