If you’ve been considering making a career change and diving into the world of substance abuse counseling, Sober College of Addiction Studies can help. Not only can we help you fulfill the education requirements for your credential, we also can provide you with helpful addiction counselor salary and job facts.
What Is The Typical Addiction Counselor Salary?
In general, an entry-level certified drug and alcohol counselor (CADC) can expect to earn more than $20 per hour and a salary of about $42,000 per year. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for addiction counselors was $48,250 per year.
Of course, this does vary based on location. For instance, the median salary for addiction specialists in California was about $63,000, while in states such as Ohio and Texas, the average annual salary was about $55,000. Of course, as you gain experience, a higher salary will be earned.
Generally, a full-time certified addiction counselor also will receive benefits in addition to their substance abuse counselor salary. For instance, most employers will cover medical insurance costs for their employees, and some might also have additional benefits such as vision or dental insurance and perhaps even 401K or retirement plans. Paid vacation days also should be part of your employment package.
What Do Addiction Counselors Do?
As the job title suggests, counseling is a big part of the job, but there are many other tasks that counselors will need to handle. In general, the 12 Core Functions of Addiction Counseling serve as a good snapshot of what to expect during your career as an addiction specialist. These functions include:
- Patient Screening
- Intake
- Orientation
- Assessment
- Treatment Planning
- Counseling
- Case Management
- Crisis Intervention
- Client Education
- Referral
- Reporting & Record Keeping
- Consultation With Other Professionals
Substance abuse counselors work at many different types of facilities including inpatient and outpatient treatment facilities, hospitals, community centers, homeless shelters, schools and even within the criminal justice system.
Addiction counselors have to handle a great deal of paperwork as well as work with other professionals to develop long-term treatment plans for their clients. This includes working with mental health counselors, social workers, doctors and others to ensure that all of your client’s needs are met.
While addiction counselors need to be caring, empathetic and good listeners, they also need to be organized and efficient. This can be an excellent career choice for anyone with wants to truly help others, but also has realistic expectations about all of the facets of this job.
How To Become An Addiction Counselor
In order to become a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC), you must fulfill several requirements, including:
- Complete 315 Hours of Approved Education
- Complete 255 Practicum Hours
- Pass The IC&RC Alcohol and Drug Counselor Exam
- Complete Your Supervised Work Experience Hours
At Sober College of Addiction Studies, we can get you started on your new career as a CADC. Through our program, you can complete all of your educational units as well as your practicum hours.
Our entire program also can be completed in just six months, and we offer rolling admissions so you can enroll at any time. Best of all, our coursework can be completed online, which allows you to fit learning into your schedule rather than having to attend in-person classes.
Our curriculum is NAACP-approved, CCAPP-approved and IC&RC-approved, which means it can be used in virtually every state. The only exceptions include Alaska, Montana and North Dakota, which have unique educational requirements.
Once you’ve completed your educational units and practicum, you can take the IC&RC exam and begin working toward the completion of your supervised work experience hours. The number of hours required varies based on the level of CADC certification you wish to earn.
To become a CADC-I, for instance, you must complete 3,000 hours of supervised work. If you have an associate’s degree, either in behavioral science or an allied mental health profession, you need only complete 2,080 hours.
For a CADC-II credential, you must complete 6,000 hours of work experience, regardless of your level of education or any earned degrees. If you have earned a bachelor’s degree, however, you can opt to become a CADC-III, which requires 4,000 hours of work experience. While this work is supervised, it is also paid, so you will be earning your addiction counselor salary as you work toward earning your credential.
Get Started Today!
We hope this blog has helped you better understand what to expect regarding an addiction counselor salary as well as what this job entails. If you are excited about getting started in a career that truly helps others, you can enroll in our program at any time. Just click on the Get Started tab on our homepage and either begin your enrollment or contact a member of our team to ask further questions about our program.
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