Fundamentals of Addiction

Intended Audience:

Intended for professionals working with individual who may be facing mental illness, including addiction issues, or for those who have an interest in this field.

Date and Time:

Please see below

Course Duration:

Eight-week online course

Cost:

$425.00

Contact Phone Number:

Please email

Contact Email:

courses.help@camh.ca

Course Requirements and Prerequisites

This course is suggested as a preparatory course for the Concurrent Disorders Certificate Program.

Course Overview

This course aims to help learners further their understanding of addictive behaviour, which in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual includes both substances use issues and problem gambling. We present the biopsychosocial plus (BPS+) model of addiction, which provides a multidimensional way of understanding this complex field.

The main themes in this course include:

• social determinants of health 
• harm reduction
• screening and assessment
• treatment
• legal issues and ethical considerations.

This course covers key concepts and frameworks in the field of addictions and addiction services. It is intended to familiarize course participants to these concepts at an introductory level. The goal is to balance an emphasis on substance-related and behavioural addictions and to discuss the commonalities between the two. As such, different types of drugs and other substances, their effects, and the different approaches to treatment are presented briefly throughout the course. While this course presents an overview to the topic of addiction, specifically substance use and gambling issues, it also makes reference to mental health issues and to concurrent disorders.  

Learning Objectives

After successfully completing this course, learners will be able:

• recognize the key characteristics of addiction and theories of its causes
• discuss the social determinants of health, diversity and cultural competence
• explain trauma-informed practice and recovery-oriented care
• describe the BPS+ model and the reasons for this multidimensional approach to addiction
• identify key concepts in harm reduction and related strategies
• describe screening and assessment processes
• describe common types of treatment and guidelines for practice
• interpret legal and ethical principles governing assessment, treatment and the therapeutic relationship.

This course includes instructional activities throughout, including case scenarios for group discussion, interactive review quizzes and embedded self-reflection questions to help link content to practice.

Delivery Method

Online

To receive a letter of completion for this course, you are expected to:

• read all the course content
• log in to the course regularly (at least once or twice a week)
• complete each week's activities, as outlined in the schedule (self-reflection questions embedded within the modules are not assessed).

Please note: This course requires you to use an internet browser, but the system does not support Microsoft Internet Explorer. Do not use that to access the course. Instead, use one of the following:

• Apple Safari
• Google Chrome
• Microsoft Edge
• Mozilla Firefox

For more details, please read the browser and compatibility support page.

Register

Course start and end dates:    

October 4 - November 28, 2021

Please select the link below to register:

https://app.certain.com/profile/3257437

Please review the cancellation policy.