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Substance Abuse and Brain Injuries
Substance Use and Abuse After Brain Injury: A Programmer's Guide
Getting Started
There are four basic steps to getting started with a good program for
addressing substance use in rehabilitation centers.
- Identify other staff who would like to see a program started or improved.
- Seek the support of management to initiate a program.
- Evaluate current resources and needs.
- Use in-service training to raise the awareness among other staff about the nature and severity of the problem.
In any rehabilitation setting there will be different
levels of awareness and understanding about the need for substance abuse
prevention, intervention and treatment. There will also be different levels
of willingness to initiate programs to address this issue. For these reasons,
“getting started” is about garnering as much support as possible
from all levels of the organization. If you are a staff person with interest
in this area, you may need to identify other staff that have similar interest,
educate supervisory and managerial personnel and promote the issue with
all staff. Most importantly, you will need to seek the support of management
staff for a program. If you are in management, you may need to identify
staff that have an interest, assess resources and initiate in-service
trainings. Once enough interest is developed, a complete evaluation of
resources should be made.
Assessment of resources should include:
- Evaluation of training received by staff and training needed;
- Evaluation of competencies and background of staff; and an
- Evaluation of staff attitudes about substance
use.
The evaluation process will also identify key staff persons with the appropriate commitment, training and competency to organize and operate a program
In-service trainings should be used to raise staff
awareness about the severity of substance abuse problems and the adverse
effects on the recovery process that use of alcohol and other substances
can have after a brain injury. All staff need to understand the undermining
effect use can have on rehabilitation outcomes post-discharge.
An important note to remember is that whatever the level of awareness
or programming an organization has at this point in time, this manual
can be used to upgrade an existing program or help install a new program.
Substance Abuse Education Series
Substance Abuse and Brain Injury Toolbox
Utilities for Community Professionals"Lessons from Little Red Riding Hood"