Center focuses on understanding addictionThe Addiction Center of Iowa, to be headquartered in the Division of Counselor Education under the direction of Anne Helene Skinstad, will help health care workers and counselors better understand, identify, and treat people with substance abuse problems and addictions. The center is one of 13 such programs nationwide. Skinstad, an internationally known expert on substance abuse and addiction who is an assistant professor in the Division of Counselor Education, says the program's interdisciplinary emphasis is prompted by changes in health care and by the recognition that drug and alcohol abuse are often intertwined with other physical and mental ailments. "We're not going to be able to treat substance abusers the way we have in the past," Skinstad says. "We have to open up our approaches because of the changes in research about addiction and changes in the whole health care field." The Division of Counselor Education has offered a graduate-level program in substance abuse counseling since 1973. About 30 students annually enroll in the program but as many as 100 students take classes taught by faculty in the program. Many of the center's basic academic offerings are already in place through the substance abuse counseling program. The center will expand those offerings and coordinate them with courses, seminars, and workshops offered in other parts of the University. In addition to providing courses and training for future counselors, the center also will offer continuing education workshops and seminars for practicing counselors, nurses, physician assistants, and others. The programs will be conducted on campus and throughout the state using the Iowa Communications Network, the state's new fiber-optic system. The Addiction Training Center of Iowa will be administered through the Addiction Training Center of Illinois at Governor's State University, which has been funded to establish statewide centers. by Scott Hauser |
