Clients need an empowering message that says they can take power over their lives, including their use of alcohol and other drugs.
They need a program that treats them with respect, offers them the opportunity to think through their own decisions, and provides a framework to work on the situational and psychological problems that co-occur with drug problems — without stigma.
The Seven Challenges program for adults offers comprehensive counseling to support people in making wise decisions and taking control of their own lives.
The Seven Challenges is designed to accommodate individuals along a broad spectrum — from those who know they have a drug problem and what they want to do about it to those who are uncertain about their drug use and the direction they want to go.
Instead of trying to control and prescribe behavior, the program offers multiple pathways to success. Clients are given an opportunity to consider all their options, expand their options, and make their own decisions. Many people decide to quit using drugs, and others set new limits.
The Seven Challenges is based on a positive core message: Clients have power and can take control of their lives, including their use of alcohol and other drugs. The task may be difficult — maybe even the hardest thing they ever do in their lives — but it can be done.
In addition to face-to-face counseling, the program incorporates Leap of Power, a book that guides individuals to make fully informed decisions about changing their drug use.
The program also includes journals that help clients reflect on multiple aspects of their lives, their decision-making, and their efforts at making changes. With supportive journaling, counselors and clients communicate privately through written words. This process gives clients a chance to open up and reflect without the pressure of an immediate face-to-face audience.
The Seven Challenges empowers clients to do what mature people do when they want to take control of their own lives: They pay attention to personal experiences. What is going well, they leave alone. What is not going well, or as well as they would like it to be going, is identified as an issue. At every counseling session, clients work on an issue and leave with practical help.
Many people with drug problems arrive in counseling determined to quit or set new limits. The program provides session-to-session support for their efforts right from the get go. It also helps clients lay a strong foundation for enduring success.
For those who are uncertain or uncommitted to change, the program uses the Challenge Process as the framework for making fully informed decisions about their drug use. Clients evaluate their situation and weigh the benefits and harms of changing their behavior.
Implementation of The Seven Challenges begins with Initial Training, where counselors learn the skills to immediately begin providing the program. The training is highly interactive and utilizes role plays and other methods to best prepare counselors to provide sessions. A few months following the Initial Training, supervisors attend Leader Training, where they learn how to support counselors providing The Seven Challenges and train new staff when there is turnover. A Seven Challenges trainer will also host quarterly Support Calls with the team and conduct an annual Support/Fidelity Visit. This regimen of training and ongoing support has proven to be crucial in maintaining program effectiveness, fidelity, and sustainability.
Seven Challenges sessions can be individual, group, or a combination of the two. Sessions incorporate work on drug issues, life skill deficits, and co-occurring issues — and the frequency of sessions is commensurate with the intensity of the problem. The program promotes openness in relationships, and thus trauma issues are often exposed. Skill building on trauma issues, such as safety, trust, boundaries, excessive self-blame, and identifying threats are incorporated into sessions.
Counselors use The Seven Challenges Manual as a learning tool and reference book. Each client reads Lead of Power and uses the journals. There are also posters for counselors and clients to reference during sessions as well as multiple documents that support the implementation process.
In a study of adult drug court clients, the Southwest Institute for Research on Women at the University of Arizona found The Seven Challenges was more effective at reducing substance use, related problems, and internal mental distress than standard cognitive behavioral treatment.
The Seven Challenges resulted in higher acceptability than cognitive behavioral treatment as reflected in treatment satisfaction, honesty, disclosure, and perceived impact of treatment. The results also showed the program was effective at reducing criminal activity and as effective at improving vocational engagement as cognitive behavioral treatment.
