Table 1 Summary of module content in the Alcohol Change Course
Week 1 | |
Lesson 1: Introduction to the Alcohol Change Course Education about alcohol and goal setting regarding the client’s drinking for the duration of the course. | |
Lesson 2: Strategies for meeting your goals Provision of simple strategies to help the client stick to their chosen drinking goal. | |
Week 2 | |
Lesson 3: Identifying risk situations Prompts client to consider in which situations they tend to drink, and addresses how to prepare for these situations. | |
Lesson 4: Say yes to positive activities Emphasizes the importance of engaging in positive activities that do not involve alcohol and how to effectively integrate these activities into the client’s daily life. | |
Week 3 | |
Lesson 5: Learning to say no to alcohol Practice refusing to drink alcohol when it is offered and discussion of what situations or beliefs might make saying no particularly difficult. | |
Lesson 6: Coping with cravings Learning about cravings for alcohol; how they feel for you, what causes them, and how to effectively deal with them. | |
Week 4 | |
Lesson 7: Problem solving Introduces a plan to deal with stress-inducing situations, as a way to reduce the risk of turning to drinking to cope. | |
Week 5 | |
Lesson 8: Challenge your thought patterns! Learning how to identify and challenge negative thoughts and how these may be related to drinking. | |
Week 6 | |
Lesson 9: Meeting your needs A reminder about things that have a big impact on drinking behaviours; sleep, worry and anxiety, and social connections. | |
Lesson 10: Progressive Muscle Relaxation Relaxation exercise that many people find helpful, especially when they experience craving. | |
Week 7 | |
Lesson 11: Dealing with slips and relapses Provides definitions of slips and relapses, what may have caused them and what to do if they happen. The client is offered to write a final relapse plan. | |
Week 8 | |
Lesson 12: Preserve your success Reviews the key messages of the course and helps the client think about how to maintain their successes and improvements in their drinking after the course has ended. |