If you’ve ever longed for a rewarding career where you spend your days helping others, becoming a CADC I or CADC II might be the perfect option. But what exactly does this professional do and how do you get started? At Sober College, we can answer all of your questions and help you jump start your new career.
What Is A CADC?
You may already know that a CADC is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. But many people are unsure what that career actually entails. As a CADC, you will be working either at an outpatient facility or an inpatient facility. With an outpatient facility, you typically work the standard 9 to 5 hours, five days per week. In an inpatient facility, your hours may vary because this facility provides 24-hour care, seven days per week.
In general, though, a CADC might be responsible for the following tasks:
Patient Intake
When a new patient arrives at a treatment facility, many tasks must be accomplished, and this includes quite a bit of paperwork. You also may be responsible for inspecting a patient’s luggage to remove any banned items.
This doesn’t just include drug or alcohol-related items and weapons. Many facilities ban all electronics as well as specific types of clothing, over-the-counter medicines and much more. If a patient does need prescription medication, this is typically held by the facility as well, as given as needed or prescribed.
Patient Assessment
Every patient is completely unique, and in order to create a comprehensive care plan, we must first begin with assessment and you’ll need to take a deep dive in to fully understand your patient’s history.
During your training as a CADC I or CADC II, you will learn strategies for talking with your patients and helping them to share their complex histories with you. A patient may come to you to deal with opioid addiction or alcohol addiction, but it’s crucial that you look back and try to see how this addiction started. This includes looking at personal traumas as well as other mental health issues.
Many of your patients aren’t just suffering from the disease of addiction; they’ve been battling other health issues as well. This could be anything from bi-polar disorder and depression to anorexia to chronic pain or diseases such as diabetes. They might also have additional addictions, not related to substance abuse, such as gambling addictions or sex addictions. It’s crucial that you have the full picture in order to treat all of the issues that a person is facing.
Creating Treatment Plans
Once you’ve completed a thorough assessment, you can begin planning a course of action. This includes the type of counseling that might be needed, as well as medical professionals that might need to become involved.
For instance, you may have a client that needs treatment for a mental health issues as well as chronic pain. These will be services that you will need to add to the treatment plan that go above and beyond addiction treatment.
It’s crucial to keep in mind, that people don’t just wake up one day, pop a pill or drink a beer and become addicts. Addiction happens over time and usually relates to an underlying problem. For instance, a person who has been abused might turn to drugs and alcohol to soothe their pain or a person who has experienced a traumatic injury might become addicted to pain medication and eventually move on to additional types of drugs.
Your treatment plan needs to identify all of the issues that must be addressed, not just the addiction. For instance, for that person in chronic pain, we need to find ways to alleviate the pain issue. For people with past traumas, we need to help them find ways to heal from these scars, whether physically or emotionally inflicted.
Counseling
As a CADC I or CADC II, you will be scheduling and leading various types of counseling sessions. Most facilities will offer individual, group and family counseling, and some patients will benefit from all three types of counseling while others might only need one or two types of counseling.
Learning how to handle all three types will be part of your training, both your coursework and during your practicum hours. These are hours where you are actually working at an approved facility and handling patient care.
Each type of counseling has its own unique challenges. For instance, with family sessions, you typically will be dealing with a high level of emotion, which can be tricky to manage, but highly valuable if you lead the session well.
With group counseling, you will learn how to juggle the input of many different individuals, managing time as well as managing the emotions of the group and seeking to end each session on a positive note, if possible. Of course, don’t equate the word positive with happy. Sometimes, letting out emotions or admitting an unpleasant truth, is a highly positive outcome, as it can facilitate healing.
Intervention & Crisis Counseling
Often, a person’s first step into recovery begins after an intervention. A well-planned intervention can be a valuable tool, and during your CADC training, you will learn how to handle these types of sessions. Typically, interventions are most successful when led by a counselor and planned in advanced. The goal is not to throw judgement and anger on the person needing treatment, but rather to express love and concern and support.
