Lesson 1Timeline follow-back, standard drinks, cocaine use metrics, polysubstance explorationThis part explains timeline follow-back, standard drink units, cocaine use measures, and shows how to map multiple substance patterns over time to guess risk, guide diagnosis, and check treatment response with real clinic examples.
Timeline follow-back interview techniqueDefining and calculating standard drink unitsCocaine quantity, purity, and route metricsDocumenting polysubstance patterns over timeUsing metrics to monitor treatment responseLesson 2Psychiatric history and symptom review techniques for mood, anxiety, psychosisThis part covers steady psychiatric history taking in addiction care, including mood, anxiety, psychosis, and sleep, stressing how to tell substance-caused symptoms from others, using check tools, and checking function loss and risk.
Eliciting past and current psychiatric diagnosesScreening for mood and anxiety in substance usersRecognizing psychosis and substance-induced statesAssessing sleep, cognition, and functional impactUsing brief validated psychiatric screenersLesson 3Social determinants: housing, employment, legal issues, insurance and accessThis part looks at checking social factors of health, like housing, work, legal troubles, insurance, and care access, and shows how to mix findings into treatment plans, speaking up, and linking to community help.
Housing stability and living environmentEmployment, income, and financial stressorsLegal involvement and criminal justice issuesInsurance coverage and care access barriersLinking patients to social and legal resourcesLesson 4Detailed substance use history: quantity, frequency, pattern, routes, binge/withdrawal signsThis part teaches how to get full substance use history, including start, amount, how often, ways used, binge patterns, withdrawal, past treatments, and spotting tolerance, loss of control, DSM-5 substance use disorder signs.
Chronology of first use and progressionAssessing quantity, frequency, and routesIdentifying binge and high-risk use patternsScreening for tolerance and withdrawal signsLinking history to DSM-5 SUD criteriaLesson 5Medication, medical comorbidity, and over-the-counter/substance replacement historyThis part goes over gathering medication, medical side issues, over-the-counter or replacement substance histories, pointing out mixes, liver and heart risks, pain handling, and plans for drug treatments.
Current and past prescribed medicationsMedical comorbidities relevant to addictionOver-the-counter and herbal substance useNicotine, cannabis, and self-directed replacementDrug–drug interactions and safety concernsLesson 6Working with limited collateral and building engagement with marginalized patientsThis part looks at ways to work with little backup info and connect with sidelined patients, using motivation talk, harm cut-down, trust building, handling doubt, shame, and system blocks for steady follow-up.
Assessing reliability of self-report dataUsing motivational interviewing micro-skillsHarm reduction framing in early encountersBuilding trust amid stigma and mistrustPlanning follow-up with unstable contactLesson 7Step-by-step addiction-focused interview flow (presenting complaint to collateral history)This part lays out step-by-step addiction interview flow, from main complaint and substance history to medical, mental, social, backup info, stressing order, bendability, time handling in different clinic spots.
Clarifying presenting complaint and goalsSequencing substance, medical, and psych historyIntegrating social, legal, and functional domainsStrategic use of collateral and recordsTime management in brief clinical encountersLesson 8Trauma, intimate partner violence, and safety screening (suicide, homicide, child protection)This part details trauma-aware ways to check for trauma, partner violence, suicide, killing risk, child harm, stressing safety plans, must-report rules, records, team-up with protection and crisis help.
Principles of trauma-informed questioningScreening for intimate partner and family violenceSuicide and homicide risk assessment stepsIdentifying and reporting child abuse or neglectSafety planning and crisis resource linkageLesson 9Structured opening, consent, and establishing rapport in trauma-exposed populationsThis part focuses on starting interview, getting consent, building trust with trauma-hit patients, using team-work talk, no-judging, clear lines, culture respect to grow trust and cut re-trauma.
Structuring the opening minutes of the visitExplaining purpose, limits of confidentialityObtaining informed consent for sensitive topicsUsing empathic, nonjudgmental languageCultural humility and managing power dynamics
