1. What are physiological effects of benzodiazepine use? How can these lead to addiction?
2. Opiates that are prescribed are often abused. Describe the difference between using a medication verses abusing the medication.
3. Provide a scenario involving a client whom you imagine you might encounter in your future field placement setting. Refer to the Stages of Change study material and describe what stage of the change process the hypothetical client is in. What evidence-based, developmentally appropriate strategies and techniques would you use to work with the client to support or enhance client motivation to make life changes? Explain why you chose these skills. How would the Stage of Change impact the choice of skills used and the treatment planning process? Include at least one scholarly reference in your response
4. Read and complete the “Problem Identification Practice Exercise.” How did your problem identification process go? What went well? What could have been better? What difficulties did you run into in identifying the problem? What specific skills would be beneficial when helping a client identify a problem to address in counseling? If working with a family and/or youth, how does a counselor/school counselor consider family/school/other perspectives of a problem the client may not consider problematic? For example, a parent, teacher, or spouse may be concerned about alcohol use, yet the client/student does not believe alcohol use is causing any current problems and is not interested in addressing this problem in counseling. If using a volunteer, be sure you obtain verbal consent from the volunteer. Include at least one scholarly reference in your response.
