Substance Use and Addiction

This course is part of the UBC Micro-certificate in Mental Health and Substance Use.

Fundamental knowledge and core skills in substance use support are covered in this course.

This course provides a comprehensive foundational understanding of substance use and addiction. You will learn how to screen for and describe substance use behaviors, effectively support individuals in accessing substance use treatment options, respond to overdoses, and engage in effective harm reduction interventions. Additionally, you will learn how to provide substance use care that promotes holistic recovery, is client-centered, strengths-based, trauma-informed, culturally inclusive, and anti-oppressive. This course will provide you with the tools and the confidence to effectively support a diverse range of individuals who use substances in a wide range of settings and contexts.

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Identify and describe substance use, dependency, addiction, withdrawal, and substance use treatment options.
• Apply skills for safe screening, outreach, and harm reduction interventions with people who use substances.
• Describe the substance use services in BC, and how to navigate and collaborate with these services.
• Apply culturally competent and anti-oppressive approaches, including recovery-based, strengths-based, and trauma-informed methods to working with people who use substances.
• Identify and work with the unique presentations and challenges of substance use in children and youth, and in the context of pregnancy.
• Describe the unique challenges and interventions for concurrent presentations, including substance use and mental health, and substance use and neurodiversity.

Course outline

This course is divided into the following modules:

1. Understanding substance use
2. Drug categories, effects, and language around substance use
3. Screening for substance use challenges
4. Understanding the toxic drug crisis
5. Harm reduction and responding to overdoses, intoxication, and withdrawal
6. Strengths-based, trauma-informed, and recovery-oriented approaches
7. Outreach work and working with the unhoused
8. Substance use treatment options, making referrals, and navigating substance use services in BC and beyond
9. Culture, ethnicity, Indigeneity, and substance use
10. Stigma, discrimination, decolonization, and substance use
11. Child and youth substance use and pregnancy
12. Concurrent disorders and neurodiversity
13. Moral distress and self-care
14. Final assessment

How am I assessed?

Your knowledge will be evaluated through the following assessment methods:

• Quizzes at the end of each module – can be completed multiple times in order to progress to the next module.
• Reflection exercises – reviewed by a facilitator, with feedback provided.
• A final knowledge check (multiple-choice) – can be completed multiple times in order to achieve a passing grade.
• A final case study-based written assignment – reviewed by a facilitator with feedback provided and graded as pass/fail (with an opportunity to redo the assignment if needed).

If you require an extension to complete your coursework, you will be able to contact your facilitator to request one. You will earn a digital badge on successful completion of the course.

Expected effort

You can expect to spend approximately two to three hours per week in addition to any live sessions you might attend.

Course format

This course is 100% online, self-paced, and instructor-supported with optional real-time instructor sessions. Course work is done independently and at your own pace within deadlines set by your instructor. Log in anytime to your course to access the lessons as they become available.

Each course indicates a registration start and end date. Because courses are 100% online and self-paced, you can register and begin the course at any time within the date range.