Training Title:
Retired ~ Women and Addiction: The Relational Model Applied

Clock Hours: 1

Objectives:
At the completion of this course, participants will be able to: • Define maturity from a relational perspective • Define the characteristic of the concept of codependency that devalues women • Identify at least two relational causes of substance use or abuse • Identify the characteristics of relationships that are strongly associated with substance abuse in women

Description:
The goal of this course is introduce participants to The Stone Center’s Relational Model’s primary thesis – that relationships are central to women’s development, lives and health. When relationships are disconnected, psychological distress ensues – and may result in the use of substances to manage that distress or, perhaps, to allow any given woman to remain in the damaging relationships. Traditional cultural practices, including psychological, psychiatric and social service practices, devalue the centrality of relationships to identity and, along with it, devalue women. The numbers of women receiving substance abuse treatment services today who experience seriously disconnected relationships and/or the consequences of them, e.g., experiences of child abuse, rape and battering paired with depression, anxiety, and PTSD, demand an awareness of the role of such disconnection in the etiology of substance use disorders. Keywords: Gender, gender competence, gender competency, sex, discrimination, stereotyping, women, men, oppression, feminist, women’s studies, women’s issues, feminism, inequality, power relations, sexual, substance abuse, addictions, chemical dependency, alcoholism, cultural, relational model, Stone Center, codependency, relationships, PTSD, domestic violence, co-occurring disorders, Skypek

Approval Bodies