After weeks of what may have been success and struggles, it is time to discuss your abstinence experience and change process. Not only does this exercise help you to better understand and empathize with your clients, but it also serves as a reminder that change is hard! The work you have done over the past several weeks not only gives a glimpse of an addiction/recovery experience, but hopefully presents insights that will be beneficial in your work with future clients. Throughout this experience you may have challenged biases, stigma, or encountered challenges in the field of addictions work. Consider an issue or a challenge for which you could advocate for a positive social change.
- A summary of your experience with abstinence, including its effects (positive and negative) on those you live with or those closest to you (family, friends, etc.). Include your overall progress, such as successes, relapse(s), or even failure to abstain.
- Explain how internal influences such as individual traits, age, gender, and personality, affected your overall experience.
- Explain how external influences such as family, culture, and other considerations affected your overall progress.
- How might this experience apply to working with clients with addictive disorders, or with clients who are affected, directly or indirectly, by addictive disorders?
- What has changed in terms of your perspectives of addiction from Week 1 to Week 10? Consider etiology, addiction as a choice, your abstinence experience assignment, and any personal biases in your response.
- Regardless of whether you intend to go into the field of addictions counseling, what do you think is the most important issue you could advocate for to affect positive social change in this field?
- What is your biggest takeaway from this course?