We’d like to gift you with a free lesson from our full Alcohol & Other Drugs education course. With this free content, you’ll be better equipped to decide if our program is right for you – and you’ll start learning right away! Throughout the course, you’ll learn skills that will benefit both your personal and professional relationships. Start learning today!
Open Path’s course on drugs & alcohol is designed to help you if you are struggling with addiction to drugs and/or alcohol, and potential problems related to substance abuse, such as a DUI conviction. Relying on such substances as a means to cope with or escape the trials and tribulations of everyday life – the ending of a relationship, family strife, loss of employment, difficulty in school, etc. – can lead to a dangerous addiction and in turn, create more problems for you. We will never try to place blame on, or suppress your experiences with addiction, but by examining your experiences in our course, you will learn more effective ways to cope with stressors that are harmful for you and your loved ones.
There’s a common expression in the mental health world: That which is now a problem, was once a solution. That means that if drugs and/or alcohol have become hindrances to you in your life, they probably helped you get through something difficult when you first started using them. Think back for a moment. Can you think of what was going on in your life when you started over-relying on drugs and/or alcohol? Most people develop addictions because the substance that is now harmful once helped the person cope with something particularly challenging. We bring this up because it might be helpful to start this class by cultivating some compassion for yourself and the situations that got you here.
It’s also probably time to learn some more helpful coping mechanisms. This course will help you do that. As we move into talking about what addiction is, and how to be more accepting of where things may be in your life, please try to carry that a sense of compassion for yourself and your experiences with you.
Addiction can be defined as the repetitive engagement in activities (such as using drugs or alcohol), despite their negative consequences on daily living. The repeated activity may produce short-term pleasurable feelings/thoughts/sensations; but over time, it will interfere with life in a way that has negative and sometimes very harmful consequences.
Common symptoms of addiction include:
A characteristic of addiction can be the inability to deal with emotions or stressful situations without the aid of drugs and alcohol. For some, addictive behavior was at one time a short-term remedy to a distressing situation. During these times, feeling emotionally overwhelmed may find temporary relief by using addictive substances. Unfortunately, because the original stressor has not been properly dealt with, the substance abuse becomes the individual’s primary method of dealing with the stress. As the stress continues, the individual feels an increasing need to find relief through the substance abuse.
In order to fight addiction, you must have acceptance of it. Often in life, acceptance is difficult: You must accept losing a promotion, your pet running away, or your car dying. Things happen frequently that are unplanned or unwanted. That does not change the fact that we must accept these situations as reality. Acceptance does not mean approval and does not change the fact that you may not have wanted something to happen. It just means you have accepted the reality of a situation.
How can you fight addiction? How can you cope with stress without depending on substances? It starts with accepting that you have an addiction. Then, you must also accept that the environment and stressors that may have led to your addiction might be out of your control. What is in your control is learning to deal with these stressors in a healthy and productive manner instead of relying on substances. This course will help you learn how to deal with these stressors in a more functional, productive way.
In addition to your Drug and Alcohol Awareness course, your $4.99 fee will unlock each of our mental health education classes. You will have access to classes in: Parenting, Co-Parenting & Divorce, Internet/Gadget Addiction, Stress and Anxiety Reduction, Anger Management, Domestic Violence Education, Healthy Relationship Building and Communication Skills.
All for just $4.99!
Open Path is an international leader in affordable psychotherapy and mental health education.
If you’re interested in learning more about your mental health and working one-on-one with a trained, licensed, therapist, we can help you get connected with someone who can see you for just $30-60 a session. Most therapists charge over $100 an hour, so these are significant discounts.
Many of our therapists see clients online, so if you can’t find a therapist available in your community, we can probably connect you with someone who will work with you through a video enabled program like Skype.
To learn more about our affordable therapy program, click here.
Completing your course: How long will it take?
Our course is organized into easy-to-digest lessons. Each lesson takes approximately one hour to complete. Students work at different speeds, so you can go at your own pace in our courses.
If you are mandated to take weekly classes, please note that One Hour equals One Week. (This information appears on all certificates.)
Not sure if you can make it work?
Get in touch and we’ll help you assess your situation.
