“I’ve never had a run in with the law before and because of just one incident, I’ve been ordered to take an alcohol and drug awareness class! Where to start?”

This is a question that we often hear from our clients and might now be something you can relate to as well. You are an executive, teacher or student and had one night in which you were caught behaving badly. You realize it was a mistake that you would never repeat and can’t believe you’ve gotten yourself into so much trouble. Unfortunately, that one lapse in judgment has now caused you to miss work or school, incur legal fees, take time away from your weekends to perform community service work, and going forward, the final restitution is to take an alcohol and drug awareness class. You just want to get your life back to some resemblance of normalcy and can’t possibly miss any more of your daily responsibilities to attend a weekly class.

With today’s technology, the traditional in-person alcohol and drug awareness class is no longer your only choice. The easiest and most convenient way to learn the information and fulfill your court mandate is to take an alcohol and drug program online! Distance-learning classes are becoming more and more popular because they offer the client the flexibility and freedom to avoid a classroom and instead take the class from any Internet connected computer device like a Smartphone, PC, laptop or Tablet. Many of our clients really like the ability to take the class in complete privacy rather than in a classroom full of strangers, or with other people in the community that might talk about it.

As a potential client, simply go online and research high quality programs to help you decide which one to choose. Look for one that is designed by a licensed and practicing psychotherapist so you know that you are getting the most reliable, valid and current information. Check for an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. Furthermore, make sure that the company provides a good customer service help desk so you can get answers to any questions that arise in a timely manner.

Finally, read through the material to make sure that the class is designed to be court approved. You always want to check first with the judge, your probation officer or your attorney to make sure that an online class will be acceptable. If it is, then the class will include an educational curriculum that covers topics like:

• Risk factors for drug and alcohol abuse
• Understanding alcohol and the different types of drugs
• How dependency affects your family and others around you
• Health risks of abuse and addiction
• How exactly these substances effect the brain, central nervous system and entire body
• What the resulting behavior will do to your ability to drive, make good decisions and function
• Stress Management skills
• The best ways to communicate with others to support prevention
• Techniques to avoid abuse and relapse

Learning online enables our clients to really focus on the material in the quiet of their own home and on their own schedule. Parents can sit with their kids to go through the class, couples can read the material and have discussions together, or the client can choose to go solo. It’s completely self-paced and just like an in-person classroom; the client takes a multiple-choice final exam at the end to pass the course. Once this test is passed with a 70% or better, an official Certificate of Completion is sent out. This is the documentation necessary to prove the class was successfully completed. This is the best way to fulfill your court mandate with the least amount of stress, cost and publicity possible!

Finding a Drug, Alcohol or DUI assessment or evaluation can be difficult depending on where you live.  Did you know that Alcohol Drug Class now offers phone and online video assessments and evaluations that can be completed from anywhere in the country?  

Just register online  and one of our trained substance abuse counselors will contact you and conduct the evalation at a time that is convenient for you.  The assessments can be provided for DUI requirements, Alcohol or Drug Screening for court or probation or part of a employment need.  If an educational course is recommended after the assessment, we can also help you as we provide a large variety of online courses to meet most state requirements.  Visit our website or call our office at 949-715-2694

We have received numerous calls this summer from parents who have kids that have come home from college with a MIP violation. For those looking for clarification, a MIP or Minor In Possession is generally a misdemeanor criminal offense that an underage individual can get if they are caught drinking or in possession of alcohol. The stories related are similar. The young adults have not been caught with high BAC levels behind the wheel, but instead are at a party in a private home or on campus that was busted by the police. In one case, the student had just arrived at the party and was holding a red cup full of beer, which she hadn’t even consumed yet. However, because she was under 21, she was in violation of the law.

The fact is that the majority of adolescents will consume alcohol at least once in a while. While we don’t have to condone it, it is a part of campus culture. As parent’s, the best thing we can do for our young adults is to equip them with the coping skills and facts about the risks and repercussions of use. Basically give them a good reason to not partake. The legal system agrees that education is the key to prevention, so after a court date, some community service and paying fines, the next step is that these young adults need to fulfill court mandated alcohol and drug education requirements.

Since many students don’t have commuting access to get to an in-person MIP class during the school year and are expected to work during the summer months, it becomes difficult to go to a traditional classroom week after week to fulfill the court mandate. This is where online alcohol and drug education classes are highly beneficial. Taking an online course gives the participant flexibility to learn from home, at any time of the day or night. Students should just check with their attorney or legal system to make sure that online programs are accepted. Then, all that is necessary is a web-connected computer device like a PC, laptop, IPad or even a Smartphone. Simply register for the MIP class length that is required and the course becomes immediately available to read through at your own pace.

