Life After Addiction

1 Apr 2023 - 1 Apr 2024
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Life After Addiction

Life After Additions is a 5 session course that helps students come to terms with what life can be like after choosing to enter recovery. This is a very difficult road for most people to take, but it’s also one of the most important decisions someone can make for themselves. This course is intended to be a safe place to learn about the various challenges you will face on this journey. We discuss things like our thought patterns, goal setting, how relationships change, how to set boundaries for ourselves, and we’ll discuss strategies to help stay in recovery.

Course Objectives

  • Participants will discuss the challenges they may face after deciding to enter recovery. These include physical challenges like withdrawl, mental challenges like relaps and social challenges from changing your life style.

  • Participants will learn about boundary setting.

  • Participants will learn what harm reduction means and how can be implemented.

  • Participants will also learn about how to identify and begin healing psychological wounds to strengthen their over all well-being.

Course Details:

Session 1: Defining Recovery

This first session of Life After Addiction is all about rediscovering what your life can look like after entering recovery. We'll be discussing mindfulness, self-compassion, the impact addiction can have on relationships and the importants of self reflection and we'll discuss leisure time and life balance.

Class Objectives
  • Mindfulness Meditation

  • Recovery College Model

  • How Addiction Affects the Brain

  • Wellness Wheel

  • Recognizing Impact

  • Recovery Journey

  • Developing Self-Compassion

  • Life Balance

  • Self-Reflection

  • Whiteboard Activity - What are your favourite leisure activities?

  • Mindful Observation

Session 2: Beginning Recovery

Session 2 dives deeper into expectations around life in recovery. In this session we'll be discussing things like withdrawl, negative thinking, goal setting, and the how to navigate the world around us.

Class Objectives
  • What is Recovery?

  • What to Expect When Beginning Recovery

  • Withdrawal and PAWS (Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome)

  • Withdrawal, PAWS and Different Substances

  • Reframing Negative Thinking Around Addictions

  • Mental Health and Addictions

  • SMART Goal Setting

  • Discussion Point: Music and Recovery

  • Discussion Point: Recovery and Culture

Session 3: Relationships and Recovery

In Session 3 we will look at how all of the various relationships in our life may have changed since chooseing to enter recovery. Often, our decision to start recovery can positively affect our relationships as we heal and strengthen old ties with family and friends. However, some of our relationships may be negatively affected if our decision to start the recovery process as this may conflict with others ideas around substance use. We will also talk about how to discuss addiction and how to develop/improve supportive relationships.

Class Objectives
  • Family, Friends and Addictions

  • Cultural Impact on Addictions

  • How Does Addiction Affect Families?

  • Addictions and Family Roles

  • Supporting a Loved One with a Substance Use Disorder

  • Benefits of Family Support

  • How to be a Positive Support

  • How to Talk to Someone in Recovery

  • Difficult Conversations

  • What to Expect

  • Asking for Support

  • Community Supports and Connections

Session 4: Boundaries

Session 4 looks at boundary setting and the importance of defining your own boundaries. We'll also discuss things like peer pressure and how to handle difficult or uncomfortable situations.

Class Objectives
  • What are Boundaries?

  • Different Types of Boundaries

  • Signs of Weak Boundaries

  • Signs of Healthy Boundaries

  • Establishing Boundaries in Recovery

  • Protecting Boundaries in Recovery

  • Unhealthy vs Healthy Boundaries

  • Peer Pressure and Addiction

  • Handling Problematic Situations

  • Peer Pressure: The Good and the Bad

  • Creative Ways to Handle Peer Pressure

  • My Bill of Rights

Session 5: Continuing Recovery

Life After Addictions concludes with a session focused on harm reduction, recovery principles, dealing with temptation and cravings, healing emotional trauma and a comprehensive list of support resources in the province.

Class Objectives
  • Harm Reduction

  • What is Harm Reduction

  • Goals of Harm Reduction

  • Principles of Harm Reduction

  • SMART Recovery

  • Strategies to Soothe Your Mind

  • How to Identify and Heal Emotional, Physical and Psychological wounds

  • Resources

  • Farewell Celebration


Life After Addictions: Course Schedule


Student Expectations

Courses offered at the Hope Learning Centre are intended to be educational. Our Facilitators and Peer Supporters are not therapists, and our courses are not a substitute for therapy. Instead, we encourage students to come together in a positive, safe environment to learn and be part of our growing community.

