[Music] [Music] so how are you today not bad I guess uh thanks uh pretty good actually yeah well let me introduce myself properly my name is Colin I'm one of the registered nurses working here at the center I particularly work with um clients who are thinking about changing their behavior in some way but how should I address you what what name would you prefer Mr Joe uh no no I I'm I'm Nathan I mean n well n my friends call me Nathan soth okay Nathan is um so okay like so you're a coach or something
like that or well you know that is a good way of thinking about it um I'm certainly not going to be coming to the gym with you or anything like that but but sure thinking about that as a coach would would help yeah okay so I wonder to get started if there's a few things that we just lay out before we get going yeah so my understanding is that you're here to talk talk about your substance use and I do want to point out that anything that you say to us will be kept confidential in
in the sense that we don't discuss your business needlessly I do share information with other members of the healthcare team and if the tell me anything that that sounds as though you're either putting yourself at risk imminent risk or putting someone else at imminent risk of of harm or indeed that a child might be at risk then I do have a statutory responsibility to do something about that okay is there anything that I've said so far that you want to ask about no I I understand it sounds good I mean I understand so yeah yeah
well there are some specific questions that we ask of everyone when we were um doing this first kind of a meeting Nathan but before get into that I'd like to put that aside and and begin just by hearing from you like what brings you here well um uh I I've kind of been messing up the last little while uh and I've I've kind of gotten myself into some trouble because because of that tell me more about that well um I'm sorry I'm I'm bit nervous so sure it's quite understandable to be nervous coming into talk
about like this yeah um okay well I've had some job interviews and I I've kind of I've missed those and um and you know I've I've really not been too happy with my myself the last little while uh you know I'm I'm kind of getting angry really quickly and and even people that I love and like people I normally don't get angry so you know it's it's kind of bothersome um well so quite a few things going on for you there then the idea that you've been getting irritable you've been hurting people that you love
even and and you you mentioned also missing some job opportunities or some work opportunities well yeah um yeah because I've been kind of partying uh hard and and well I mean my wife gets upset about that and and so could you tell me more you've been partying your wife's been getting upset with you what else is going on well the thing is okay so I'm I'm I don't have a job I'm I'm unemployed and you know I've got some free time on my hands and I'll be honest with you I I've been kind of a
little bit down because that and I thought you know my friend's been trying to get my spirits up and so you know we've been out partying and and drinking and and stuff like that but that's not been the only problem that's the thing uh well I mean you know drinking's been a problem I've been drinking too much so so you think that perhaps you've been drinking too much yeah but but that's not the only thing I mean uh I'll be honest with with you I've been I've been doing cocaine as well and and then you
know of course that leads to more drinking and and you know more cocaine so I'm I'm just trying to think of you know maybe I should cut back on on the Coke and cutting back on the coke well you you you've given me quite a lot of information so far about some of the things that have brought you here um you've talked about not about missing job opportunities you've talked about um um getting irritable and the noce in your mood being different and even hurting people that you love you've also mentioned that you've been drinking
a bit more partying a bit more and also using some cocaine and I'm wondering what would it be helpful for you to focus on today Nathan what would be good for you to talk about now well I mean well yeah that's that's about it but I I guess it it'd be kind of like trying to to get the the the coke situation a bit under control and because it's getting out of control out of control yeah I know some people that are are worse than me but well thinking about worse what what has been the
worst thing that's ever happened to you since you've been or when you were using Coke lot of things um I guess the worst thing is that uh you know I I've been doing the Coke and and um well okay I I'll tell you about this one situation that that it's kind of scared me a little bit is is that you know i' I've done some Coke and some booze and like lots of it and I remember this one time I was in the car in the back seat and and the driver had done kind of
the same thing you know he' done some Coke and some boo and and it was it it pretty scary and and you know and I was really really high and he was really high and and we were driving and it kind of it just hit me and and it was scary so so the signs very scary yeah well I mean I'll be honest with you there's there's been other times that you know I've kind of woken up the next day and I don't even know where I was I mean and I don't even remember so
so not remembering and that must be scary too to to not remember things yeah um I guess not remembering is has been that's definitely scary and then you know being in situations where it's been really dangerous um sometimes it gets foggy and and you know this is going to sound kind of silly but you know sometimes the only way I can find out what I've actually done is by going to my Facebook and then finding out because other people have been talking about it um or I've seen pictures and stuff like that and that kind
