Do you work with people who are thinking about changing their relationship with alcohol? Going Forward is a practical, client-directed tool that supports that process over six weeks, without requiring abstinence as a goal. Developed by Wayne Skinner and David Brown at Pathways Research in Winnipeg, it guides users through a series of structured but open-ended conversations with themselves, covering their quality of life, their relationship with alcohol, what they want to change, and how to get there. Each of the tool’s three sections follows the same five-step PULSE process: Preparing, Unpacking, Listening, Suggesting, and Encouraging. Clients work through one section every two weeks, tracking their drinking along the way and building on what they learned in the previous round. The tool also includes a short alcohol use screening that helps clients understand their risk level in plain, non-judgmental language.

This 90-minute workshop will walk you through the tool from a practitioner’s perspective: how it works, how to introduce it to clients, and how to use it alongside the other support you already provide. You will get hands-on time with the tool itself, and have space to discuss practical questions like how to address literacy or digital access barriers, and what to do when a client’s screening score suggests higher-risk drinking. Whether you are a peer support worker, outreach worker, harm reduction worker, or community health worker, you will leave with something concrete you can offer to the people you support. Come ready to try out parts of the tool yourself.