Hopefully, you have had some opportunity to practice your refusal skills since completing the “Learning and Practicing Refusal Skills” module. It doesn’t matter whether or not you were actually offered alcohol or other drugs - you can still practice these skills on your own.
Practice includes running through what you would say if somebody did offer you a drink, a smoke or a hit. So, hopefully you have practiced saying “NO” out loud, just to get comfortable with this response.
It is often difficult to refuse someone who is offering you alcohol/other drugs. This is particularly the case if you don’t want to offend the other person. It can be tough to say “no”, particularly when you have said “yes” before.
But, equally important are your feelings and your goals, so it is a good idea to practice what you might say in these situations before they happen.
Remember the key ways to get your message across, in a way that you feel comfortable, and that won’t offend the other person are (Monti et al., 1989):
