350-Hour CASAC Training Program

(12 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) │ Participants will learn how to conduct an assessment using the ASI, the most widely used validated assessment tool for substance use disorders.  In this highly experiential course, participants will practice engaging clients before doing the assessment and will learn how to pose questions and probes in order to build rapport with the client and get the information needed to develop a clinically sound person-centered treatment plan.

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 3 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course reviews the function of screening and types of screening instruments, including the CAGE, AUDIT, MAST, and DAST.  In addition, participants will learn how to do violence and suicide risk assessments.

(18 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course will provide participants with an understanding of alcohol and other drugs of abuse, their bio-psycho-social  effects, mechanisms of addiction, and how these relate to various assessment, intervention, and treatment approaches.

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course covers an overview of tobacco use, understanding of the etiology & progression of dependence, & treatment for nicotine dependence.

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 3 / SW & LMHC Hours) This course introduces participants to case management and its functions, and acquaints them with appropriate documentation in service coordination.  This includes the definition of case management, the functions of and rationale for case management, functions of a case manager, advocacy in case management, case management models, principles of case management, coordination of services, recovery-oriented systems of care and linkages to them, and culturally competent case management.

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) This course covers knowledge and skills to effectively report child abuse or maltreatment to the NYS child Abuse & Maltreatment Register.

Must be taken online at http://www.nysmandatedreporter.org/TrainingCourses.aspx

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course will provide an overview of the federal and state laws that govern drug and alcohol treatment, and includes the rationale and history of confidentiality laws,  the requirements and provisions of 42 CFR, Part 2, HIPAA and Jonathan’s Law, the need for and  appropriately constructed consent forms, exceptions to confidentiality rules, confidentiality on HIV/AIDS, the need to seek out supervision regarding confidentiality and legal issues and reporting violations of confidentiality laws.  Several vignettes regarding confidentiality and legal issues will be examined by the class.

*For the completion of 15 hours in Cultural Competency you must attend Practica 1 & 2 in Module 6 (See course listing for practica schedule) along with an additional lecture in one of the following courses:   Counseling Special Populations:  Women, Counseling Special Populations:  LGBT,  Counseling Special Populations:  Trauma, Domestic Violence, or Co-Occurring Disorders.

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – The causes, prevalence, and dynamics of domestic violence, including issues of power and control, the psychology of the victim and the impact on children, are examined in this course.  Participants will learn how screen for DV, get treatment for victims and batterers, and do safety planning with victims of domestic violence.

(3 CASAC hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – In this course, participants will learn about substance use disorders in the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning) community, definitions of sexual orientation and gender identity, clinical issues that need to be addressed in treatment and how to provide competent care to this population.

(6 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – Psychological trauma will be defined, along with the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in this course. The treatment implications for the high co-occurrence between substance use disorders and PTSD will be explored. Participants will learn about trauma-specific and trauma-informed approaches to addressing the effects of trauma in the context of treatment for substance use disorders.

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – In this course, the ways in which females with substance use disorders differ from males is examined, along with an exploration of how to make treatment “gender responsive.”  Biological, social, psychological, and cultural influences on women and girls are reviewed to enable participants to have a better understanding of how to work effectively with them in a treatment setting.

(6 CASAC Hours in Section 4 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course will provide an overview of the strategies a professional counselor can use to form an effective therapeutic alliance with a client.  The nature and benefits of the therapeutic alliance, appropriate boundaries in the therapeutic relationship, transference and counter-transference, how to handle boundary issues, self-disclosure in counseling, personal recovery and counseling, the need for and appropriate use of clinical supervision, and cultural competence and the therapeutic alliance are included.

(6 CASAC Hours in Section 4 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course provides an overview of stress and wellness, common threats to wellness, and effective means of self-care. The definition and physiology of  stress, symptoms of  compassion fatigue, staff burnout, and vicarious trauma, self-care strategies, including the use of agency resources, such as clinical supervision and EAP’s, and counselor impairment and re-entry to the workplace are reviewed. Participants develop a personal self-care plan in a one-hour homework assignment for this course.

(9 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – In this course, participants learn how to help clients cope with common crises that have the potential to interfere with treatment and high risk situations that can threaten lives and safety.  In addition, the prevention and de-escalation of crisis situations is taught.

(6 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – In this course, several major modalities for the treatment of substance use disorders, including medication assisted treatment, the Minnesota Model, the therapeutic community, and harm reduction will be detailed and contrasted.

(12 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course provides an overview of working with families and significant others.  It includes the core beliefs of addiction specialists related to the family, the evolution of the family in American society, types of family structures, the family system and the concept of homeostasis, the impact of drug and alcohol abuse on family relationships, the developmental stages of the individual and family, the function of rules and roles in a family system, the use of genograms in family work, stages of assessment of individuals and families, working with the family system, relapse prevention with families, children of alcoholics and substance abusers, and fetal alcohol syndrome.

(6 CASAC Hours in Section 4 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course acquaints participants with a definition of professional ethics and boundaries, and enable them to use appropriate decision-making skills when faced with ethical dilemmas.  The following topics are included: the definition of ethics, universally accepted ethical values, professional codes of conduct/ethics, policies that exist in human service organizations related to ethical conduct, the parameters of professional boundaries and how to maintain them, including the use of clinical supervision, and a decision-making model for making ethical decisions when faced with ethically-challenging situations.

