Canadian Addiction Rehab A To Z On Alcohol Counseling | Page 12

ALCOHOL COUNSELLING TIPS
AND BEST PRACTICES FOR THE
AMATEUR COUNSELLOR
• Put the person’s addiction into perspective
• The very first step towards a cure is a perspective. When someone is addicted to alcohol, or any
substance, they do not see their addiction, or the world even, from anyone’s perspective but their
own. Worse still, is the fact that their perspective if often skewed, due to the addling effects of the
addiction. The best thing to do here is to make the person see the addiction and the negative
effect it is having, from your own perspective, in order to enlighten them to the damage that the
alcoholism is doing to their life.
• Be confident while approaching them
• The person who is addicted to alcohol is in this state due to a lack of conviction, which leads them
to seek alternate means which provide them with some. When approaching them for counseling
purposes, be sure to have a certain degree of conviction and confidence in your approach. Just
enough to reflect positively on them. If you are confident about helping them, then they too will be
confident about seeking help from you.
• Find out the history behind the alcohol abuse
• There is always a reason behind a person picking up a habit, be it material, or related to addiction,
such as the consumption of alcohol. When counseling an alcohol addict, try to get to the root
cause of their addiction, and target that cause during the next counseling meeting. It may be that
the person may have some misconception in their mind regarding a certain event of remorse
related to a happening in their life. It is your job, as a counselor, to help them get over the source
of their sadness.