Managing Addiction: A Framework for Successful Treatment - University of Adelaide

Addiction is such a common problem today that clients experiencing alcohol, nicotine or other drug problems present in many different healthcare settings. The challenge of identifying effective ways to help people experiencing addiction is a serious one, and much depends on the quality of the clinical decisions we make. This course is intended to help you meet this challenge by increasing your understanding of the biology of addiction and the available treatment options in the different stages of the recovery journey. Key questions we will look at in this course include: Why is it so difficult to change addictive behaviour? What kinds of treatment can help a person experiencing addiction? What is my role as a professional, either within or outside of addiction care? How can I identify the best of the many options available? What evidence do I need to be able to make a sound decision about treatment? What approaches to addiction are proven to work around the world? What is the potential impact of my decisions on the life of a person experiencing addiction? This course explores the “Recovery Pathway,” an easy-to-use framework for helping people with addiction move successfully from addiction to recovery. It will help you to plan a pathway through screening and assessment, to withdrawal and long-term relapse prevention. It will examine a range of psychosocial interventions and medication-assisted treatments. At each step of the pathway, you will review the biological basis of behaviour and treatment as well as evidence-based and service delivery considerations. It is an ideal starting-point for healthcare professionals who want to get to grips with potentially effective approaches to treating addiction, and need tools to make critical decisions.