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DRINK & DRUGS NEWS :: Q&AYou ask the questions - you answer the questions. Please keep your answers coming, and feel free to email a new question. Thanks to this issue's respondents for their contributions. Question:I run a house for four people recovering from Drug and Alcohol
problems. They all attend treatment during the day and I offer support
in the evenings. I would like to offer more help and in time work
on the treatment side. The Organisation I work for have offered
to put me through training. Could anyone advise me on the best route
or suggest appropriate counselling courses to get me started? Thank
you. [Chris Gibbons, by email] Your replies...Dear Chris, I am a prison officer working in the drug support unit at a high security prison. Several years ago, I contacted Hull University regarding short-term courses that could help me with work. I eventually settled on a four-day counselling skills course. It didn't turn me into a fully qualified counsellor but it gave me a good foundation to work from. The skills that I acquired have been invaluable to my work as a prison officer and a drug/alcohol worker. You might also want to ask about short-term courses in motivational interviewing which I have also studied and it has made me more confident and increased my skills when working with clients with substance misuse issues. Good luck Chris I'm sure you will succeed. You seem to be a very motivated and caring person. Ian Bowerman, Full Sutton.
Hi Chris, We get lots of questions like this and it is hard to give you a really definitive answer to your particular situation I am afraid. However, perhaps I can give you some general pointers. The first thing to do is to try to clarify exactly what it is that you want to be able to do. The best place to start here is with the Drug and Alcohol National Occupational Standards (or DANOS for short), which include a list of most of the activities which someone working with drug and alcohol users may need to perform - and the knowledge, skills and understanding required to do so properly. You can use these to develop what's called a 'role profile' for the particular role you are envisaging. Once you have done this, you need to sit down with your manager and try to identify any development needs that you might have if you are to expand your role in the way you'd like. When you have done that, you and your manager can then put together a development plan for you on how your development needs might best be addressed. This might include some formal training, but it might also involve other elements, such as mentoring and supervision. And in time you might also want to look at getting a qualification based on an assessment of your competence - so you can get your knowledge, skills and understanding properly recognised. We have put together some more detailed guidance on DANOS and workforce development in the 'training and development' section of this website. However, it can be quite hard to follow when you look at it 'cold' I am afraid, and it might be worth starting with a new online training course, which we have just launched, called 'DANOS demystified'. It only takes an hour or so to go through and covers most of the main points which you and your manager will need to know about. You can find out more about it in the 'training' section of the www.fdap.org.uk site. I hope this is helpful. I know it sounds a bit complex, but once you get your head round it it's not too difficult and if you follow the process through you should be able to develop your role in the way that you would like, and so also enhance the service offered to your clients. Good luck and best wishes, Simon Shepherd, Chief Executive, FDAP
Dear Chris You would be well advised to do a counselling certificate or diploma through your local FE college, and then a course such as the Effective Drugs Worker (see our website) to top up your drugs and alcohol knowledge. Tim Morrison, www.alcohol-drugs.co.uk
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