Giordano, A. L., Prosek, E. A., Stamman, J., Callahan, M. M., Loseu, S., Bevly, C. M., Cross, K., Woehler, E. S., Calzada, R. R., & Chadwell, K. (2016). Addressing trauma in substance abuse treatment. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 60(2), 55-71.
This article discusses the influence of trauma on substance abuse treatment. The main statistic of the research is that trauma in childhood is an indispensable part of the substance abuse experience, with 95% of 402 people who used drugs reporting the existence of childhood trauma (Giordano et al., 2016). Another significant contribution is the analysis of differentiated experiences because of gender differences. As Giordano et al. (2016) indicate, “women reported more experiences of sexual trauma and men reported more experiences of violent trauma” (p. 66). Therefore, specialists in substance abuse counseling practices should develop proper trauma treatment approaches.
This article is instructive because it encourages specialists to find external causes why people are becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol. In practice, substance abuse is a more complex phenomenon than just the childhood or adolescence mistake. As a practitioner in counseling practices, I suggest that the organized 12-step programs may address people’s trauma. For example, 12-step programs should help addicted people to restore their social life and eliminate loneliness. It is crucial to organize such help with the competencies in the trauma treatment and informed understanding about gender differences.
Gates, T. G., & Sniatecki, J. L. (2016). Tolerating transphobia in substance abuse counseling: Perceptions of trainees. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 40(5), 469-485.
The paper written by Gates and Sniatecki is concerned with the issues that can occur with gender identity and its expression. It considers the problem with the inclusiveness that substance abuse counseling and human services organizations can have. The authors found the existence of organizations that failed to provide equity and LGBTQ rights recognition, allowing their members to express transphobia, which harms the mental health of minority participants (Gates & Sniatecki, 2016). The previous research shows that the training for professionals in these services who work with transgender people is limited (Gates & Sniatecki, 2016). The analysis of Texas counselors’ perceptions showed that although they argue that they will not allow any expression of transphobia in their services, specific training is lacking (Gates & Sniatecki, 2016). Therefore, the result of the study in Texas can call for the change in other substance abuse counseling centers to address the problem of transphobia toward the LGBTQ community.
To sum up, this study makes readers ask themselves questions about their own competencies in this area. It encourages specialists and researchers to elaborate specific possible strategies to avoid and eliminate transphobia in substance abuse counseling practices. This article greatly resonates with my desire to achieve social justice in abuse counseling centers, making it the driver for the proper treatment of addictions. It calls for the creation of proper transgender policies and subsequent maintenance of them in practice.
Jiang, S., Wu, L., & Gao, X. (2017). Beyond face-to-face individual counseling: A systematic review on alternative modes of motivational interviewing in substance abuse treatment and prevention. Addictive behaviors, 73, 216-235.
Jiang et al. discuss the ways how motivational interviewing can be made. They define motivational interviewing as “a collaborative conversation style for strengthening a person’s own motivation and commitment to change” (Jiang et al., 2017, p. 217). Conventionally, it is recognized that the face-to-face interview is the best way of communication for such purposes. Jiang et al. (2017) suggest that Internet communication, telephone calls, and short message service are also legitimate modes of interviewing. What is interesting is the differential efficiency of different modes of communication: the telephone has efficiency in all areas, Internet communication is more productive for treating alcoholism, and SMS was useful for combatting tobacco and drinking (Jiang et al., 2017). In my practice, it can guide the counseling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adjusting the modes of communication and interviewing to the special cases may be reasonable for the practical work.
Ramos, M. M., Sebastian, R. A., Murphy, M., Oreskovich, K., & Condon, T. P. (2017). Adolescent substance use: Assessing the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of a school-based health center workforce. Substance abuse, 38(2), 230-236.
Another group that deserves special attention is adolescents that experience substance abuse. Although the article of Ramos et al. does not entirely about substance abuse counseling practices, it raises the possible value of access points for adolescent substance use care in schools (Ramos et al., 2017). In fact, this article discusses the same issue as Gates and Sniatecki (2016) in their study of transphobia. In general, medical centers for counseling in New Mexico were sure about their competencies and confident about the training that they had. Nevertheless, the authors found that they are not familiar with the modern methods and strategies of addressing “risky substance use among adolescents in primary care settings” (Ramos et al., 2017, p. 2). The reason is that they did not have specific continuing education after ending courses of substance abuse counseling practices. Summarizing the content of the article in one sentence, the finding focuses on the influence of continuing education because of the changing nature of science and technologies.
Mardare, E. I. (2021). Addictions counseling. A competency-based approach [Review of the book Addictions counseling. A competency-based approach, by C. A. Faulkner & S. Faulkner]. European Journal of Social Work, 24(1), 182–184.
In this book review, Mardare summarizes the arguments that were expressed by C. A. Faulkner & S. Faulkner. This book is a great source for instructive cases for the improvement of substance abuse counseling practices. A number of illustrative case studies are presented by the authors in a systematic way, emphasizing the steps they made during their practice (Mardare, 2021). The value of long texts like books is that they allow considering the theory in more detail, while articles only summarize the existing literature and avoid any nuances. Mardare (2021) indicates that “aspects such as recovery, relapse dynamics, aftercare, and discharge planning, co-occurring disorders and the benefits of certification as a substance abuse counsellor are addressed” (p. 2). This range of topics makes me consider reading the full text of the book for my further research and practical activity in the future.