I have applied for financial aid to take "The Addicted Brain" a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with Emory University and Coursera. This course will help me in advocating for dual diagnosis tract consumers, those with both symptoms of mental illness and symptoms of substance abuse. It will also help address issues of addiction to food and certain behaviors like intake of caffeinated beverages in my own life. I hope to learn ways to be more attune to my own addictive personality traits.
I sit on the advisory board of the Department of Behavioral Health and Early Invention of Wayne County, Pennsylvania. I cannot speak for the board as a whole, but I know for my own input taking these classes better prepares me to be of service to my community and the mental health and substance abuse survivors' community.
I have already taken Positive Psychology and Opioid Crisis MOOCs in order to better serve on this advisory board. In this new MOOC I hope to gain some critical understanding and empathy for those battling addictions and also to have insights in how to moderate my own behavior in reference to food and caffeine.
