This eminently practical guide presents an empirically supported approach for treating people with substance abuse problems and their spouses or domestic partners. Behavioral couple’s therapy (BCT) explicitly focuses on both substance use and relationship issues, and is readily compatible with 12-step approaches. Provided are all the materials needed to introduce BCT; implement a recovery contract to support abstinence; work with clients to increase positive activities, improve communication, and reduce relapse risks; and deal with special treatment challenges. Appendices include a condensed session-by-session treatment manual and 70 reproducible checklists, forms, and client education posters. The large-size format and lay-flat binding facilitate photocopying and enhance the book's clinical utility.
This manual will take the clinician step-by-step through the 12 sessions of Behavioral Couples Therapy, a skills-based therapy for alcoholic or drug-abusing clients and their partners, in which the goals are to build support for abstinence, increase relationship cohesion, and improve communication skills.
A behavioral approach assumes that family members can reward abstinence – and that alcoholic and drug-abusing clients form happier, more cohesive relationships with better communication and have a lower risk of relapse. BCT is a structured, goal-oriented program for the treatment of substance misuse that focuses on the following: (1) Support for Recovery, (2) Relationship Enhancement, (3) Communication Skills, and (4) Continuing Recovery.
This 12-session version of BCT is designed for implementation with alcoholic clients and their partners. The 12 sessions cover the same skill areas as BCT for Drug Abuse and Alcoholism, however, this manual does not discuss drug use.
This therapy manual is an abbreviated version of the 12-session manual for Behavioral Couples Therapy. This manual presents a skills-based therapy for alcoholic or drug-abusing patients and their partners in which the goals are to build support for abstinence, increase relationship cohesion, and improve communication skills using a 6-session format.
This therapy manual is the same as Brief BCT for Drug Abuse and Alcoholism except its focus is on alcohol abuse and related problems. This manual does not address drug use.
Group Behavioral Couples Therapy (GBCT) utilizes the skills from Behavioral Couples Therapy, but in a group-based format. This manual will take the clinician step-by-step through 9 sessions of Group Behavioral Couples Therapy. This approach is designed to be a skills-based therapy for alcoholic or drug-abusing clients and their partners. The goals of treatment include building support for abstinence, increasing relationship functioning, and improving communication skills.
GBCT w/HIV is essentially the same as GBCT with an additional component aimed at (a) increasing awareness of the risk for HIV exposure in couples in which one partner abuses drugs, (b) increasing HIV testing by both partners, and (c) decreasing risk-taking behaviors. Recent research indicates that there is a growing need for intervention with drug-abusing couples because the risk for HIV exposure is high in this group.
This program utilizes the skills from Behavioral Couples Therapy (BCT) and adds to it parent skills training for substance-abusing couples. Parent Skills Behavioral Couples Therapy (PSBCT) is specifically designed to enhance parenting skills in order to increase the beneficial effects on the adjustment of children who live with substance-abusing parents. This treatment program devotes 6 of the 12 sessions to BCT skills and the other 6 sessions to parenting skills. The parenting topics include developmental expectancies, nutrition, positive discipline, and skills designed to enhance and strengthen the parent/child relationship.
This program utilizes the skills from Behavioral Couples Therapy (BCT) and adds to it parent skills training for couples in which a parent has a drinking problem. Parent Skills Behavioral Couples Therapy (PSBCT) is specifically designed to enhance parenting skills in order to increase the beneficial effects on the adjustment of children who live with alcohol-abusing parents. This treatment program devotes 6 of the 12 sessions to BCT skills and the other 6 sessions to parenting skills. The parenting topics include developmental expectancies, nutrition, positive discipline, and skills designed to enhance and strengthen the parent/child relationship.
Parent Skills Training (PST) is specifically designed to enhance the parenting skills of substance-abusing parents. This treatment program consists of 12 couples-based sessions. The parenting topics include developmental expectancies, nutrition, positive discipline, and skills designed to enhance and strengthen the parent/child relationship.
The Timeline Followback is designed to provide step-by-step instructions to administer a calendar-based interview assessing alcohol and drug use, and spousal violence. Semi-structured calendar interviews have been regularly used in research areas to ascertain the specific days within a given target interval when certain behaviors occur. The Timeline Followback Spousal Violence interview (TLFB-SV) is based on the Timeline Followback (TLFB; Sobell & Sobell, 1996) and is used to assess spousal violence in the same way the TLFB assesses alcohol use; frequency and daily patterns of spousal violence (both respondent-to-partner and partner-to-respondent violence) are assessed.
Behavioral Couples Therapy:
A three day training & Facilitators Guide
BCT is a user's guide for facilitating a 3 day workshop to train clinicians in Behavioral Couples Therapy (BCT). PowerPoint presentations, a clinician's workbook, and a facilitator's guide are included for each day of the workshop. Materials cover the history and utility of BCT, essential ingredients, and core skills. The purpose of the workshop is to equip participants with practical methods necessary for incorporating Behavioral Couples Therapy into their practice.
This program is a series of 12 lectures that focuses on providing education to an alcohol-dependent client and his or her non-alcohol-dependent partner. The lecture topics include the basics of alcohol, the development and maintenance of alcohol problems, alcohol’s effects on physical and psychological health, alcohol and crime, and the effects of culture, gender, and society on alcohol-dependent behaviors. This program does not address drug use. Handouts are also available at the end of each lecture section.
This manual provides instruction and materials for providing 10 lecture sessions to substance-dependent clients and their non-substance-dependent partners using a group format. The 10 sessions includes 1 introductory session and 9 lectures that address alcohol- and drug-related issues such as substance abuse basics and warning signs, the effects of substance use on the body, brain, and physical and psychological health, substance abuse and crime, stress and substance abuse, gender, culture, and social influences on substance-using behaviors, and self-help and social support.
Workbooks
Learning Sobriety Together
Written By: Cheryl L. Kennedy, C.S.W., Cynthia L. Birke, B.S., William Fals-Stewart, Ph.D., & Gary R. Birchler, Ph.D.
This program is a collection of information, skills, and lessons learned from years of research that has been used directly with couples in our BCT programs who have reported struggles in their relationship and family as a result of a substance use problem. Countless couples and families have benefited from learning about and using the very skills and information that are presented in this program. Work in this area has shown that people can change behavior which results in change in other aspects of their lives; specifically, their intimate relationships and the functioning and well-being of the whole family. This skills-based program addresses issues of substance abuse, relationship distress, family conflict, and communication problems. How substance abuse relates to HIV and interpersonal violence is also discussed. Furthermore, each section provides the reader with a number of strategies and skills that can be implemented to address these very common concerns. The overarching goal of this program is to assist couples in gaining a greater understanding of substance abuse and various methods and tools for supporting sobriety. This program requires active participation on the part of the couple(s) and/or the facilitator. Thus, there are a number of exercises that help couples work through and practice each skill as it is introduced.
We designed this guide to accompany the Learning Sobriety Together: A Couple's Workbook so that spiritual advisors, teachers, individuals, couples, friends, family members, and so on, could learn and teach more about substance abuse and its impact, and have access to information and skills that can be applied in every day life. If you choose to use this guide as presentation material, we have included a PowerPoint presentation that corresponds with each section and exercise introduced in the couple’s workbook.