*For completion of 15 hours in Ethics for Addiction Professionals you must attend Practica 5 & 6 in module 9 (See course listing for practica schedule) along with an additional lecture in Confidentiality & Legal Issues.

(12 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – The foundations of good counseling with individuals with substance use disorders are covered in this course, including the qualities of an effective counselor, the therapeutic alliance, and basic counseling skills.  The second day of this course introduces participants to Motivational Interviewing, providing an overview and introductory practice of skills.

(12 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course will teach participants the foundations of effective group counseling for individuals with substance use disorders. This includes the benefits of and therapeutic factors associated with group counseling, group structure and process, the role of the facilitator, stages of group development, and transference and counter-transference in group.

(6 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – Several types of groups commonly used in treatment for substance use disorders will be examined in this course including psycho-educational, cognitive-behavioral, process, support, relapse prevention, and those for medication-assisted treatment.  Evidence-based models, i.e., Matrix and Seeking Safety, will be looked at more closely as examples.

Description will be posted shortly.

(9 CASAC Hours in Section 3 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This class teaches participants how to identify mental health disorders, gives a broad overview of the mental health field, diagnostic criteria using the DSM-5, risks of diagnosis, and coding issues.

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours)  – In this course, participants will learn the benefits of medication-assisted treatment and how to counsel individuals in MAT to enhance treatment outcomes. Common problems, such as stigma, compliance and adjustment issues, are reviewed to enable clinicians to provide effective and supportive counseling.

(9 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – Participants are introduced to various counseling theories and approaches, such as cognitive-behavioral, person-centered, psychodynamic, solution-focused, rational-emotive, transactional, and gestalt. These theories are applied to a case example as a means of understanding their practical application. 

(9 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours)  – This course speaks to the need to treat the whole client by providing integrated care for physical health, mental health, and substance use concerns simultaneously. Physical and mental health problems that commonly co-occur with substance use disorders are reviewed and participants learn how to coordinate care with professionals in other disciplines. Screening and brief intervention and referral (SBIRT) for high risk drug and alcohol use in health care and other settings is examined. 

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) –  Participants will learn the DSM5 diagnostic criteria, the ICD codes, and how to use the NYS OASAS LOCADATR tool and the ASAM Patient Placement Criteria to make a level of care determination. 

(6 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course will review the use and role of mutual self help groups in the recovery from substance use disorders, including AA and other 12-step groups, and SMART recovery. 

(6 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – The history of human drug taking, addiction, and treatment and recovery movements are examined in this course. Forms of drugs, routes of administration and drug responses, progression of drug use, dependency and recovery are also explored. 

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – What causes addiction and how is it best treated? This course reviews the major prevailing models for understanding drug addiction which include biological, genetic, cultural, self-medication, social, educational, family systems, spiritual, social learning, biopsychosocial and public health, and their corresponding intervention approaches. 

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – Social and legal designations of psychoactive drugs, prohibition and anti-prohibition movements, and the political forces that influence drug taking and its consequences  are examined in this course. William White’s model is used to understand the cultures of addiction and recovery.

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course teaches participants about effective prevention strategies for patients, families, and communities. Goals and objectives of prevention education, strategies for effective prevention education, types of prevention programs, the continuum of prevention approaches, principles of effective prevention programs, risk and protective factors, resiliency and the fostering of resiliency, SAMHSA’s Prevention Framework, and model programs in prevention are included. 

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course reviews the continuum of services in the drug and alcohol field ranging from prevention, early intervention, outpatient, through residential and inpatient care. The criteria for each level of care are explained. Participants will also understand risk and protective factors for addiction and increasing resiliency as prevention strategy. 

Description will be posted shortly. 

Description will be posted shortly. 

(6 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – Participants will learn the elements of a stable long –term recovery and recovery wellness. These concepts will be used to understand how relapse occurs and how to use cognitive behavioral techniques to help clients prevent relapse and maintain recovery. 

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course will teach participants how to conduct a relapse prevention group using a cognitive-behavioral approach. Participants will understand the theory and concepts related to CBT groups and relapse prevention, and use a corresponding manualized program to practice in the classroom. 

Description will be posted shortly.

Description will be posted shortly.

(6 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This class will present theories of human growth and development, define normative stages of human development, explore how drug and alcohol use affects human development, and how developmental crises can contribute to drug and alcohol use and abuse.  Developmentally-specific interventions, including the Seven Challenges and the Treatment Readiness and Induction Program (TRIP) for adolescents will be examined, as will developmentally responsive approaches to counseling.

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – In this course,  participants will learn about the array of toxicology screening methods, their strengths, limitations & legal implications, reporting language, reports, and means of accurate administration and proper use. 

(12 CASAC Hours in Section 1 / SW & LMHC Hours) – This course teaches participants how to write a person-centered treatment plan, incorporating the client’s strengths, needs, abilities and preferences, an interpretive summary, progress notes, and a discharge plan and summary.  The medical necessity of treatment for substance use disorders, often needed to justify payment for care, is defined and its documentation in the client record is demonstrated.  Participants are given a sample case upon which to practice. 

(3 CASAC Hours in Section 2 / SW & LMHC Hours) – The vocational issues common to individuals with substance use disorders is addressed in this course, along with the goals and benefits of addressing vocational issues in treatment. The OASAS reporting requirements on vocational services and those services that improve treatment outcomes will also be reviewed.