At the end of the course, the participant receives the Certificate of Completion. This is the official documentation that needs to be presented to the legal system. It includes the individual’s name, the name of the program, their birth date, case number and our official seal.

Young adults today are so familiar with and enjoy using the online format. Classes are designed to keep the interest of anyone under the age of 21 in an engaging, positive and upbeat way. They learn accurate, factual information about alcohol and the short and long-term effects physically and emotionally. The goal is for students to learn new skills for stress management, and effective communication as well, so they can walk away and feel good about their decision!

The chances are that sooner or later your child will be offered drugs and/or alcohol either at school, at a party or when hanging out with friends. It will be up to them to take a stand and say no from the get go. The fact is that as parents we have a strong impact on the direction this decision-making process will take. Prevention starts in the home with the parents, and the earlier the better. You can help your child make good alcohol and drug related choices by talking and listening to them and by informing them about the harmful affects of underage substance use and abuse. By explaining to them how drinking beer or smoking marijuana can negatively impact their grades, their ability to play sports and their overall chances of succeeding in life, they will have the ammunition they need to avoid this path.

With the cutback in public school funding, many school districts no longer have the money to provide this education like we had during our middle school years. It’s now up to parents to educate themselves to be able to have factual discussions, and to provide the information directly to their kids. One successful way of supplementing alcohol and drug education for you and your pre-teens and teens is to have them take an online alcohol and drug class during their free time this summer.

Taking an online course is a format that most adolescents enjoy and a basic 8-hour alcohol and drug awareness class can be taken from the comfort of their very own home! Parents don’t need to worry about getting their kids to a traditional classroom each day or that they will have to miss camp or summer time jobs in order to attend. The program can be accessed 24/7 from any Internet based computer device like an IPad, Tablet, Smartphone, PC or laptop. There is no limit to the number of times the participant logs in and out, so your teen could spend 20 minutes on the course one day and an hour the next, completely at his or her own pace. It’s also a completely private way of learning which alleviates the issue of being shy or self-conscious in a room full of strangers, which is so common at this age. The other benefit is that parents can opt to sit with their kids and go through the course together. This gives more opportunity for discussion and reinforcement.

What exactly will you learn? Participants will learn how difficult it is for many people to stop, once they start. All of the dangerous health risks including the impact on the brain, nervous system and body are detailed. Students will also learn how this bad behavior negatively impacts friends, family and every aspect of their life. Most importantly, walking away with the facts will give adolescents the education they need to strongly communicate why they are just not interested, to anyone trying to convince them otherwise.

So what is a parent to do?  The bottom line is that it’s up to us to teach our children how to make good decisions. Only they can ultimately say no to drugs. Giving them the tools for drug and alcohol use prevention will enable them to fully understand the choice they are presented with and the consequences of this decision. 

Addiction is a curious thing.  I am constantly perplexed at how addiction works.  As a licensed clinician, I work with may challeged individuals.  Some are addicted to drugs other to alcohol or both.  I have heard just about every story imaginable about how they plan on stopping or just using occassionally or that they know they can stop when they want.  The fact is, when your an addict, you really can't use when you want.  It's not a something you simply start and stop as you please.  The addiction has a much stronger hold than that.  It's powerful, suductive and dangerous.  When you think you can stop anytime you wish, is when the addiction sneak up on you and takes over.  I've seen it happen time and time again.

So, what is the addict to do?  What are the choices in a world were we are surrounded by alcohol and drugs (yes, even drugs aren't too hard to find).  These simple steps might help steer you in the right direction and help to keep you clean:

The basics:

1. Don't fool yourself into thinking you can have just one drink, one hit, one line or one anything.  It's the biggest scam in an an addicts mind.  You'll just end up rationalizing yourself into a dark place.

2. Surround yourself with people who don't use.  It's might seem simple, but it's really not.  You might have to drop your current friends and make new ones. Not an easy task but necessary.

3. Get outside help.  Most addicts don't want to check in to a treatment program.  Why?  It's expensive and most addicts feel there is a stigma behind it.  There is a reason why treatment exists, because in many cases, it helps.  If your unwilling to get into treament, find a therapist, attend AA meetings and get a sponsor.

4. Get educated!  Alcohol and drug education is key to learning how to better understand how addiction works.