Webwatch: New online learning tool to support substance use workers

An innovative online learning tool on substance use has been launched by health and social care experts at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Funded by Health Education North West, the open educational resources (OERs) target health and social care professionals and those who manage and teach them.

Professor of Adult Social Care, Sarah Galvanic(pictured), who led development of the website ‘Working with Substance Use’, said: “There are many fantastic social care and health practitioners doing brilliant work. However, many do not have the information or training they need to work with people with substance problems – this resource begins to address this gap by ensuring practitioners, and those who teach and manage them, have a tailored resource to help them.”

The topics within the OERs were identified by a range of experts including people from the community who use, or have problems with, substances, to academics who teach nurses and social care professionals, and health and social care practitioners themselves. They range from health risks to safeguarding, from supporting families to practical advice on how to talk to someone about their substance use and what help is available.

Support

The OERs include a range of media including slideshare presentations, film and audio clips from service users and professionals, animations, individual and group exercises, and practice scenarios to help apply learning. They also offer suggestions for future study and personal development.

Senior Lecturer in Nursing and co-author, Dr Lucy Webb, added: “The resources include hugely powerful and personal accounts from people who have experienced substance problems, either their own or someone they love and care for. We are tremendously grateful for the support of the local recovery communities in bringing a very real and human element to these resources and for their willingness to openly share their stories to educate others.”

The resources have been designed to allow people to dip in and out for information on specific areas or to work through in one go. They can be used for individual or group self-study and they can be used in teaching or learning by academics and trainers.

You can see the website here: https://workingwithsubstanceuse.wordpress.com/