Addiction Counselling Course

Odysseus wrote: »

What do you want out of it is the big question. I'm in the HSE Addiction Services for well lets say too long;) If you want a counselling qualification do a psychotherapy training, we finally got rid of the term "Addiction Counsellor" about 5 years ago, it supplies a false sense of what is involved in therapy with addicts.

The addiction in and of itself is a complex area that is without the rest of the stuff we deal with:
History of Sexual Abuse,
Guilt and Shame associated with Street Work.
Bereavement issues/living with a terminal/infectious illness,
Exposure to Violence,
Dual Diagnosis,
Poly-Drug Use
Long Term Criminality,
Social Services Involvement.
Suicide.

The above is just a small part of the work the list just goes on and on. My point being if you think the above course with qualifies you as a therapist you need to have a re-think. The course looks fine if you just want to get a better understanding of addiction, have a look at the I.A.A.A.C. website to get a sense of what is needed to work therapeutically with the area, and then there is personal therapy and supervision.

I teach a short course on addiction myself, the thing I constantly tell students is that addiction is such a complex area that we need to move on from the thinking that a short one year course is all that is needed to work in the area.

So that would be my 2cents, I know some people that did their degrees there they work as project workers and the like, they are glad they done the course and they do believe that they benefited from it, but they state that they would not study there again.

I don't wish to sound so negative, it's just that I have and continue to see clients damaged by people who think they can conduct therapy after minimal training. As you mention wanting to work in a therapeutic manner I really suggest you look at training as a therapist first, the look at the addiction area.

To give you a personal example I had to do a year long course in CBT with Leeds University a few years back, a very serious course with lots of practical training as well as the academic side, I would not consider myself a CBT therapist after such a short training.

Now to be fair the above are my opinions, the HSE only requires its counsellors to be Diploma level, so nothing I said above is written in stone. Anyway I hope the above was of some help to you and best of luck with whatever you decide

Odysseus wrote: »

In that case how about one of the 12 evening courses that places like DBS and the Independant College run. One evening a week for 12 weeks no big commitment, will give you an introductory and an insight to the area. However, qualification wise they really mean little, but then again you can't expect one after 12 weeks.