of jogs my memory and then when I start to see those things I kind of wish I I hadn't done them I so so quite a few things going on then you know you've suggested it's from your from your Coke use that you're not remembering things that you're you're putting yourself at risk and it's scary for you yeah yeah and you know I guess because I've been putting other people at risk too and I you know I love I love my wife and and and I love my family and I and and my friends m
and I and I want to do something that's that's right you know that I'm really going to regret your family your wife your friends are all really important to you very very important thinking about importance Nathan how important would it be for you to to to make changes to your Coke use well I mean eight I don't know eight you know eight out of 10 if that's you know that makes a lot of sense yeah and it's good to use imaginary scales absolutely so so for you 10 would be the the most important and zero
would be the okay and you're roughly eight yeah I so it's very important to you then I wonder why it's an eight and not let say a a four well I guess because it's been been causing me problems and you know I've missed some job interviews and and I don't even know you know kind of what I've done you know until the next day or you know you know who I am I you know I've kind of been been hurt you know by my friends and stuff like that and and you know and influen I
guess in a bad way from from them and you know and then of course then you know I've been having problems you know sleeping and stuff like that and you know not getting sleep and and sleeping properly and you know and then all of that kind of falls back and it's upsetting my family and and so it sounds like there really are a lot of good reasons for you to to think about changing yeah yeah I mean one of the reasons why I i' I've come here is I'm thinking because the cocaine in my mind
the cocaine is the issue and I'm because it's it's a vicious cycle with the cocaine and and and drinking and I'm hoping that maybe if I can somehow you know resolve that then maybe maybe like I won't be drinking as much like I'm okay I'm not alcoholic I mean and you know just it's it's a problem with the cocaine so and certainly labels aren't alcoholic labels aren't important what what do you know about cocaine and alcohol and how they work I I'll be honest with you I don't know much I mean I I've read a
few minor things on the internet but I mean I get confused about that and um I guess one of the issues that I really wanted to highlight is that when alcohol and cocaine get used together which is reasonably common but for among cocaine users and what actually happens is that when alcohol and cocaine mix together they form a third substance and it actually has some surprising effects it can stay in your system a whole lot longer and can also um give you a feeling where you don't feel as drunk as you would normally do and
uh sometimes that means you can drink to excess and not even realize you've done it wow I mean I mean I didn't I didn't even know that it's it's surprising well you know see the thing is that that makes a lot of sense because that kind of that makes that makes more sense because it explains why I end up spending more money and uh you know and having no alcohol left in in in the house in the morning and stuff like that and wow what else do you make of it well I guess it means
that I really need to stop one of them and it ain't going to be the beer I guess so for you if you were to stop one it would be the cocaine it's it's looking that way I mean I guess especially if you know if if the alcohol and the cocaine mix like you say they do and all that so thinking about stopping how confident are you that you actually could stop if you wanted to you told me earlier it was very important to you but I wonder how confident you are maybe again in an
imaginary scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is the most confident one is the least confident well I mean I'll be honest with you I'm I'm I'm not that confident about it I'm I don't know on a scale of 1 to 10 maybe four four maybe maybe five four I don't like yeah four so there somewhat confident then I wonder why it's four and let's say not a one I I sure I could stop I mean it's just that you know there'd be a lot of Temptations you know when I go with my friends I
mean a lot of my friends use but I gu so a lot of your your friends use and could be quite tempting and you're sure you could stop well yeah I think so I mean I mean I could tell them I suppose so there are some things you could do to help yourself stop them yeah I guess so I mean I can avoid certain bars where I know it's easily available right and these are great ideas Nathan you've taught me quite a lot this morning so far and I and I certainly want to hear more
about your your own ideas about what would help you to stop um I did mention earlier that I had some specific questions to ask you and I wonder if now might be a good time for us to um maybe if I summarized everything that's been said so far and then maybe we could switch back to these um specific questions how would that feel for you that work okay that be okay yeah that's okay yeah okay let's let's do that then okay so you've taught me quite a lot of horrible things that have been happening since
you began using cocaine and particularly you've become concerned about your recent use so you've noticed that your mood's been quite irritable that you're hurting people that you you love that you've been missing opportunities for work um you've not been sleeping very well um you've also told me that you've been taking some putting yourself at risks and and and that scares you mhm and uh also not even remembering sometimes what what you've done which I guess it's also really scary you've told me it's very important for you to stop using and you've also indicated that you
have some confidence that you could stop in fact you've even come up with some strategies does that sound about right to you [Music]
