Using Experiential Activities to Prepare Counselors-in-Training to Understand the Power of Cravings When Addressing Clients With Addiction

Abstract

Providing skilled treatment options for clients experiencing addiction is imperative to positive client treatment outcomes. As a prerequisite to providing efficacious addiction treatment, counselors-in-training are charged with the responsibility of understanding the affect of cravings on addiction relapse. This article presents 3 experiential, in-class activities that counselor-educators can use to assist students in understanding the influence of biological and environmental triggers and the power of cravings. The experiential classroom activities include the use of a student reflective journal cravings exercise, dance, and lyrics/music.

Mindfully Educating Our Future: The MESG Curriculum for Training Emergent Counselors

“…3). Counselor education has a history of valuing EL in training (Arthur & Achenbach, 2002;Falco & Bauman, 2004;Goodrich & Luke, 2010;Luke & Kiweewa, 2010;Osborn, Daninhirsch, & Page, 2003) as it deepens the level of understanding and personal growth of CITs (Arthur & Achenbach, 2002;Ferch, St. John, & Ramsey, 2006;Harrawood, McClure, & Nelson, 2011;Kiweewa, Gilbride, Luke & Seward, 2013;Luke & Kiweewa, 2010). Critical to counselor development, EL fosters self and other awareness by accessing cognitive and affective stages of learning (Arthur & Achenbach, 2002;Falco & Bauman, 2004;Goodrich & Luke, 2010;Harel, et al, 2012;Luke & Kiweewa, 2010).…”

Ethical Fairy Tales: Using Fairy Tales as Illustrative Ethical Dilemmas With Counseling Students

“…There are many examples of expressive techniques used in classroom settings. These include the use of popular literature (Gibson, 2007;Graham & Pehrsson, 2009;Schwitzer, Boyce, Cody, Holman, & Stein, 2005;Schwitzer, MacDonald, & Dickinson, 2008), film (Armstrong & Berg, 2005;Bonds-Raacke, 2008;Bradley, Whiting, Hendricks, Parr, & Jones, 2008;Koch & Dollarhide, 2000;Toman & Rak, 2000;Villalba & Redmond, 2008), reflective journals (Harrawood, McClure, & Nelson, 2011;Hubbs & Brand, 2005), theatre exercises (Bodenhorn & Starkey, 2005), and music (Harrawood et al, 2011;Hughes, 1984;Leck, 2006;Louden-Gerber & Duffey, 2008;Napoletano, 1988;Potkay, 1982), as well as entire courses focused on a variety of creative techniques (Smith, 2011;Waliski, 2009;Ziff & Beamish, 2004). The rationale for using creative interventions with students is similar to the rationale when using creative interventions with clients.…”

Use of Autobiographies to Teach Concepts in Addiction: A Narrative Approach to Instruction

“…A number of teaching strategies in counselor education that utilize the narrative metaphor have been identified (e.g., Crocket & Kotzé, 2012;Gibson, 2007;Harrawood, McClure, & Nelson, 2011;Hudock, & Gallagher-Warden, 2001;Koch & Dollarhide, 2000;Ohrt, Foster, Hutchinson, & Ieva, 2009;Stinchfield, 2006). Ohrt et al (2009) capitalized on the use of music videos to provide students with an experience that increased levels of empathy.…”

“…Hudock and Gallagher-Warden (2001) noted that although the use of movies requires additional preparation time for the instructor and may evoke strong emotion in the student, the use of movies in the counselor education classroom also provides real-life complexity of potential client issues, sparks creativity, helps prevent instructor burnout, appeals to visual and auditory learners, and provides explicit experiences that promote self-understanding. To address training in addiction, Harrawood et al (2011) outlined three narrative classroom activities that included student journals, dance, and lyrics/music. In the journaling activity, students were asked to engage in a reflective journal cravings exercise whereby they documented their personal account of not engaging in an activity or substance for 2 weeks.…”