The Ecolink Institute of Well-being became an approved Training Provider of the Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme on 15 July 2020. Since it was already pandemic time and there was no scope for the face to face training, the Institute chose to host online training of the UTC series. As a preparation to it, the Institute conducted a basic online course from 24 July to 21 August as a pilot project with the Global trainers and over 50 participants on “Counselling Skills in Addiction management”. The successful completion of the pilot course gave us more confidence and technical competence to conduct the Universal Treatment Curriclum with more effectiveness and quality.
We hosted the first batch of the Universal Treatment Curriculum (UTC) for 41 participants from 6 countries, including India, Indonesia, Australia, USA, Maldives and Sri Lanka from 15 September 2020. Having completed the Curriculum 1 & 2 successfully, the training is ongoing with the rest of the Curriculums currently. The participants drew from professional backgrounds after a careful scrutiny who constitute Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Counsellors, and Clergy who are already practicing in mental health field including addiction therapy. This training was offered to general practitioners unlike professionals already attached to Government rehabilitation centers. This opens up professional and specialized training in SUD management to qualified Psychologists who can make a difference to SUD treatment scenario with better knowledge and skills.
The Modules and Curriculum was imparted based on the sample template for online training of UTC as provided by the Colombo Plan and it was strictly imparted by Globally certified addiction trainers who are certified by the Colombo Plan. Globally reputed trainer, Dr. Thirmagal V
provided technical guidance as a Consultant to Ecolink and carried out the training with other Global trainers like Aditi Ghanekhar, Francis Moothedan, Susmita Bannerji, Rashmi Mallick and Dr. Thmas Scaria. The feedbacks from the participants were excellent and we could carry out the training with professional competence with whaetever possible activities which were feasible with the zoom virtual platform.
The Universal Treatment Curriculum is developed by Global experts through years of research and based on evidence based practices in the field of addiction treatment and rehabilitation. It is developed by the Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme in collaboration with the US Department of State,