CBT Plus, with Alcohol and Substance Misuse

'Mood altering substances' have been around virtually since the dawn of time, so some people argue that there is every reason to accept them as part of everyday life. However, for some people, the maladaptive use of such compounds devastates their lives. Initially a pleasurable diversion, the substance in question may gradually acquire a dominant part in the person's life, insidiously wreaking havoc on relationships, finances and career, and threatening the very continuation of their lives. And it is a difficult process to reverse; hence the need for a structured and evidence-based approach from those who aim to help.

People who attend this course normally fall into one of two categories:

1. Professionals who see patients in 1:1 treatment settings, either in specialist substance misuse services or not, have a significant degree of clinical skill, and wish to increase their ability in working with alcohol and other mood altering substances.

2. 'Whole teams' (either in inpatient or community alcohol and substance misuse settings) seeking either to boost their level of expertise or to develop a common approach.

The professional affiliations of people attending this course include: mental health/psychiatric nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, probation officers and others.

• Merging the 5 factors in modern CBT with Motivational Interviewing and Couples Therapy to form a coherent approach.
• What is substance misuse and why is it important and why is it so widespread?
• The applicability of CBT Plus, to substance misuse.
• The overall plan: the 4 stages that are almost always necessary for success.
• The first session or two, and especially how to conduct an effective Assessment: the ten headings you need to cover.
• Case-conceptualisation: making sense of the information you have gathered, using the 6 Ps.
• The tutor takes the role of a patient, for delegates to practise on; delegates do a 6Ps case conceptualisation on the case presented.
• Motivating the patient: the use of Socratic Dialogue and its similarity with questions from motivational interviewing. A list of essential questions to use at various stage in therapy.
• The top 10 dysfunctional thinking styles, including All or Nothing thinking (which may not be so dysfunctional in the context of substance misuse).
• Diary Keeping and the importance of focussing on behaviour in detail and reconstructing it where necessary.
• The Plan for a typical session: the 7 key headings you must cover every time.
• Problem Solving: how good problem solving can result in the development of a solid plan of action.
• The Social surroundings. “I can't stand it without a drink.” … “It's very difficult not to when everybody else is doing it.” … etc. How to help the patient firm up a good and realistic plan to combat these.
• Couples Therapy: (a) improving the relationship between patient and partner and (b) how the patient's partner can play a helpful role.
• How to easily evaluate progress: the importance of gathering both subjective and objective data; how to do it easily. The importance of gathering data both from the patient, and from significant others.
• How to apply what has been covered on the course back at work.
• Registration and Feedback.

• You will be able to apply a coherent combination of CBT, Motivational Interviewing and Couples Therapy to alcohol and substance misuse.
• You will know the 4 stage sequence necessary for success in treatment of alcohol and substance misuse.
• You will be shown how to conduct an effective assessment and make sense of the information you gather using a 6Ps case-conceptualisation.
• You will have practice in doing so and have checklists to help you.
• You will know the importance of motivating the patient, know how to do it, and have a list of questions to use to help you.
• You will know about dysfunctional thinking styles, and how to use one of them powerfully in the alcohol and substance misuse field.
• You will be able to guide your patients into constructing a life they want, away from alcohol and substance misuse. You will know the importance of developing a Plan for this, and have a form to help do this easily.
• You will know the 7 key headings you should cover every time you see a patient, whether in a formal 1:1 session or informally.
• You will know how to improve the relationship between a person and their partner if they have one, to remove the need for mood altering substances.
• You will know how to help the patient's partner play a helpful role in therapy and how this can be formalised if necessary.
• You will know the 2x2 matrix which enables you to demonstrate the progress you make.

You will be registered as having attended the course, thereby gaining APT's Level 1 accreditation, and receive a certificate to this effect. The accreditation gives you access to online resources associated with the course and access to the online exam if you wish to uprate your APT accreditation to Level 2.

Your registration lasts indefinitely, and your accreditation lasts for 3 years and is renewable by sitting an online refresher which also upgrades your accreditation to APT Level 2 if you are successful in the associated online exam.

Your accreditation is given value by the fact of over 125,000 people having attended APT training. See APT accreditation for full details.

Event Venue

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