Live online · Professional training

Crack & Cocaine

A two-session online course focusing on crack and cocaine, appropriate treatment and ways of working with this client group.

Duration: 2 × 3 hours
Delivery: Zoom or Microsoft Teams
Format: Live professional training
Audience: Frontline & professional teams
Price: £350–£500 / 3-hour session

Enquire about this course

Organisational course fee — not a per-person ticket. Two-session programmes are quoted according to requirements.

Why this course

Connect cocaine knowledge with frontline decisions.

Crack and cocaine work often requires practitioners to connect drug knowledge, health risk, patterns of use, engagement and psychosocial treatment in real time. This course brings those areas together without losing sight of day-to-day practice.

What you will learn

Clear outcomes for practice.

Increase knowledge and awareness of crack and cocaine use.
Understand powder cocaine, freebase and crack, including routes of use.
Connect pharmacology and neuroscience with effects on physiology and behaviour.
Understand cardiovascular, respiratory, mental-health and blood-borne virus risks.
Recognise how intervention and engagement approaches can support retention.
Apply current harm-reduction approaches to stimulant use.
Understand motivational interviewing, CBT-informed and other psychosocial approaches.
Discuss relapse prevention, lapses, treatment tools and recovery capital.
Increase confidence when working with people who use crack and cocaine.

Session outline

Two focused three-hour sessions.

Session one

Context, Different Types & Pharmacology

10:00Welcome & course overview
10:10UK epidemiology & social context
10:30Powder cocaine, freebase & crack
10:45Routes of use: snorting, smoking, injecting & freebasing
11:15Break
11:30Pharmacology & neuroscience
12:30Health & psychiatric information
13:00Close & Q&A

Session two

Assessment, Harm Reduction & Treatment

10:00Welcome & session overview
10:10Binge, chronic & polydrug patterns
10:30Harm reduction: safer smoking, injecting, naloxone & BBV
11:00Engagement strategies
11:15Break
11:30Assessment & care planning: trauma-informed practice
12:00MI, CBT & Node-link mapping
12:30Lapses, treatment tools & recovery capital
13:00Close & Q&A

Download the 2026 Crack & Cocaine agenda (PDF)

Who it is for

For teams whose work brings them into contact with drug use.

Relevant to drug and alcohol treatment, NHS and healthcare, local authorities and public health, criminal justice, probation, prisons, police, housing and homelessness, mental health, social care, safeguarding, education and voluntary services.

Practice relevance

Use the live format to test ideas against your service.

Ask questions in real time.Explore uncertainty and connect the material to current work.

Discuss harm reduction.Consider safer smoking, injecting, naloxone and BBV prevention in context.

Link assessment to treatment.Move from presentation and engagement through care planning and psychosocial interventions.

Capability Framework alignment

Mapped to relevant workforce capabilities.

The 2026 course agenda aligns relevant content with the Capability Framework for the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Workforce. The focus stays on applied practice, rather than turning the course into policy documentation.

Stimulant harms
Patterns & polydrug use
NSP & BBV prevention
Naloxone
Motivational interviewing
Contingency management
CBT-informed relapse prevention
Person-centred assessment
Care planning
Recovery capital
Trauma-informed practice
Challenging stigma
Co-occurring needs

See how the course maps to the framework

Course capability	Framework area
Physical and psychological stimulant harms; crack, powder cocaine and polydrug patterns	Application of Knowledge
UK prevalence and patterns of cocaine and crack use	Application of Knowledge
Evidence-based harm reduction, NSP, naloxone and BBV prevention	Harm Reduction, Treatment and Recovery
MI, contingency management and CBT-informed relapse prevention	Harm Reduction, Treatment and Recovery
Comprehensive person-centred assessment of drug use and co-occurring needs	Engagement, Assessment and Care Planning
Personalised, co-produced treatment and recovery care planning	Engagement, Assessment and Care Planning
Recovery capital and challenging stigma	Underpinning Principles: All Roles

Trainer

Tony D'Agostino

Specialist drugs and alcohol trainer and consultant with more than two decades in the sector, former Director of Training & Development at COCA, former social psychology lecturer and MSc Research Methodology.

More about Tony

Practical details

Commissioned for your organisation.

Platform: Zoom or Microsoft Teams
Location: Live online for organisations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Course length: Two three-hour live sessions
Fee: Typical organisational fee £350–£500 per three-hour session; two-session programmes quoted according to requirements
Context: Course emphasis can be discussed around your team, setting and practice needs

FAQs

Before you enquire.

Is the £350–£500 fee per person?

No. It is the typical organisational fee for one three-hour live team session. A two-session programme is quoted according to the course and organisational requirements.

How is the course delivered?

Live online through Zoom or Microsoft Teams. The format allows questions, discussion and application to the team's own setting.

Who is the course for?

Frontline and professional teams working in treatment, healthcare, public health, criminal justice, housing, mental health, social care, safeguarding, education and related services.

Can the emphasis be adapted for our service?

Yes. The course can be contextualised around staff roles, service setting, client population and current practice issues while retaining the core learning outcomes.

Does the training align with the workforce Capability Framework?

Yes. The course agenda maps relevant content to the Capability Framework for the Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Workforce, including application of knowledge, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, assessment and care planning.

Enquire

Planning Crack & Cocaine training?

Tell COCA about your team, preferred dates and whether you use Zoom or Microsoft Teams.

Live team session£350–£500per 3-hour sessionEnquire about this course