Addiction Professionals from Central Asia are Examined to Obtain UTC Credentials

The Refresher training on all courses of the Basic Level of the UTC training package for the specialists from Central Asia took place on 6-8 November in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, and on 12 - 14 November in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The main goal of the trainings was to preparet the team of national trainers for taking credentialing examination on International Certified Addiction Professional (ICAP 1).

A total of 29 addiction professional from Kyrgyz Republic (12 persons), Tajikistan (5 persons), and Uzbekistan (12 persons) went through the training course successfully.

The training was conducted by highly qualified International trainers of the International Center for Credentialing and Education of Addiction Professional (ICCE) of Colombo Plan.

The credentialing examination was held on 9 November in Bishkek, and on 15 November in Tashkent, by the Director of  ICCE Ms. Becky Vaughn.

Developed by a team of experts through funding from the U.S. State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), the Universal Treatment Curriculum for Substance Use Disorders (UTC Training Package) has been successfully introduced in Central Asia within the framework of capacity building activities of UNODC project "Treating drug dependence and its health consequences: Treatnet II" since 2013 with outstanding results.

UTC Training Package aims to reduce significant health, social, and economic problems associated with substance use disorders by building international treatment capacity through training, professionalizing, and expanding the global treatment workforce. It prepares addiction professionals for professional certification at the entry level by providing the latest information about substance use disorders and their treatment and facilitating hands-on activities to develop skills and confidence in a relatively new treatment workforce.

Within the framework of UTC introduction activities in the region

  • All courses of Basic Level UTC training package were adapted to the content of the region by the team of regional experts representing all five countries of the region;
  • Team of regional master trainers were prepared during series of Training of trainers (ToT);
  • 5 regional master trainers successfully passed credentialing examination on ICAP I;
  • Team of national trainers was trained by the regional master trainers during series of regional and national ToTs on all courses of Basic Level UTC training package;
  • More than 1,500 addiction professionals benefited from the 118 echo trainings conducted by the team of national trainers in 4 countries of the region (KG - 218, TJ - 198, TK - 485 and UZ - 519 persons).

Members of the team of national trainers, who successfully completed all courses of Basic Level UTC training package are eligible for credentialing. They can become certified UTC practitioners after going through the Refresher training and passing the examination.

Obtained UTC credentials validate skills, knowledge and competencies of drug demand reduction specialists; declare the addiction practitioner's competencies, thus enhancing employability and career advancement; ascertain the quality of addiction prevention interventions, treatment and aftercare services; set a benchmark for prevention specialists and addiction professionals.

TreatNet project is the flagship project of UNODC aimed at promoting access to drug dependence treatment, care and rehabilitation services that are based on scientific evidence, through worldwide advocacy, capacity building and expansion/development of drug treatment services.

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