If you work with or come into contact with clients who misuse drugs or alcohol, the right training is invaluable to equip you with the knowledge and skills to deal confidently and competently with your clients and your work.
NORCAS drug and alcohol training covers many essential aspects of dealing with substance misuse. Choose from our range of established training courses shown below, or tell us what you need and we'll tailor a bespoke course to suit you.
Foundation Course in Alcohol and Other Drugs
This is a full-day course, which can be made even more effective with a second day spent training workers to use specific intervention skills. We can tailor the course to suit the housing field*, youth workers, professionals in primary care, the mental health field, criminal justice organisations and many others.
The course covers:
- Getting a perspective - the myths and realities of drug use, society's view of drug users, statistics and definitions
- Seeing the whole picture - understanding all the factors involved with the risk/reward balance
- Classifications of drugs - signs, how they work, how you take them and possible harms
- Facts about alcohol - units, safe limits and driving
- Services - the types of services available, who you can refer and how to refer them.
*For housing providers, our Consultancy service can also initiate, review or update your drug and alcohol policies for residents, taking special note of Section 8 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, as well as policies for staff. Find out more
Opiate Overdose Awareness and Prevention
This half-day course covers:
- Statistics
- Signs to look out for
- Risk factors relating to overdose
- Common myths and dangerous practice
- Issues around calling an ambulance
- When and how to perform the recovery position and resuscitation (CPR).
Blood Borne Virus Awareness
This half-day course covers:
- The basic facts about HIV and Hepatitis A, B, C and D
- Current trends and statistics
- Hepatitis testing
- Transmission routes and prevention strategies
- Symptoms of Hepatitis and liver disease
- Treatment and support available
- Infection control and dealing with blood spills.
Introduction to Dual Diagnosis
This half-day course covers:
- Statistics
- Definitions of dual diagnosis
- Categories and symptoms of mental illness and/or substances (tailored to prior knowledge)
- The relationships between drugs and mental health issues
- Specific issues and needs of people with a dual diagnosis.
Alcohol and Brief Interventions
This full-day course covers:
- Facts and myths about alcohol - statistics, units, safe limits, sobering up and driving
- Definitions
- Short and long-term physical, psychological and societal problems for different population groups
- First aid and harm reduction - intoxication, poisoning, withdrawal and mixing
- Raising the issue and screening tools such as CAGE and AUDIT
- Services and interventions available
- Brief interventions such as the cycle of change, drink diaries, decisional balance sheets and SMART goals.
Bespoke training
If you have a requirement for training in a particular subject or field of interest, we can provide you with a tailor-made training course. We're able to offer specific input where required on particular drugs (for example cannabis or methadone), safer injecting, introduction to motivational interviewing and many other topics related to substance misuse.