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Political and social contexts shape society’s views about and responses to drug use. Explore the cultural and historical roots of evolving alcohol and drug policies in American society. Investigate traditional substance-abuse service systems, as well as critiques of the war on drugs and pressures to reform and innovate.
Course Outline
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Course Objectives
- Understand the purpose of a cultural, social and historical overview of addiction and the need for perspective.
- Critically evaluate statistics and facts about addiction, treatment and recovery.
- Understand the conflict of addiction being considered a medicine/biology versus public health problem.
- Define the context of substance use and the problem itself.
- Gain a comprehension of the historical developments in addiction treatment to see what has and hasn’t helped reduce the problem.
- Learn about alcohol and the environments it is consumed in.
- Understand how the New Recovery Movement affects your clients.
- Discuss behavioral health trends and how technology is aiding the organization of alcohol and drug services.
What You Learn
- Cultural, social and historical approaches to treatment
- Contemporary alcohol and drug use patterns, problems and trends
- Social control strategies
- Cultural context of substance use
- The disease model
- Drug and setting
- Evolution of addiction treatment and efforts to reduce alcohol and drug problems
- Examples of treatment, including Inebriate Homes, Keeley Institutes, AA, Oxford Movement, Minnesota Model, Social Model and Aversion Therapy
- Harm reduction
- Challenges to traditional approaches such as non-12-step/self-empowerment recovery and the new recovery movement
- Role of culture and diversity
- How to target ethnic communities
- How to treat diverse populations
- Recovery advocacy and public policy
- The Americans in Recovery Act
- Federal and state agencies and their policies
- Behavioral health integration trends
- The evolution of information technology in behavioral health
- Controlling tobacco use
How You Learn
- In-class discussions
- Trivia questions
- Videos
- Written papers
- Presentations
- Final examination