Many people are familiar with the term counselling, and also with the term alcoholic or alcoholism, but there can still be some confusion about both terms, especially when they are linked together.
The definition of alcoholism, or trying to decide if someone is an alcoholic or not is in many ways often an irrelevant issue.
if someone has a drink problem and needs help, then focus on that and not arbitrary definitions of what an alcoholic is or isn’t.
The terms counselling and therapy often interchangeable, and there are quite literally a wide variety of different types of therapy and counselling available.
Anyone entering into therapy or counselling of a general nature for any reason, is likely at some point to alert the counsellor that they have a drink problem.
Any reputable therapist or counsellor will have had some part of their training directed towards what is normally referred to as substance abuse, and they should be able to detect that alcohol is an underlying problem, or is the main issue behind the person’s problems even if the individual themselves cannot see it.
ALCOHOLISM COUNSELLING
A good therapist or counsellor will focus on this and try and direct the individual to obtaining help for their alcohol problem, either by going to Alcoholics Anonymous, entering some type of residential rehab or treatment center or some other method.
In addition, many therapists and counsellors will effectively advertise themselves as alcohol recovery councillors, and they may well be what name as recovering alcoholics themselves.
This means that they are individuals who once drank alcoholically, have got sober and stayed sober, and direct their counselling or therapy schools towards people specifically who have drink and or drug dependencies.
The other context in which alcoholism counselling can come up is in the area of residential treatment centers and rehabs.
The majority of treatment centers and rehabs will employ a number of clinical staff as well as a number of modern clinical staff in various capacities. The clinical staff should include a number of trained therapists and counsellors, as a large part of the treatment centers addiction treatment program will focus on a combination of group therapy and individual counselling on a one-to-one basis.