The Underrated Superhero - Tools for Substance Use Counselors

The Underrated Superhero

Resources
for Clinicians

June

"celebrating small wins"

If the only win that counts is sobriety, you'll miss a lot of progress—and so will your clients. A client showing up is a win. A client being honest is a win. This month is about adjusting your scoreboard.

💡 June Tip

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A client showing up is a win. A client being honest is a win. Adjust your scoreboard. Not every win looks like sobriety.

Want the full 2026 calendar? It's included in the Winter 2026 Quarterly Kit. Get it →

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Personalize Your Calendar

The Winter 2026 Kit includes stickers to personalize your calendar with dates that matter to you—client milestones, personal reminders, or trigger dates.

⚠️ Fentanyl Awareness Day

June 3, 2026

Talk about it. Harm reduction saves lives—make sure clients know the risks and have Narcan access. Don't assume they know.

✊🏿 Juneteenth

June 19, 2026

Honor the day. Reflect on how systemic racism impacts your clients and your practice. Liberation is ongoing work.

👔 Father's Day

June 21, 2026

Same as Mother's Day—check in before, not after. Grief, estrangement, complicated feelings about fatherhood surface.

📋 Half-Year Check-In

You're halfway through 2026. Time for an honest assessment.

  • What wins have you overlooked—in your clients and in yourself?
  • Where are you being too hard on yourself or your clients?
  • What do you need to let go of for the second half of the year?
  • What's one thing that's working that you want to do more of?
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Celebrating Small Wins

This two-page worksheet helps clinicians recalibrate how they measure success — because if the only win that counts is sobriety, you'll miss a lot of progress. It starts with a checklist of wins that often go uncelebrated (client showed up, client was honest about a slip, client set a boundary), then moves into reflection questions about how you're currently measuring success and whether those expectations are realistic. The middle section offers ready-to-use phrases for naming wins out loud with clients, and the worksheet ends with space to identify three wins from your caseload this week that you might have overlooked.

Best for: Clinicians who feel like they're failing when clients aren't abstinent, who struggle to see progress in harm reduction work, or who need a reminder that showing up, being honest, and trying again are all wins worth naming.

Available June 1st
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Summer Survival Guide for Student Clinicians

This two-page guide helps student clinicians navigate summer break — a time when structure disappears, clinical identity fades, and returning home can bring its own challenges. It covers why summer can be hard (loss of routine, identity shift, isolation, financial stress, skill fade anxiety), then offers survival strategies across four areas: creating your own structure, staying connected to peers and supervisors, protecting yourself in potentially triggering home environments, and keeping up with professional development without overdoing it. The guide ends with a fill-in planning section to complete before summer begins.

Best for: Student clinicians heading into summer break who are worried about losing momentum, returning to difficult home environments, or feeling disconnected from their clinical identity. Also useful for anyone supporting students through the transition between academic years.

Available June 1st
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PTSD Awareness Month

Ask about the past. It's shaping the present.

Trauma and SUD travel together more often than not. This month, recommit to trauma-informed practice:

• Are you routinely asking about trauma history?
• Do your clients feel safe enough to disclose?
• Are you watching for trauma responses disguised as "resistance"?
• Do you have referral options for trauma-specific treatment?
• Are you managing your own vicarious trauma?

You don't have to be a trauma therapist to be trauma-informed.

🏳️‍🌈 Pride Month

LGBTQ+ clients face unique stressors, higher rates of substance use, and often encounter discrimination in treatment settings. This month, reflect on how your practice shows up for queer and trans clients:

  • Are your intake forms inclusive? (Pronouns, chosen name, relationship options)
  • Is your language affirming—consistently, not just when you remember?
  • Do you have resources for LGBTQ+-specific support and community?
  • Are you aware of how minority stress contributes to substance use?
  • If you're not queer, have you examined your assumptions and blind spots?

Pride isn't just a parade. It's about safety, dignity, and being seen.

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Summer Heat & Retention Risk

Trend: Summer heat increases risk—substance-related ER visits rise. Homeless clients are especially vulnerable to heat-related complications combined with substance use.

Watch for: Clients disappearing as routines dissolve. Summer schedules, vacations, and "I'll come back in the fall" syndrome. Treatment retention drops this time of year.

Pro tip: Consider overbooking during summer months—no-shows increase. When clients do cancel, use that time wisely: catch up on documentation, professional development, or your own self-care. Don't just sit there frustrated.

Action: Check in on housing stability. Know where cooling centers are. Don't let "summer break" become treatment dropout.

