Harm Reduction Psychotherapy: Practical Clinical Strategies for Working with a Broad Range of Veteran Substance Use Goals 

Time: 9:00am-4:00pm

Location: Virtual

Instructor: Josie Tracy, Ph.D.

CE credits: 6 CE's (pending)

Course Description:

This workshop is for all clinicians who want to learn how to work with veterans who use substances, no matter how much experience you’ve had. You'll be surprised to find the style of Harm Reduction Psychotherapy is very different from traditional treatment for substance use disorders and is more in-line with how we are trained as clinicians—to be collaborative, non-judgmental, and trauma-informed, while empowering clients to choose their own treatment goals. This workshop will provide you historical context on the War on Drugs and military culture as a backdrop to veterans’ experiences. You will be challenged to examine your own internalized cultural biases about substance use, learn the real-world effects of substance-related stigma, and gain practical strategies for changing your clinical terminology. In this workshop you will learn very practical strategies to reduce substance-specific harms, such as accidents, injuries, and overdose risk. Interactive portions of our time together will give you practice in specific therapy skills, such as responding to substance-related safety risks in a clinically-effective manner. There will be lots of time for questions and crowdsourced answers to increase your clinical confidence in using this approach to work most effectively with your veteran clients.

Learning objectives. At the end of this training participants will:

1. Be able to describe the principles of Harm Reduction Psychotherapy and how to apply this approach to a wide range of veteran substance-related goals
2. Be able to describe one (1) client and two (2) therapist harms associated with high levels of stigma toward substance use disorder
3. Understand the major risk factors for drug overdose and three (3) practical strategies to reduce overdose risk
4. Be able to practice at least one (1) clinical strategy to address safety concerns in a responsive, rather than reactive, manner  

References:

Collins, S. E., Clifasefi, S. L., Nelson, L. A., Stanton, J., Goldstein, S. C., Taylor, E. M., Hoffmann, G., King, V. L., Hatsukami, A. S., Cunningham, Z. L., Taylor, E., Mayberry, N., Malone, D. K., & Jackson, T. R. (2019). Randomized controlled trial of harm reduction treatment for alcohol (HaRT-A) for people experiencing homelessness and alcohol use disorder. International Journal of Drug Policy, 67, 24–33. https://doi-org.ezproxy.spu.edu/10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.01.002.

Hamilton, L.J., Coleman, M.E. & Krendl, A.C. (2023). Contact reduces substance use stigma through bad character attributions, especially for U.S. health care professionals. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 37, 734-745. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000953.

Henssler, J., Müller, M., Carreira, H., Bschor, T., Heinz, A., & Baethge, C. (2021). Controlled drinking—Non-abstinent versus abstinent treatment goals in alcohol use disorder: A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression. Addiction, 116(8), 1973–1987. https://doi-org.ezproxy.spu.edu/10.1111/add.15329.