Treat Substance Use Disorders via Telehealth

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Paul Brasler, LCSW, CAIMHP Related seminars and products

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Paul Brasler, LCSW, CAIMHP, became a licensed clinical social worker in 2002. Paul is the coordinator for the Chesterfield County (Virginia) Employee Behavioral Health Program, through which he and his team provide clinical services to first responders and human services personnel. He has extensive experience working with people in crisis and people living with substance use disorders, including adolescent residential treatment, community mental health settings, hospital emergency departments, juvenile drug court, and private practice.

Paul has been a national presenter (through PESI) since 2016, and he has presented classes across the country on mental health emergencies, high-risk clients, resiliency, and a certification course for clinicians working with people with substance use disorders. He has written three books: The Clinician’s Guide to Suicide Management, PESI Publishing, 2025; The Clinician’s Guide to Substance Use Disorder, PESI Publishing, 2022; and High-Risk Clients, PESI Publishing, 2019. Paul lives in Richmond, Virginia, with his beautiful wife, three sons, cowardly dog, and two dwarf rabbits who are quietly plotting to destroy the world.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Paul Brasler maintains a private practice and has an employment relationship with Chesterfield County. He receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. He has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Paul Brasler has no relevant non-financial relationships.

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Program Information

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Objectives

1. Assess telehealth considerations and their clinical implications, including when its use is contra-indicated and the need for informed consent.
2. Appraise the causes of substance use disorders and factors that reinforce drug use, including factors related to trauma and attachment, as related to case conceptualization.
3. Assess for signs and symptoms of both substance intoxication and withdrawal syndromes for alcohol, methamphetamine, and opioids.
4. Adapt substance use screening and assessment tools for delivery via telehealth.
5. Utilize clinical strategies, such as motivational interviewing, via telehealth to improve client engagement and foster behavioral change.
6. Demonstrate strategies used to improve the efficacy of individual and group therapies through telehealth.

Outline

Telehealth & Substance Use Disorders: What You Need to Know 

• Basics of telehealth: The do’s & don’ts 
• When telehealth is not appropriate 
• Virtual privacy concerns 
• What to tell your clients before starting 
• Informed consent: Why it’s different for telehealth 

The Science Behind Substance Use Disorders 

• Biopsychosocial aspects of substance abuse 
• The role of trauma & attachment 
• Compromised immune systems 
• Using while isolated: The most dangerous substances  
  • Alcohol 
  • Heroin 
  • Fentanyl 
  • Meth

Telehealth Screening & Assessment: How Do You Know if a Client is Using?  

• Assessment when you can’t see or smell 
• Distance drug screening: Reduce potential harm 
• How to ask sensitive intake questions 
• Screening tools you can use at a distance

Remote Treatment Planning & Delivery 

• Client-reported withdrawal screenings 
• Making level of care decisions remotely 
• Withdrawal management alone is not treatment 
• Withdrawal management protocols & support through telehealth 
• Inpatient or outpatient treatment? 
• Medication-assisted treatment

Motivational Interviewing 

• Stages of change  
• Key strategies of motivational interviewing 
• Relapse prevention strategies 
• What to do when clients relapse

Distance Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions 

• Apply the A-B-C model to substance abuse 
• Recognize triggers to use via telehealth 
• Foster coping skills 
• Deconstruct negative schemas

Strategies for Group Telehealth 

• Tailor interventions for virtual groups 
• Barriers to treatment 
• Getting people to talk 
• Referring to virtual 12-step groups

More Strategies to Improve Client Engagement & Get Treatment Buy-In  

• Showing empathy without nonverbal cues 
• Case management: Link the client to resources 
• Medication-assisted treatment 

Special Clinical Situations  

• Pregnancy: Stigma & other challenges 
• Parents of young children 
• Vicarious trauma with a high-stress population 
• Limitations of the research & potential risks 

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Addiction Counselors
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Nurses
• Nurse Practitioners
• Case Managers
• Physician Assistants
• Physicians
• Psychiatrists
• Probation/Parole Officers
• Clergy