We hope this is a useful and supportive place for all our students. If you feel like you are in crisis, please use a crisis line to speak to a mental health professional one-on-one.

Crisis Lines

For Saskatchewan residents: Call 1-306-757-0127
For those in other Canadian Provinces Call: 1-866-585-0445
OR Text WELLNESS to 686868 for youth, and for adults text WELLNESS to 741741


Expectations

  • Confidentiality:
    We ask that students keep what they hear, see, and discuss in our courses private in respect of their fellow students. Do Not Record your classes.

  • Kindness and Acceptance:
    We promote a safe place for students and staff to work and learn together. Rude or disrespectful behaviour will not be tolerated. Students who cannot adhere to this rule will first be given a private warning in ZOOM Chat (or in the classroom), and if the behaviour persists, a second verbal warning will be given. If the behaviour continues after these two warnings, you will be asked to leave the class

  • Stay Recovery Focused:
    Sharing is always encouraged, and hearing each other’s unique experiences is important. However, we ask that students keep their shares on topic.

  • The Right to Pass:
    All students have the right to choose not to share.

  • Webcams and Zoom:
    Students are not required to have their cameras turned on for class. Still, we encourage students to improve connections and foster stronger relationships with the Facilitators and their fellow students by having their cameras on.

  • We foster a learning environment:
    Some of the information we share in our courses may be very helpful, while other information may not apply to you. Please be considerate of others, as we all have different learning experiences.

  • Be mindful of what you share:
    Remember that your shares may affect others in the class. Sensitive subject matter may be difficult for others in the class to hear.

  • Come in with an open mind:
    You will be presented with many different ideas and perspectives, do your best to be open and accepting of new and old ideas.

  • This is not intended to replace therapeutic conversation or connection with mental health support.

House Keeping Rules

  • Please come to your classes 5 to 10 minutes early. You will be let in from the Zoom waiting room before the class starts. This is the same for In-Person classes.

  • Please MUTE yourself when not speaking.

  • It’s your choice about your camera being on or off – but we encourage you to leave cameras on to build a sense of community and show others you are listening if you want to turn the camera off to eat or go to the bathroom, that is okay.

  • No smoking, vaping, drug use, or alcohol in the classroom or on camera.

  • Use the Chat Box for comments or questions that don’t need an immediate response.  We want to keep on track, but we don’t want to ignore your concerns. You can message to All or privately message just the HOPE LC facilitators. 

  • To keep courses to the scheduled 1.5 to 2-hour time limit, there will be no formal break, but students are free to move around at home. Classes 3 hours or more will have a break scheduled.

  • You always have the right to pass, but the more participation in the class, the better the experience is for everyone. Sharing is usually where the best learning experiences come from!

Confidentiality

The Hope Learning Centre is committed to our student’s safety, trust and peace of mind. As such, confidentiality is a key ingredient to that commitment. Students are not permitted to record any of their classes for this reason. We also ask that the names of fellow students and their shared experiences stay in the classroom. Please do not discuss what fellow students have shared in your classes.

Students can discuss course material, exercises, or other helpful information they have learned in our classes. We ask that you be mindful of your fellow students and never disclose any of their information in these conversations.

Your Facilitators will always be mindful of this confidentiality agreement and will not share information from class. The only exception to this rule will be if a student has expressed intent to harm himself or herself or someone else. In this case, a Facilitator may need assistance from other support services, and student information may need to be provided to ensure the student’s safety.

Cancellations

Free HLC Courses

Space is limited, so we ask that you only register if you intend to be present for all classes of your course.

If you register for a class but later realize you will not be able to attend, you can easily cancel your registration. In the "Details" section below, where you first registered for the class, you will see the following text:

"You are already registered for this event"

Followed by a button that says:  "Cancel Registration."

Please just click the "Cancel Registration"  button, and you will be removed from the registration list.

