[humanser] Question for professionals who worked/are working with addicts.

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

I know it is the busiest time of year with convention in full swing,
but I wanted to ask this question now rather than wait till later as
it pertains to school in the fall.  Regretably I was not able to pay
my way to convention this year either, so email rather than the more
ideal route of in-person interaction on this will have to suffice.

I'm going into my second to last practicum (Yay) and as I still need
to fulfill the American Music Therapy Associations requirement for
mental health experience, I have been assigned to go to an acute
behavioral health facility.  I'll be working with a partner on a
residential unit for women with comorbid mental health disorders and
addictions.  Heroine is the most common drug of choice for both women
and the men at this facility, and I'm doing all the reading I can on
music therapy in mental health care, mental health in general, the
psychology of addiction, etc.  I have also looked up information on
trauma theory, chaos theory, sexual violence, domestic abuse, and
other factors that I know some of the women in past groups have
faced/could be factors in the addictions for these women I will be
working with.  However, I have not found anything describing a blind
individual working with this population and would like to prepare for
it as much as possible.

I know some safety considerations were taken into account, and my
professors felt that having me work with the women might be safer as
the men's group can be a bit rougher for women.  Sometimes in anger
things are thrown, for example.  I know in recent years I have
expressed concerns relating to my own countertransference issues when
starting with new groups, but after having two fantastic practicum
experiences last school year I am not so much concerned with that as I
am with the unknowns of this population and how they might need to be
approached differently.  This is the practicum that often challenges
students the most in terms of counseling skills and understanding when
defense mechanisms etc are being used, and I want to be sure I take
any information I can get into account as I go into this practicum
experience.  I already realize that after working with elderly adults
on a dementia care unit of a nursing home a while ago, an individual
with Down Syndrome in the fall, and with a class of children with
Autism this past spring that this is going to be a huge adjustment,
not just in the age group but also in that I've never worked with
clients who are more highly cognitively aware and therefore in some
ways more psychologically complex before.  I'd be interested to hear
from anyone who has worked with recovering addicts to know if there
were any techniques or approaches you used that are different from
your work with other populations.  I'd especially be interested in
hearing from those of you who might have experience in acute treatment
facilities, as I know there is a huge turn-over rate in group members
throughout the semester for this placement.  Right now I just feel
like I don't know what I don't know, so any input would be
appreciated.

Thanks,

-- 
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton-Music Therapy
President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present
Secretary, The National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts
Division 2015-2016

"You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"