Mindfulness-Based Substance Abuse Treatment for Adolescents

Mindfulness-Based Substance Abuse Treatment for Adolescents is a group-based curriculum incorporating mindfulness, self-awareness, and substance-abuse treatment strategies for use with adolescents dealing with substance use. The evidence-based, how-to format provides a curriculum for professionals to implement either partially, by picking and choosing sections that seem relevant, or in full over a number of weeks. Each session comes equipped with clear session agendas, example scripts and talking points, what-if scenarios that address common forms of resistance, and optional handouts for each session. Sections cover the major principles of working with adolescents-relationship building, working with resistance, and more-along with a full curriculum. The book is a natural fit for psychotherapists, but addiction counselors, school counselors, researchers, mentors, and even teachers will find that Mindfulness-Based Substance Abuse Treatment for Adolescents changes the way they work with young people.

Sam Himelstein, PhD, is a licensed psychologist in the state of California and a Behavioral Health Clinician at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center. He is also the author of A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Working with High-Risk Adolescents. Stephen Saul, MS, is a mental health clinician who works with addiction and marginalized populations via individual, group, and family therapy. He focuses primarily on serving incarcerated and underprivileged adolescents and young adults in San Mateo County, California.

1. Introduction 2. Curriculum Development and Researched Outcomes 3. Using This Curriculum 12-Session Curriculum 4. Session 1: Introduction to the Program 5. Session 2: Mindfulness of Drugs and their Health Effects 6. Session 3: Reacting Vs. Responding 7. Session 4: Mindfulness of Delusion 8. Session 5: Emotional Awareness 9. Session 6: The Brain and Drugs 10. Session 7: Mindfulness of Craving 11. Session 8: Mindfulness of Triggers 12. Session 9: The Family System and Drugs 13. Session 10: Mindfulness of the Peer System 14. Session 11: Mindfulness of the External Environment 15. Session 12: Closing Ceremony