This course will outline the basic structure for Relapse prevention groups and programs across
practice settings ranging from Inpatient to Outpatient, for both the substance abusing clients
and clients with Co- Occurring disorders, traditional theory and technique will be presented, as
well as the currently identified assessment, theories and techniques of relapse based on
empirical-driven best clinical practices. The goals of this course are for the students to gain, or
increase, the ability to better assess clients for relapse prevention focused groups more
accurately and to gain a better understanding of running a relapse prevention group across a
variety of clinical settings. This course will address how to help, or improve the student's ability
to: articulate the Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) that affects virtually all of their
clients but is information that is seemingly not well known by many clinicians, to better assist
the students in "normalizing” these symptoms for their clients; and develop an "integrated”
approach for either establishing, or improving, across treatment settings.