Study Duration:

This Drug and Addiction Support online course takes approximately 420 hours to complete, but you have lifetime access to suit your self-paced learning.

Study Method:

100% Online

Start Date:

Enrol whenever you see fit.

Fees & Charges:

Shouldn’t be a problem now with 2 easy options:
Upfront Payment or a Flexible Payment Plan ($25 per week).

Brochure Download

• Introduction
  • Scope and nature of drugs; legal and illegal
  • Amphetamine
  • Cocaine
  • Crack
  • LSD
  • Ritalin
  • Steroids
  • How heroin is used
  • Medical consequences of chronic heroin abuse
  • Names used for heroin
• Effects of drugs on the individual and society
  • Community acceptance
  • Terminology
  • Why people use drugs
  • Addiction; how drugs work in the brain
  • Central nervous system
  • Physiological and psychological effects of drugs
  • Alcohol effects
  • Sedative effects
  • Stimulant effects
  • Hallucinogenics
  • Psychological effects of drugs
• Legally restricted drugs: Stimulants and narcotics
  • Stimulants
  • Symptoms of abuse
  • How cocaine is abused
  • How does cocaine effect the brain
  • What adverse effects does cocaine have on health
  • Added danger; coca ethylene
  • Treatment options
  • Scope of cocaine abuse
  • Narcotics
  • Abuse symptoms
  • Forms and dangers
  • Designer drugs
  • Ecstasy pill
• Legally restricted drugs: Hallucinogens and marijuana
  • Effects of hallucinogens
  • Symptoms of abuse
  • LSD
  • Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder
  • Marijuana
  • Effects of marijuana on the brain
  • Symptoms of abuse, forms of marijuana and dangers
  • Phencyclidine (PCP)
  • Symptoms of abuse, forms of PCP and dangers
  • Legally restricted drugs: Steroids
  • Steroids
  • Symptoms of abuse, forms of steroids and dangers
• Legal drugs: Alcohol
  • Symptoms of abuse and dangers with alcohol
  • Alcoholism
  • Staying in control with alcohol
  • Alcohol amnestic syndrome (Korsakoff’s syndrome)
  • Treating Korsakoff’s syndrome)
  • Alcohol and the developing brain
• Legal drugs: Tobacco, caffeine and solvents
  • Nicotine addiction
  • Effects of nicotine on the circulatory system
  • Caffeine
  • Caffeine addiction
  • Solvents (volatile solvent abuse): symptoms and dangers
• Prescription and over-the-counter drugs
  • Prescription drugs (Over the counter or OTC)
  • Groups of prescription drugs
  • Misuse of OTC drugs
  • Opioids
  • Treatments for opioid addiction
  • CNS depressants
  • Stimulants
  • Stimulant abuse and treatment for stimulant addiction
• Sedatives and anti-anxiety drugs
  • Anti anxiety drugs
  • Barbiturates
  • Benzodiazepines
  • Depressants
  • Rohypnol
• Prescription drugs for schizophrenia and affective disorders
  • Schizophrenia
  • Onset of schizophrenia
  • Symptoms of schizophrenia
  • Treatment for schizophrenia
  • Anti-psychotic drugs
  • Patient support system
  • Depression
  • Depressive disorders
  • Type of depression
  • Unipolar disorder
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Causes of depression
  • Anti-depressants
• Treatment and preventative education
  • Drug addiction behavioural and psychosocial treatments for drug addiction
  • Treatments for heroin addiction
  • Behavioural therapies for heroin addiction
  • Detoxification
• Psychoanalytic psychotherapy l – Freud, Erikson, Jung
  • Value and relevance of psychotherapy
  • Emergence of psychoanalytical theory
  • Principles of psychoanalytical theory
  • Elements of the personality
  • The notion of conscious and unconscious
  • Anxiety and psychoanalysis
  • Inbuilt psychological coping and damage repair mechanisms
  • Defence mechanisms
  • Freud’s psycho-sexual theory and Erikson’s psychosocial theory
  • Jung’s perspective on personality
  • Archetypes
  • Recent developments in psychoanalytical theory
  • Goals of psychoanalytical approach
  • Psychoanalytic techniques
  • Analytic framework
  • Free associations
  • Interpretation
  • Dream analysis
  • Resistance
  • Transference
  • Psychoanalytic approach and counselling
  • Personality disorders
  • Critique for psychoanalytic theory
• Psychoanalytical psychotherapy ll – Adler
  • Alfred Adler
  • Adler’s key concepts
  • Inferiority vs superiority
  • What makes people self-interested
  • Social interest and community feeling
  • Individual psychology
  • Psychological types: ruling type, leaning type, avoiding type
  • Sibling relationships
  • Only child
  • First child, second child, youngest child
  • Use of Adlerian theory
  • Applications to counselling
  • Freud and Adler
  • Critique
• Humanistic/Existential approaches I – Gestalt Therapy; Fritz Perls
  • Introduction
  • Human nature
  • Holistic approach
  • Field theory
  • Figure-formation process
  • Organismic self-regulation
  • Focus on the present
  • Resolving dilemmas
  • Personal maturity
  • The effect of contact
  • Effect of energy
  • The experiment
  • Confrontation
  • Gestalt techniques: Internal dialogue, reversal, rehearsal, exaggeration, dream work, etc.
  • Critique
• Humanistic/Existential approaches II – Person-Centred Counselling; Carl Rogers
  • Humanistic therapy
  • Principles of person centred approach
  • Personal attitude of the counsellor
  • Goals of therapy
  • Assessment techniques
  • Areas of application
  • Critique
• Rational behavioural therapy – Albert Ellis
  • Rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT
  • Ellis’s view of human nature
  • Personality theory
  • Goals and techniques of therapy
  • Therapeutic techniques
  • Cognitive techniques
  • Emotive techniques
  • Use of REBT
  • Critique
• Cognitive behavioural therapy – Aaron Beck
  • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and REBT
  • Premises of CBT
  • Cognitive distortions
  • Use of cognitive therapy
  • Family therapy
  • Modifications to CBT
  • Stress inoculation training program (SIT)
  • Stages of SIT
  • Constructivist modification
• Behavioural therapy
  • Contemporary behavioural therapy
  • Behavioural approach
  • Goals and techniques
  • Goals of therapy
  • Use of behaviour therapy
  • Basic ID
  • Critique
• Solution-focused counselling
  • Introduction
  • Strategies in solution focused counselling
  • Engaging the client
  • Constructing pathways for change
  • Generating creative solutions
  • Critique

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Upon successfully finishing this course, you can explore career opportunities in a variety of fields. Please be aware that certain career paths may necessitate additional training or qualifications.

• Counselling
• Psychotherapy
• Psychology
• Health professions
• Caring roles
• Teaching
• Research