A Concise Guide to Opioid Addiction for Counselors

This brief, evidence-based guide is ideal for busy mental health professionals helping clients with opioid use disorders (OUDs). It examines the devastating global impact caused by opioids and is replete with information and resources that can be immediately applied to addiction work. The authors’ pragmatic, strengths-based approach to treatment is based on a collaborative counselor-client working alliance to achieve client readiness for change, moderation, and abstinence. Topics discussed include current research on risk and protective factors, OUD assessment and diagnosis, the ethical and legal issues particular to addiction work, medication-assisted treatment, physical and psychological interventions for pain management, and the necessity of interdisciplinary care.

In addition, Drs. Alderson and Gladding provide a number of counseling approaches and treatment options that consider work with women, youth, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, veterans, older adults, people with disabilities, individuals in the criminal justice system, and rural residents. Five useful appendices conclude the book, including a listing of 20 opioid drugs in descending order of potency; common ICD-10, ICD-10-CM, and ICD-11 codes; and a glossary of terms and abbreviations.

About the Authors

Kevin G. Alderson, PhD, is professor emeritus of counseling psychology from the University of Calgary. He is an editorial board member of the Journal of Alcoholism, Drug Abuse & Substance Dependence and the Austin Journal of Drug Abuse and Addiction, as well as the editor of the Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Samuel T. Gladding, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University and the author of numerous, best selling counseling texts.

*Requests for digital versions from ACA can be found on www.wiley.com. 

*To purchase print copies, please visit the ACA website here 

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