Title of assignment: Describe compare and contrast the traditional abstinence model of addiction treatment with the modern harm reduction model in the context of counselling a heroin using client who is HIV or Hep-C positive

I declare that this assignment is entirely my own work and that all sources are credited.

Introduction: In this essay I am going to first define abstinence, harm reduction, heroin and HIV. Then i’m going to compare and contrast the abstinence model versus the harm reduction model in relation to a person who uses heroin and has also HIV under the counselling context.

Definitions:
The Abstinence Model: The term 12 step applies to a number of self-help groups which have grown from the original alcoholics anonymous movement. 12-step groups are fellowships of men and women who meet regularly to support each other in their efforts to achieve and maintain abstinence. Groups are run by the members themselves who are not professional counsellors. They have a spiritual foundation are not affiliated with any organised religion. (McMurran, 1994)

For the purposes of this essay groups like NA(Narcotics Anonymous) would represent a traditional abstinence group and the Minnesota Model would represent a counselling approach in relation to addiction counselling.

The Harm Reduction Model: The idea of harm reduction first emerged explicitly in Dutch drug policy during the 1970s and 1980s from concern about the social integration of people who use drugs into society with a goal of maximizing the contact that problematic drug users have with social, treatment, health, and other community services. (Lowinson, Ruiz, Millman, & Langrod, 2005)
From 1981, absolute abstinence was abandoned as the primary goal of all drug-misuse treatment efforts in Amsterdam. (DCU, 2004)

It was the realization that people who use drugs shared needles that spread