Glossary of concepts and terms

Acronym for Counselling for Alcohol Problems

The change plan is the overall plan outlining

• What the changes are that the patient wants to achieve in counselling (e.g. to completely stop drinking) , outlining
• What his main reasons are for wanting to change • What steps he wants to take to achieve this change
• Who can help him achieve this, and how
• How he will know if the plan is working
• What could interfere with the plan
• How these things could be dealt with

A patient’s statements which show that they are in favour of change are termed ‘change talk’. It helps patients to change their behaviour if they hear themselves stating that they want to do this. If we can encourage the patient to make ‘change statements’ or to generate ‘change talk’, it is more likely that they will go on to change.

Coping Skills are skills that our patients use to deal with (or cope with) challenging situations. These situations could include having an urge to drink, or feeling some negative emotion, or being pressurised to drink alcohol when it is not wanted.

General Counselling Skils in attached manual.