Dealing With Addiction and Recovery

Clinical supervisors teach beginning clinicians about addiction and recovery by having them interview recovering addicts and by encouraging them to write a drug/alcohol autobiography. They use these methods to make learning personal and meaningful to clinicians, both intellectually and experientially. The two activities presented in this chapter work together to increase clinicians' understanding of the power of addiction, as well as their own unique histories with drugs and alcohol. These exercises are appropriate for clinicians of all experience levels. For the interview activity, clinicians are instructed to interview a person who is successfully recovering from an addiction. Through the recovery interview, clinicians learn about the addiction and recovery process from those they interview. This process gives life to the concepts of addictions and recovery. Similarly, the drug/alcohol autobiography provides experiences that connect addiction concepts to real-life understanding.