📝 Related Reading

Coming soon banner with orange gradient color. Stating name of guide "Foundations of Cultural Competency & Humility in Addiction Counseling"

Cultural Competency Guide – Coming Soon

This practical guide equips clinicians with the tools needed to deliver culturally responsive, equitable addiction treatment. Through real-world examples, reflection prompts, and actionable resources, it supports providers in building empathy, reducing disparities, and honoring client identities and lived experiences.

Covers:

  • Cultural humility framework
  • Bias recognition strategies
  • Sample cultural assessment forms
  • Case studies from diverse communities

This upcoming guide delivers practical tools to strengthen inclusive, respectful client care.

Join the waitlist to get notified when it’s released and gain early access to exclusive companion tools.

Estimated Release: Spring 2026

Want early access or release updates? Fill out the form below.

Cultural Competency Waitlist

Square graphic with orange-yellow gradient background. Title text reads 'CE Course 5 Hours – Recognizing and Addressing Signs and Symptoms in Addiction' in bold black font. A rounded purple-pink gradient button reads 'COMING SOON!' in white text.

CE Course Coming Soon – Coming Soon

This 5-hour self-paced course is designed to enhance clinical awareness and confidence when working with individuals in early addiction, co-occurring conditions, or unclear diagnoses. It provides an in-depth look at how addiction presents across populations and offers practical strategies for recognizing early, acute, and masked symptoms.

You’ll explore:

  • The difference between signs vs. symptoms

  • Clinical red flags often missed in intake or early treatment

  • Cultural, behavioral, and neuropsychological indicators of substance use

  • Case-based decision-making to strengthen recognition skills

📚 Already Available: The full resource guide is live in our store and can be used now

Coming Soon: This course is currently pending CE approval through NAADAC. You’ll earn 5 CE hours upon launch.

🗓 Estimated CE Release: Mid to Late Summer 2025

Want early access or CE release notifications? Join the waitlist below.

CE Course - Recognizing and Addressing Signs and Symptoms in Addiction Waitlist

Square gradient graphic with text 'Breaking Barriers' in large black font. Below is a rounded button that reads 'COMING SOON!' in white over a pink-purple gradient background.

Breaking Barriers – Coming Soon

This upcoming guide offers clinicians a compassionate, evidence-informed framework for supporting LGBTQIA+ clients through the addiction and recovery journey. Developed with cultural humility and intersectionality at its core, Breaking Barriers includes:

  • Clinical guidance on affirming care across diverse identities and experiences
  • Scenarios and case studies for reflective practice
  • Tools to help clients explore identity safety, stigma, and resilience
  • Strategies for addressing minority stress and internalized shame in treatment

Designed for individual therapists, group facilitators, and programs ready to do better by queer and trans clients.

Estimated Release: December 1, 2025

Want early access or release updates? Fill out the form below.

Breaking Barriers Waitlist

Gradient square design with bold black text reading 'Closing The Divide.' A large, rounded purple-pink gradient button below says 'COMING SOON!' in white font.

Closing the Divide – Coming Soon

This enhanced eBook explores the deep-rooted gender disparities in addiction care—and offers concrete strategies for closing the gap. Designed for seasoned clinicians, advocates, and program directors, this guide includes:

  • Data-driven insights on gender differences in access, engagement, and outcomes
  • Real-world case studies and reflection prompts
  • Worksheets and trauma-informed tools tailored by gender identity
  • Strategies for building inclusive, gender-responsive recovery systems

Join the waitlist to get notified when it’s released and receive early access to exclusive companion tools.

Estimated Release: October 31, 2025

Want early access or release updates? Fill out the form below.

Closing the Divide Waitlist

Orange-yellow gradient background with bold black headline reading 'Parenting in Recovery.' A pink-purple gradient button below displays 'COMING SOON!' in white capital letters.

Parenting in Recovery – Coming Soon

This upcoming resource is designed to help clinicians support clients navigating both recovery and parenthood. The Parenting in Recovery workbook explores strategies for rebuilding trust, establishing stability, and fostering meaningful communication between parents and children.

Whether used in family therapy or individual treatment, this guide includes:

  • Evidence-informed parenting strategies

  • Tools for restoring structure and safety at home

  • Guided activities to promote connection and resilience

  • Session-ready prompts and clinician insights

Built for therapists, counselors, and parenting specialists, this resource will be released in Spring 2026.

Want early access or release updates? Fill out the form below.

Parenting in Recovery Waitlist