Gain advanced clinical practice skills in working with families

When: Thursday 12 June 2025
Time: 9:30am–4:30pm
Duration: 7 hours
Location: Online

Work more effectively with families and carers of people who use alcohol and other drugs, whether the person using drugs is in treatment or not.

Learn an effective, evidence based framework to help you engage better with families. You will walk away with increased confidence and skills to understand and work with family members as clients in their own right or as participants in your work with individuals.

This workshop focuses on the impact of alcohol and other drugs on families and models of responding based on Jim Orford’s stress-strain-information-coping-support model. You will find out how to blend strategies from family therapy, motivational interviewing, and cognitive behaviour therapy into effective treatment when working with families with alcohol and other drug issues.

On average, participants of Working with Families with Alcohol and Other Drug Issues report a 42% increase in knowledge, 29% increase in skills, and 41% increase in confidence. Satisfaction is rated at 9.4/10 on average and 100% of participants would recommend this workshop to others.

Learning outcomes

• Understand how to engage families using a range of effective response options
• Learn how to support families to using a comprehensive model that can apply to any family dynamic
• Apply new strategies to help improve family cohesiveness and cooperation
• Learn ways to respond to complexities in working with families

Who should attend

This is a specialist skills workshop suitable for new, experienced and advanced practitioners. This workshop is suitable for workers in clinical settings.

Facilitator: Paula Ross

“Facilitator [Paula] delivery was great. She kept me thinking and reflecting on my own personal practice and made me think [about] what I can bring, add or alter so that it fits my line of work.”

- Workshop participant, 2024