Online Echo Training on Motivational Interviewing for Children with Substance Use Disorders

Young children are now living in drug-life circumstances and are actively engaged in drug-using behavior. Recent data show that incidence and prevalence rates of substance use and substance use disorders among young children are increasing across a range of socio-economic strata. The World Health Organization reports that up to 90 percent of children living in street-life circumstances worldwide use some kind of substance.

In Bangladesh, the population of children living in street-life circumstances is growing at an alarming rate. According to a survey by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, 674,000 Bangladeshi children are living and/or working on the streets. The Bangladesh Child Rights Forum survey showed that 50.2 percent of the country’s children living in street-life circumstances come from a substance using family background.

As part of the Colombo Plan Education Provider Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) under took capacity building initiatives to the additional professionals for evidence based practice and management of drug dependent children. An online three days long training on Motivational Interviewing for Children with Substance Use Disorders has been held from 1-3 June 2021.

This training is part of the Child Intervention for Living Drug-free (CHILD) Curriculum, a six-course training program, developed to bring realistic, effective substance use disorder treatment options directly to children around the world in a variety of settings, cultures and conditions.

The training would be conducted by internationally certified addiction professional Iqbal Masud, Director of DAM and Global Master Trainer of Colombo Plan and member of the National Anti-Drug Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs. A Total of 48 psychologists, physiatrists, doctors and other treatment professionals from the country’s different drug treatment and rehabilitation centers are participating in the training.