If, for whatever reason, you do not see the "Cancel Registration" button, please email the Hope Learning Centre at HopeLC@cmhask.com and tell us your name, email address, and the course you would like to be removed from. One of our staff will manually remove you from the registration list.


Paid-For Certificate Workshops

Cancellation of our Certificate courses is also available, but you must email the Hope Learning Centre program director at: DirectorHLC@cmhask.com.

You will be given two options for Certificate workshops. If you can no longer attend the date you registered for, but still wish to attend the same Certificate Workshop at another time, your registration will be transferred to the new date by our program director. There are no additional fees, and you will be sent a new registration email with the details of this new Certificate Workshop date.

If you do not wish to attend the Certificate Workshop you have registered for, and instead would like the Hope Learning Centre to refund your purchase amount, please indicate this in your email to the program director. Refunds will be processed within 5 business days and issued to your original payment method.

The Hope Learning Centre will retain a small processing fee from your original purchase. This is to cover the costs of the online payment processing system we use, which is Stripe. The fees we will retain are as follows:

SafeTalk Processing Fee - $5.00

C.A.R.E. Program Processing Fee - $5.00

Mental Health First Aid Processing Fee - $10.00

ASIST Processing Fee - $10.00

Difficult Discussions Processing Fee - $50.00

Psychological Health & Safety Processing Fee - $100.00

These fees take into account the percentage the Hope Learning Centre is charged by Stripe both at the time of purchase and at the time of the refund. We apologize for the inconvenience. If we did not retain these fee amounts, we would incur a significant loss for every refund we process.


Cancellations Issued by the Hope Learning Centre

 Occasionally, the Hope Learning Centre may have to cancel a Free HLC Course, or Certificate Workshop. This typically only occurs if there are too few registered participants for the class to proceed.

For Free HLC Courses, a cancellation notice will be sent to registered students 1 or 2 days before the start date of the class. Students who wish to have their registration transferred to the next available course date should send their request to: HopeLC@cmhask.com. A Hope Learning Centre staff member will happily transfer the registration and send a new confirmation email to the student.

For Paid-For Certificate Workshops, we will contact registered participants as soon as it appears likely that the Workshop will not be able to proceed. This should typically be 1 to 4 days before the Workshop date. Low registration is the only reason the Hope Learning Centre will cancel a Certificate workshop. There are minimum student requirements for all of our Certificate Workshops. Those requirements are as follows:

SafeTalk Minimum Student Requirement - 8 participants

C.A.R.E. Minimum Student Requirement - 8 participants

Mental Health First Aid Minimum Student Requirement - 8 participants

ASISTMinimum Student Requirement - 10 participants

Difficult Discussions Minimum Student Requirement - 16 participants

Psychological Health & Safety Minimum Student Requirement - 16 participants

There may be some exceptions to these minimums if we receive a cancellation on the training day and arrangements have already been made for the Workshop to run.

If the Hope Learning Centre must cancel a Certificate workshop, participants can transfer their registration to another Certificate Workshop date or receive a refund. If a refund is requested, the processing fee will be halved to accommodate the workshop's cancellation by the Hope Learning Centre.

 

Once You have Registered...

Upon registering, you will gain access to the Course Page for this class and receive a confirmation email. You will also receive two reminder emails before the start of your class; one 4-5 days in advance, the other on the day of your course. Both the Course Page and emails will contain the Zoom link for the class and a Google Calendar link. If you add the Google Calendar link, you will also receive 2 SMS reminders, one the day before your course; the other 30 minutes prior to the start of your course.

The Course Page for this course can be accessed through the "My Courses Tab" on the left-hand menu of our site. Your Course Page will have a Zoom Link for this course, a Google Calendar link, and you can access your course's Class Lessons for each week. These Class Lessons will have a PDF copy of the Class presentation, downloadable handouts for the class, activities and video links.

Please note that you may not see your course in the "My Courses Tab" until one week before the start date of the class.

Below is an image map to help guide you to the "My Courses Tab" and Course Page. If you have any questions, please email us at: HopeLc@cmhask.com.

My Courses
 

Details

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