The other day, I wrote about attending the “Assessment” portion of Ontario’s Remedial Back On Track program. I noted that I was provided a book along with some homework to complete prior to the Educational part of the Back On Track program, which is a requirement for all drivers in Ontario that have been convicted of an alcohol related driving offense.

I should point out first that the facilitator that I met with made it clear that there was no expectation that participants in the Back On Track program give up alcohol use completely. Rather, the aim is to educate about responsibility and risk. If a participant wishes to completely abstain from alcohol, that is fine but abstinence is not required nor expected.

Before my education class, there are several activities I must do and it is compulsory. Failure to do them may result in a fail for the program and forfeiture of the fee that I have paid, which is about $600.00 including HST.  One of the tasks I must complete is to keep a daily log of my alcohol consumption.  This log includes the type of drink (wine, beer, hard liquor) as well as any non-prescribed drugs.  I must record how many drinks I had according to a standardized measurement (1 12 oz. beer = 1 drink,  5 oz (142 ml) wine = 1 drink) each day, who I was with,  my mood that day, and whether I would have been a risk under the circumstances for driving impaired.

The next assignments include the “Education Program Participant Workbook 2nd Edition” that comes with the Back On Track program.  I am required to complete page 4 of the workbook  which consists of a dozen statements which are either true or false;  read pages 17 to 21 which basically consist of information about the health effects of long term heavy drinking and then complete the exercises on pages 22 through 24 – a personal evaluation; read pages 41-42  followed by an exercise about the costs of impaired driving to me; and finally, to read pages 59, 60, 61, 65 & 66 which is a section on setting goals in regard to alcohol use.

None of the homework is terribly difficult, and will be simple enough to complete.