We hope some of you have been able to participate in at least one of our new Professional Development webinars. We are excited to be able to partner with fellow colleagues in the field of addiction to be able to provide continuing education on professional topics of interest.
We have recently partnered with Courtney Hupp, MSW, LCSW, CADC, an EBT Clinical Coordinator at Chestnut Health Systems in Illinois. She had an active role in the Assertive Continuing Care (ACC) study, funded by NIAAA, in which she administered the ACC and Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) protocols to residential clients’ post-discharge, as well as supervised other therapists on the study. Courtney will be offering her workshop “Community Reinforcement Approach for Substance Use in Adults” live online through the SASSI Institute’s training platform on February 8th. The treatment model known as CRA recognizes that, at least initially, alcohol and drug use is about reinforcing consequences — that make us more likely to repeat actions. This is true whether we are hanging out with friends, playing a favorite game, eating a good meal, or using alcohol or other drugs. People who use alcohol and drugs get something out of it – or they wouldn’t keep doing it.
The overall goal of CRA is to help individuals reconnect with or discover new sources of positive reinforcement within their community to compete with alcohol or drug use. How do CRA clinicians do this? By listening to and learning from their clients what is important to them. They then help them connect to pro-recovery activities that have meaning and value to their client. In addition, CRA clinicians help their clients identify goals and learn how to achieve them. CRA clients also learn a variety of new skills, such as problem-solving and positive communication (with partners, friends, and others), which help them attain a better quality of life. Practicing new skills is a critical component of the skills training used in CRA. Every session ends with a mutually-agreed upon homework assignment to practice skills learned during sessions. This intervention has been implemented in outpatient, intensive outpatient, and residential treatment settings. This research-tested intervention has been used in over 500 organizations across the United States and Canada. Courtney Hupp will provide an introduction to the CRA model, a summary of the research base, and details about how to use a variety of CRA skills during sessions.
What You Will Learn:
- An Introduction to the CRA model
- History of CRA research and implementation
- Goals of CRA treatment
- An overview of the CRA session structure and treatment guidelines
- How to use some of the CRA procedures during sessions like a Functional Analysis for substance use, Happiness Scale, Sobriety Sampling, and Increasing Prosocial Recreation
- General clinical skills necessary to implement CRA
For registration information click here.