25 July 2024
From 10 – 14 June 2024, the UNODC Programme Office for Ukraine (POUKR) and the UNODC Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section (PTRS) conducted an in-person five-day workshop for practitioners working with adolescents affected by drug use and their families. The workshop took place in Uzhorod, Ukraine. The aim of the training was to enhance the practitioners’ skills in addressing adolescent substance use and related social, behavioural problems through elements of family therapy.
UNODC’s Treatnet Family training package was developed in 2018 and has been rolled out in a total of 34 countries since 2019. Family therapy is an evidence-based intervention for treatment of substance use disorders among adolescents, in line with the UNODC/WHO International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use Disorders.
One in five Ukrainian students aged 15 to 17 reported drinking alcohol on a weekly basis (National Report On Drug and Alcohol Situation in Ukraine, 2023). The same survey shows that those having used any psychoactive substances (such as cannabis or inhalants) more than once in their lives accounted for 18%, with drastic increase among female students over the years. Furthermore, studies have clearly demonstrated the negative impacts of the ongoing war on mental health of adolescents and youths in Ukraine (Goto et al, 2024).
Despite the ongoing humanitarian emergency in Ukraine, a total of eight participants from across the country with different backgrounds such as social workers from municipal social services, representatives from civil society and psychologists from a municipal juvenile probation service or academia joined the workshop. By the end of the training, the participants developed action plans to apply Treatnet Family skills in their own settings.
The graph above illustrates the significant improvement in knowledge and skills among practitioners who attended the five-day workshop. Nearly all participants reported substantial learning gains in Treatnet Family core skills to improve family communication. Notably, the highest scores were for "relational reframes" and "going with resistance," with all participants indicating they had learned "a lot" in these areas. Practitioners expressed great appreciation for the training and plan to incorporate these skills into their daily practice.
Laurie Lopez Charles, one of the facilitators of UNODC’s Treatnet Family who led this training reflected, "(the participants’) enthusiasm was particularly evident in the role-plays, which were plentiful and full of vivid details. The participants’ work contexts varied and so did their experience, education, and age group. This diversity was a wonderful asset in this training; it allowed for a deeply respectful and professional exchange, mentoring, and sharing that we were able to witness in real time. It gave us a lot of richness to work with as trainers."
One participant said, “For me, this Treatnet Family training has built value of relationship with family. No matter what a hard time people have, they need to overcome the hardship in the future. In this training, we talked about it not in the context of adolescent-parent relationship but the relationship within the family.” Several participants also mentioned the practicality of the skills acquired in their daily work with families affected by drug use even in this emergency situation. Further mentoring will be provided for the participants by a national mentor in the following months.
This training could be conducted thanks to the financial support of MILDECA, the French Inter-ministerial Mission for Combating Drugs and Addictive Behaviours.
For more information on Treatnet Family, please contact:
unodc-ptrs@un.org
Links to Treatnet Family:
Scientific articles on UNODC Treatnet Family:
