Parental substance use issues affect the ability of parents to raise their children. Substance use issues cause deterioration in a parent’s behaviour, along with their physical and emotional health. They also affect a child’s health and development–increasing the likelihood that a child will suffer from emotional and physical abuse and potentially leading the child to develop a substance use issue of their own. That’s why it’s vital that clients exposed to parental substance use issues get the proper care and treatment to help them regain control of their lives and grow within a supportive environment. Community service workers play a major role in this.
At Medix College, you’ll gain hands-on training to work with clients grappling with social and emotional issues, such as substance use disorders. Read on to discover how you can help clients handle parental substance use.
Be Caring After Your Community Service Worker Training
Being caring to a client is an essential component of helping them to open up about their struggles with their parent’s substance use issue, which they may feel ashamed about discussing right away with you. You’ll have to build a rapport with your client, and offer motivational counselling that reduces their tendency to resist working with you. When you attend Medix College, you’ll practice interviews, gaining an understanding of the complexities of contemporary community work practices through your community service worker training. You’ll be able to help your clients by participating in a casual conversation with them and demonstrating empathy. As you listen to your clients, avoid pressuring them with questions they don’t feel like answering. In order to make them feel more comfortable when talking to you, you can integrate some fun activities that both of you can participate in together throughout your sessions.
Teach Your Clients the Seven C’s
With your training from a community service worker college and experience in the field, you’ll be able to engage with those struggling with parental substance use issues in a positive way. Clients suffering from parental substance use often feel guilty and ashamed as a result of their parent’s substance use issues. They usually feel responsible for their parents’ addiction, and end up blaming themselves because they aren’t getting the attention they crave from them. When your clients share their feelings of guilt, you can alleviate their pain by reminding them that it never was their fault, and instill in them the Seven C’s: “I didn’t CAUSE it, I can’t Control it, I can’t Cure it. But, I can take Care of myself by Communicating my feelings, making good Choices and Celebrating myself”.
Don’t Judge Based on Behaviour
Your relationship with the clients you’re helping doesn’t end with the one-on-one session you have with them. Rather, it continues beyond that. You’ll provide your community support expertise, supporting them in finding their path in life and identifying new ways of expressing themselves. One of the most important things to remember when working with clients in these situations is that in order to help them, your opinion of them must be separate from their behaviour or the actions they display in front of you. Their behaviour is likely related to their family dynamic and parent’s substance use issues, which may have prevented them from having a chance to express their true feelings. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong?,” dig deeper by asking them what happened, and whether they’d like to discuss it. In this way, you can let them explain to you their struggles and experiences from their own perspective.
If you’re passionate about helping those affected by substance use issues, at Medix College, you can find the support you need to achieve your career goals as a community service worker. Consider enrolling in a program to make your aspirations a reality.
Interested in a community service worker course?
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