Reviews
"The rare commodity of a stepwise, highly detailed manual for curing substance abuse makes this book an invaluable asset for professionals, paraprofessionals, and interning students. Its jargon-free prose and creative graphic handouts and inventories for group participation deserve kudos, as do the authors, for distilling their complex theories into clinically meaningful guidelines."--Contemporary Psychology "As a manual it is well written and easy to use. I believe it can be an effective tool, not only for work with substance abuse but across fields....Overall, this is a highly useful book for social workers working with groups across fields of practice. It can be applied as is or used creatively to 'lend a vision.'"--Social Work With Groups "...the authors have presented a model for substance abuse treatment that can be used whether or not you adhere to the disease concept of addictions. The most important resources that this manual provides are the handouts and exercises designed for each process and stage of change....For the beginning or experienced group practitioner, this stages-of-change manual is an excellent model for substance abuse treatment."--Social Work Today "...fills a gap in the literature....This book is an excellent resource for social group workers who work with substance abusing clients. It clearly presents a conceptual foundation for treatment, empirically derived intervention strategies, and practical intervention tools. The intervention proposed is highly structured and uses psychoeducational principles. The intervention strategies draw group members' attention to personal and environmental resources that will support drug-free life styles. Group workers who are familiar with cognitive behavioral and motivational enhancement intervention methods will probably find this book's approach appealing....It is critical that social group workers adopt an evidence-based approach to group work practice. For too long we, like other social workers, have been guided by traditions and authority without critically examining the assumptions and evidence that inform our work. This book provides a unique opportunity to operationalize practice and to evaluate its impact. The ideas developed in this book are worth examining. Group work researchers and practitioners should subject them to crical discussion."--Social Work With Groups, "I have been using this book for a year in a chemical dependency intensive outpatient program, with great success and enthusiasm from the clients. Now our agency is using this format in all of our groups, including daytime, evening, and women's programs. It's a wonderful book, particularly because all the handouts I need are included and it's all completed in-group with no homework. I am very grateful to Dr. Velazquez and her coauthors for this user-friendly and effective program."--Elizabeth Ramos, CSAC, Cumberland County Mental Health Center, Fayetteville, North Carolina "[Title] is an excellent resource for counselors. The book describes an integrated multi-session group program designed to enhance motivation and help people enact change. A particular strength of the program is that each session can stand alone, allowing treatment to be customized for different groups or even implemented with individuals. Abundant reproducible materials are also a useful feature."--Mark B. Sobell, PhD, ABPP, Nova Southeastern University "Clinicians working with substance abusers will use the materials in this book on a daily basis. The exercises and tools are highly effective and engaging, strengthen the development of critical skills for recovery, and provide a framework for exploring client concerns and hopes in a supportive and nonthreatening way. This book complements other volumes that have become classics in the stages of change and motivational enhancement approaches. Full of concrete suggestions and practical advice, it is grounded in years of pioneering clinical work and research. As a substance abuse treatment professional, I will rely upon its wisdom in my own clinical work. It will also be an excellent text for graduate-level students of psychology, social work, and substance abuse counseling."--Madeleine Dupre, MA, Licensed Professional Counselor, Substance Abuse Program Manager, DeJarnette Center, Staunton, Virginia "A valuable addition to the treatment literature. A major strength of the book is the use of a motivational interviewing style approach to facilitate clients' understanding, commitment, and utilization of the different behavioral strategies for movement through relevant change processes at various points during treatment. This is an important resource for students and professionals interested in learning more about evidence-based treatment strategies for substance use problems. Given the solid foundation of the approach, the clarity and specificity of the implementation procedures, and the availability of tools to measure client progress, the book could easily be adapted for use in clinical trials with a variety of clients and settings."--Allen Zweben, DSW, Center for Addiction and Behavioral Health Research and School of Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, "I have been using this book for a year in a chemical dependency intensive outpatient program, with great success and enthusiasm from the clients. Now our agency is using this format in all of our groups, including daytime, evening, and women's programs. It's a wonderful book, particularly because all the handouts I need are included and it's all completed in-group with no homework. I am very grateful to Dr. Velazquez and her coauthors for this user-friendly and effective program."