Application: The Person of the Counselor

Having considered historical developments as well as national and international policies and laws that have an impact on substance abuse and substance abuse counseling, you now have a basis from which to think about your potential role in counseling individuals with substance abuse issues.

For this Application, you will reflect on the personal strengths you might bring to counseling substance abusers. You also will reflect on the challenges you might face given your own attitudes and beliefs about substance abuse, addiction, and substance abuse counseling, and how you might address them.

To prepare for this assignment:

• Review this week's Learning Resources, focusing on the information that might help you guide your work counseling those impacted by substance abuse and addiction.
• Based upon your field of interest, review the APA or ACA ethics codes. Consider how these codes may guide your work as a counselor.
• Review Sections 4 and 5 of the approach for treating drug addiction on the NIDA Web site. Reflect on the descriptions of counselor characteristics and the client-counselor relationship, and on your own characteristics and view of the treatment relationship in comparison to these.
• Evaluate your strengths and challenges in relation to potential work with substance abusers and how these might have an impact on your clients.
• Identify and consider any attitudes and beliefs you have regarding substance abuse, addiction, and substance abuse counseling.
• Consider how you might address the potential challenges related to your attitudes and beliefs as you work with substance abusers.

The assignment: (1–2 pages)

• Identify at least two strengths you would bring to a counseling session with a client suffering from a substance abuse problem. For each, provide one example of a counseling situation in which it might manifest.
• Describe at least two potential challenges you might face in providing substance abuse counseling in light of your own attitudes and beliefs about substance abuse, addiction, and substance abuse counseling.
• Explain how you might address each of the challenges you described.

Support your Application assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list only for those resources not included in the Learning Resources for this course.