Rethink success
Explain why abstinence is not the only indicator of client success.
Professional education · 2 SS/EBT hours
Beyond Harm Reduction Buzzwords
Stop recycling buzzwords. Start doing better work.
A practical 8-domain framework for thinking clearly about drug-use safety. Support client autonomy, safety, and wellbeing without smuggling abstinence into the definition of success.
Real cases. Applied work. No CEU fluff.
The problem
Client autonomy should not come with an abstinence-shaped asterisk.
Many approaches claim to respect client autonomy while still quietly pushing clients toward one predetermined outcome: stop using drugs.
Beyond Harm Reduction Buzzwords introduces the Drug-Use Safety Enhancement Model, a practical framework for helping clients understand and manage their own relationships with drugs. It begins from a non-stigmatizing, drug-neutral position rather than treating abstinence as the hidden definition of success.
This is an applied introduction to the model, with concrete skills and strategies you can begin using in helping relationships.
What you will be able to do
Map one event
Use DUSEM to analyze one drug-use event across eight domains.
Put it to work
Apply practical strategies from the DUSEM domains to enhance client autonomy, safety, and wellbeing.
Who it is for
Built for real clinical conversations.
Counselors, social workers, peer-support specialists, addiction professionals, healthcare providers, educators, and other helping professionals who want to apply harm-reduction principles in ways that support client autonomy.
This course is a practical introduction to DUSEM. The focus is on useful questions, applied cases, and professional judgment.
Course experience
Short instruction. Real decisions. Useful feedback.
- 01Why buzzwords fail
Separate the language of harm reduction from the work of actually reasoning about safety.
- 02The eight-domain system
Learn the structure of DUSEM and the way domains affect one another.
- 03Enhancement, escape, and motivation
Work with purpose and ambivalence without performing a morality play.
- 04Applied cases
Use scenario-based decisions, feedback, and reflection to practice the model.
- 05Evaluation and next-use thinking
Turn experience into information instead of letting luck write the lesson.
Continuing education
CE credit and completion.
2 SS/EBT hours · NCSAPPB Approval Number: 26-541-S
For another board or profession, confirm acceptance before purchasing. Only the approval listed here is claimed.
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Ask a question before buyingYour instructor
Ed Dunbar
Edward T. Dunbar Jr., PhD · LCPC · LCMHC · LAC · NCC
Counselor, educator, addiction specialist, and creator of the Drug Use Safety Enhancement Model. Ed brings clinical practice, teaching, and professional supervision to a course built around usable questions and client-defined outcomes.
About Ed and Project CynicFree course preview
Try a question from the framework.
Get the free nine-card DUSEM Field Deck: eight conversation cards and one case prompt. Join the professional email list for practical tools and course updates.
A useful place to start if you want to explore the approach before purchasing.
Free DUSEM Field Deck
Real cases. Applied work. No CEU fluff.
Better questions.
More useful work.
A practical framework for your next clinical conversation.
$39 USD · 2 SS/EBT hours
NCSAPPB Approval Number: 26-541-S
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