Additionally, you will be learning how to handle various crises as they arise during treatment. During the treatment process, it’s not unusual for patients to encounter a crisis. As a counselor, you need to learn to identify signs that indicate a crisis is building and learn how to work through these crises with your patient. In many cases, a crisis can lead to a change in the course of treatment, so you may need to adjust the strategy or plan after a crisis has occurred.
Referral & Long-Term Care
Recovery isn’t finished after a 30-day stay in rehab, a month of outpatient treatment or even a three-month stay in a sober living facility. Recovery is a lifetime process, and it doesn’t just end suddenly once a patient walks out that door.
As you create a treatment plan, you’ll need to be thinking about long-range plans for the next six months, the next year and the next five years. You need to help your patient set goals as well as providing them with referrals for outside help. Your patient needs to be able to find help at a moment’s notice, 24/7, especially during the first year after initial treatment.
You will be helping your patient find suitable doctors and therapists, as well as support groups in their immediate area. This includes helping them find treatment for whatever other issues they are facing, including mental health issues and physical health issues. You’ll also want to arm your patient with strategies and life skills that will get them through those tough times.
How Much Does A CADC Make?
While you may be diving into this career because you want to help others heal, there are still bills to pay, so you probably are wondering what you can expect to earn, money-wise, as a CADC I or CADC II.
The typical hourly rate for a CADC ranges from about $13 up to $24 per hour, depending on your years of experience, educational background and the geographic region where you live. Some positions pay by the hour, while other positions are salaried jobs. Typically, the average CADC will earn about $17 per hour and about $32,000 per year. Keep in mind, however, that many employers offer insurance benefits, vacation days and other types of benefits which are above and beyond the salary.
CADC I & CADC II: What’s The Difference?
Both of these professionals tend to have the same daily tasks as counselors and both have to complete 315 hours of approved education as well as 255 practicum hours and a passing score on the IC&RC exam. The difference lies in the number of supervised work experience after the practicum or internship hours have been completed.
If you are working toward earning your CADC I certification without a degree, you will must complete 3,000 hours of supervised work experience. If you want CADC I certification and you have an associate’s degree in a related field, you need just 2,080 hours of supervised work experience.
For the CADC II certification, you will need to complete 6,000 hours of supervised work experience, and your educational background has no bearing on this requirement. So, if you have no degree, but complete all of the requirements, you can become a CADC II.
It’s important to note that your practicum hours will be included in this supervised work experience. You simply have to complete the practicum before you can move on to the rest of your supervised work experience.
How long does this all take? Well, if you are going for CADC I certification, and you work 40 hours per week, you could earn about 1,800 hours in a single year, which means, it could take less than two years to earn certification. Of course, all of these “supervised” hours are paid work; you’ll simply be supervised by a more experienced counselor.
How Do I Get CADC I & CADC II Certification?
Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Don’t be. At Sober College, we will provide you with all of the coursework you need in order to become an outstanding CADC I or CADC II. Additionally, we’ll help you find a suitable location for your practicum experiences. Best of all, you can finish in just six months!
We have several options for those wishing to attain their CADC I or CADC II certification. We have an in-class learning option that allows you to meet one weekend per month in a traditional classroom setting and we also offer an online program.
This online program is an excellent option for students who do not live near our Los Angeles-area campus as well as students that need more flexible hours for coursework. With our in-class or standard online programs, you will complete one course per month and will be moving on to your practicum experiences in just six months.
We also offer a self-paced program, which can be completed in as little and three months or you can take as long as 18 months to complete the self-paced coursework. No matter which option you select, you will be able to speak with professors and take part in online student discussions.
All of our professors either currently or work in the field or have retired after many years of experience and they can provide you with a wealth of practical information. To get started, just click here https://sobercollege.com/become-a-certified-drug-counselor/apply-now/ and you can begin the application process.
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