--Elizabeth Ramos, CSAC, Cumberland County Mental Health Center, Fayetteville, North Carolina "[Title] is an excellent resource for counselors. The book describes an integrated multi-session group program designed to enhance motivation and help people enact change. A particular strength of the program is that each session can stand alone, allowing treatment to be customized for different groups or even implemented with individuals. Abundant reproducible materials are also a useful feature."--Mark B. Sobell, PhD, ABPP, Nova Southeastern University "Clinicians working with substance abusers will use the materials in this book on a daily basis. The exercises and tools are highly effective and engaging, strengthen the development of critical skills for recovery, and provide a framework for exploring client concerns and hopes in a supportive and nonthreatening way. This book complements other volumes that have become classics in the stages of change and motivational enhancement approaches. Full of concrete suggestions and practical advice, it is grounded in years of pioneering clinical work and research. As a substance abuse treatment professional, I will rely upon its wisdom in my own clinical work. It will also be an excellent text for graduate-level students of psychology, social work, and substance abuse counseling."--Madeleine Dupre, MA, Licensed Professional Counselor, Substance Abuse Program Manager, DeJarnette Center, Staunton, Virginia "A valuable addition to the treatment literature. A major strength of the book is the use of a motivational interviewing style approach to facilitate clients' understanding, commitment, and utilization of the different behavioral strategies for movement through relevant change processes at various points during treatment. This is an important resource for students and professionals interested in learning more about evidence-based treatment strategies for substance use problems. Given the solid foundation of the approach, the clarity and specificity of the implementation procedures, and the availability of tools to measure client progress, the book could easily be adapted for use in clinical trials with a variety of clients and settings."--Allen Zweben, DSW, Center for Addiction and Behavioral Health Research and School of Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , "This user-friendly manual comes complete with step-by-step session instructions with objectives and handouts that may be reproduced....I would highly recommend this book to substance abuse counselors of all levels, from beginners to experienced counselors. It provides an understandable way to use the stages of change, which underlies most of the evidence-based practices at the time in the treatment field."--Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery "The rare commodity of a stepwise, highly detailed manual for curing substance abuse makes this book an invaluable asset for professionals, paraprofessionals, and interning students. Its jargon-free prose and creative graphic handouts and inventories for group participation deserve kudos, as do the authors, for distilling their complex theories into clinically meaningful guidelines."--Contemporary Psychology "As a manual it is well written and easy to use. I believe it can be an effective tool, not only for work with substance abuse but across fields....Overall, this is a highly useful book for social workers working with groups across fields of practice. It can be applied as is or used creatively to 'lend a vision.'"--Social Work With Groups "...the authors have presented a model for substance abuse treatment that can be used whether or not you adhere to the disease concept of addictions. The most important resources that this manual provides are the handouts and exercises designed for each process and stage of change....For the beginning or experienced group practitioner, this stages-of-change manual is an excellent model for substance abuse treatment."--Social Work Today "...fills a gap in the literature....This book is an excellent resource for social group workers who work with substance abusing clients. It clearly presents a conceptual foundation for treatment, empirically derived intervention strategies, and practical intervention tools. The intervention proposed is highly structured and uses psychoeducational principles. The intervention strategies draw group members' attention to personal and environmental resources that will support drug-free life styles. Group workers who are familiar with cognitive behavioral and motivational enhancement intervention methods will probably find this book's approach appealing....It is critical that social group workers adopt an evidence-based approach to group work practice. For too long we, like other social workers, have been guided by traditions and authority without critically examining the assumptions and evidence that inform our work. This book provides a unique opportunity to operationalize practice and to evaluate its impact. The ideas developed in this book are worth examining. Group work researchers and practitioners should subject them to crical discussion."--Social Work With Groups, 'An excellent resource for counselors. The book describes an integrated multi-session group program designed to enhance motivation and help people enact change. A particular strength of the program is that each session can stand alone, allowing treatment to be customized for different groups or even implemented with individuals. Abundant reproducible materials are also a useful feature.'Mark B. Sobell, PhD, ABPP, Nova Sotheastern University PhD, ABPP, Nova Southeastern University, USA
