you are encouraging a client whom you see in individual therapy to attend some aa na meetings to support their recovery but your client is reluctant how might you convince him her to attend some meetings

APA Format –

Part 1 –

Counseling and Self-Help Groups

You are encouraging a client whom you see in individual therapy to attend some AA/NA meetings to support their recovery, but your client is reluctant. How might you convince him/her to attend some meetings?

Part 2 –

Drug Court

If you were having a conversation with someone who said “I think they should just lock them all up and throw away the key”, what are some points you could offer to convince the person drug courts are a better idea?

Reading Material Part 1 :

The Treatment Plan should include:

The identified problems to be addressed
Goals and objectives
Resources to be applied
The persons responsible for various actions
Time frames
Expected benefits

Treatment may address these types of goals:

Addressing substance abuse
Improving health
Treating mental health problems
Vocational, educational, and employment needs
Resolving legal problems, reducing criminal behavior

There are five modalities of treatment for substance abuse:

Detoxification
Residential
Intensive Outpatient
Outpatient
Outpatient Methadone Treatment

Detox units can be free-standing or hospital-based. Medication is used to prevent the person from experiencing the full effects of withdrawal. It is very dangerous, for example, to suddenly stop using alcohol, if you have been drinking large amounts for a long period of time. Without supervised detox services, one who suddenly stops alcohol runs the risk of DT’s, high blood pressure (stroke) or other serious problems. In Pinellas County, Operation PAR, Inc. operates the county detox unit. In Hillsborough County, ACTS, Inc. operates the county detox unit. Detox services can be either ambulatory (outpatient) or residential/inpatient.

There are three levels of inpatient treatment

Level I – Short-term treatment (up to 60 days).
Level II – From 61 days to one year. Usually offers Voc/Ed services.
Level III – Care lasts over a year.

Some residential programs are hospital-based, others are free-standing. Fairwinds and Turning Point of Tampa are two local private-pay residential treatment programs.

Therapeutic Communities

Therapeutic Communities (TC’s) are a unique approach to long-term substance abuse treatment. They operate as a residential community and use a system of rewards and punishments and increasing community responsibility, as a client progresses in the program. The therapeutic approach often emphasizes confrontation and accountability, as part of the therapeutic process. Visit publication

re:
Therapeutic Communities for more information about TC’s. Operation PAR operates a TC in Largo, FL.

Other Treatment Modalities

Review the material in the FCB text regarding outpatient treatment and methadone treatment (Pages 96-97).

Reading Material Part 2 :

Read Chapter 7 in the FCB text, pages 162-192.

Visit the Florida State Courts

web site
.

Read the Guide to Florida’s Court System, published by the Florida Bar.

The Florida Court System Consists of:

Florida Supreme Court
District Courts of Appeal
Circuit Courts
County Courts

Classifications of Crimes:

Capital Felony
Life Felony
Felony in the First Degree
Felony in the Second Degree
Felony in the Third Degree
Misdemeanor in the First Degree
Misdemeanor in the Second Degree

Drug Court

Visit the Florida State Courts/Drug Court website.

Drug courts were controversial when they first came on the scene in the mid-1980’s. But they have been very successful. The idea behind drug courts was to take drug crimes out of the criminal court and have a special court devoted to drug offenses that would emphasize treatment intervention.

Incarceration in and of itself does little to break the cycle of illegal drug use.
Drug abuse treatment is proven to reduce both drug abuse and drug-related crime.

Core Elements of a Drug Court

Judicial commitment and leadership.
Collaboration among criminal justice services, courts, treatment

agencies
and community organizations.
Education and training programs for judges, prosecutors, defenders, and other criminal justice practitioners in substance abuse, addictive behaviors, and treatment approaches.
Education and training programs for treatment providers and public health officials in criminal justice concerns and procedures.
A specifically defined target population that considers both drug involvement and public safety risk.
A custom-designed treatment program that addresses the specific treatment needs of the court’s targeted population.
Integrated information management that links the court with criminal justice and treatment agencies and provides adequate supervision for defenders/offenders.
Funding sources for drug court start-up and maintenance.
A detailed comprehensive implementation plan that includes scheduled milestones and orientation and training for everyone involved.
An evaluation strategy that defines desired outcomes, identifies the types of information required to measure those

outcomes,
and defines a timetable for the reporting and analysis of those outcomes.

Drug Court Program Characteristics

Defendants are referred to drug treatment shortly after

arrest
.
Judges closely monitor the progress of defendants in the drug court program, encouraging effort and achievement to overcome addiction and promptly sanctioning noncompliance with program requirements.
The drug court program operates as a team effort involving the judiciary, prosecutors, defense bar, treatment providers, case managers and community resources.
Defendants relapses are accepted as an element of the treatment process and are not by themselves considered to be an indication of program failure or a cause for program termination.

Florida Dept of Corrections

Visit the Florida Dept. of Corrections website

Florida Dept of Juvenile Justice

Visit the Florida Dept. of Juvenile Justice website.

Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Confidentiality Regulations (42 CFR Part 2)

Visit the CSAT/SAMHSA Confidentiality and Ethics Training handbook.

Federal law strongly protects the confidentiality of substance abuse counseling. NEVER release any confidential information about a client without a written and signed

release
.