The demand for addiction counselors continues to rise year after year, and if you’ve ever thought about becoming a certified addiction counselor, we can help you get started and provide you with some helpful facts about this rewarding profession.
1. Certified Addiction Counselors Have Many Names
While many states use the term Certified Addiction Counselor or CAC, there are also other common names for this job. Many states call these professionals Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, or a CADC. In some cases, this professional might be known as an Alcohol Drug Counselor or ADC. Typically, while the names vary, the educational requirements for a CAC, CADC or ADC are the same.
2. Certified Addiction Counselors Work In Many Places
While residential treatment facilities and outpatient treatment facilities are two common places where an addiction counselor will work, there are other options. For instance, you might work within the criminal justice system to help people in jail or leaving jail to manage their recovery post-release.
You might work as part of a community prevention program or perhaps act as a community liaison to help prevent addiction with children and teenagers. You might work with a veteran’s program or perhaps work with domestic violence victims or offenders. There are many options where you can make a difference, and most of these options are in high demand.
3. You Don’t Need A College Degree
One of the great things about becoming an addiction counselor is that you don’t necessarily need a college degree, although it can reduce the number of supervised work experience you need to complete before earning your credential.
For instance, if you want to become a CADC-I, which is the first level you attain as a Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselor, but you have no college degree, you complete 315 hours of approved education, a 255-hour field practicum and 3,000 hours of supervised work experience. You also have to pass the IC&RC exam.
If you have an associate’s degree in behavioral science or an allied mental health profession, all of the requirements are the same except you only need to complete 2,080 of supervised work experience.
To become a CADC-II, which is a higher level of counselor, no degree is needed and even if you have an associate’s degree, the requirements are the same, including the 315 hours of approved education, the 255-hour practicum experience and passing the IC&RC exam. A CADC-II, however, must complete 6,000 hours of supervised work experience. Keep in mind, aside from the practicum hours, this is a paid work experience, it’s simply supervised work.
If you do have a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science or an allied mental health profession, you can work toward earning your CADC-III certification. Again, you’ll have the same hours of education and practicum and need to pass the IC&RC exam. But you will only need 4,000 of supervised work experience instead of the 6,000 required for a CADC-II credential.
You might be wondering about what those hours really mean. If you work 40 hours a week as a counselor, it will take one year to complete the 2,080 needed for CADC-I certification with an associate’s degree and about 18 months to complete the 3,000 hours for a CADC-I credential without an associate’s degree.
4. You Can Finish Your Education In 6 Months Or Less
At Sober College, we can provide you with the classes you need to complete the 315 hours of approved education as well as help you fulfill those practicum hours, which are kind of like what student teachers go through before they earn their teaching credential. You can complete your practicum hours concurrently as you complete your other classes, typically beginning in Month 2.
We have two online educational options – our traditional online counselor training and a self-paced program. With the traditional program, you take one class per month and can complete the program in just six months. With the self-paced program, you can finish as quickly as just three months, or you can take up to 18 months to finish, thus allowing you to truly customize your education.
Our curriculum is CCAPP-approved, NAADAC-approved, IC&RC-approved and that’s important. NAADAC is a nationally recognized association for addiction professionals, while CCAPP is a California-based association. IC&RC is the organization responsible for providing testing for people wishing to become addiction specialists. Our curriculum provides the quality education you need to become a certified addiction counselor and to pass the rigorous IC&RC exams.
While we are CCAPP-approved we offer education for students outside of California. Our NAADAC approval and IC&RC approval ensure that we meet the educational requirements set forth by many states and because we are online, we make it easy to complete those requirements.
We’ve been providing online education for years, long before it was made necessary by the current pandemic, so we have far more experience providing online education than most other providers. We ensure that you attain the knowledge you need and have access to professors with real-world experience as addiction specialists.
5. You Don’t Have To Be In Recovery
We often are asked if it’s preferable to be in recovery or preferable to have not had any personal experience with addiction if you want to become a certified addiction counselor. There’s no wrong or right answer to this question. People in recovery have a unique perspective that they can share with their patients, as do those who might have lost a friend or family member to addiction.
However, even if your life has not been touched by addiction, you could still become an excellent counselor. If you are a patient and empathetic person, and a good listener, these are signs that you might make a great counselor. You don’t have to experience addiction to understand how painful and difficult recovery can be.
In general, the skills needed by a certified addiction counselor include the aforementioned patience and empathy, but also excellent organizational skills. There is a great deal of paperwork to handle for each patient, so your ability to handle this paperwork and work as a liaison with other health professionals will be important skills.
Additionally, it’s smart to read the overview of our curriculum, which can be found at https://sobercollege.com/substance-use-counselor/substance-abuse-curriculum/. During your educational training, you will take six online classes as well as two sessions of supervised practicum. Classes include subjects ranging from Law & Ethics, Case Management and Individual, Group, and Family Counseling. If these subjects are of interest to you, then this might be a great career move to make.
6. Counseling Can Be Stressful, But Rewarding
We’d be lying if we said that working as a certified addiction counselor was always easy and stress-free. After all, you are helping people through some of the most difficult times of their lives and that can be tough on the patient and the counselor. However, the rewards of this profession can be huge, and helping others heal is meaningful and who doesn’t want a career where they truly make a difference in people’s lives?
Whether you are guiding a person from rehab to recovery or helping them during recovery or even creating programs to help people make healthier choices, you are making a positive impact on people’s lives. If you are a people-person, organized and able to multi-task, this career can be a great fit for you.
Of course, not every patient will be a success story, so you need to be somewhat pragmatic. Sometimes a patient will find success, but sometimes they will still struggle with addiction. It’s important to be able to realize that when you help one person, you also are helping their friends and family, as well. Our work as counselors can help rebuild families and friendships, as well as rebuilding our patients’ lives. While all professions have their utility, if you’ve been searching for a truly meaningful career, becoming an addiction specialist might be the perfect fit.
7. You Can Start Today!
At Sober College School of Addiction Studies, we offer rolling admissions so you can jump-start your new career as a certified addiction counselor at any time. To get started you will need your high school diploma (or your GED) and any college transcripts (if you have them). Then you need to complete our online application and speak with an admissions counselor.
Tuition for our accelerated online program is $2,500 and you also spend about $300 to $500 on books. All other materials are included in the cost of our program. While we do not accept financial aid, we do offer a student payment plan where you can break down the costs over the course of your program. As an IC&RC member and an approved education provider in 47 states, we can help just about anyone get the education they need to become a certified addiction counselor. To get started, you can fill out the quick contact form on our homepage or click on the Get Started tab at the top of this page. A Sober College representative will be in touch to answer any questions you may have and help you sign up for our program.
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