If you are looking to make a career switch and want a job where you truly help others every day, addiction counseling can be a perfect choice. At Sober College of Addiction Studies, we can provide you with all of the educational hours you need to earn your substance abuse counselor certification.
What Do Addiction Counselors Do?
On television, it seems that addiction counseling entails days spent in therapy sessions, and while therapy is certainly part of the job, there are many more tasks that professional counselors must handle daily.
An addiction specialist can work in a variety of settings including mental health facilities, in-patient or outpatient treatment programs, hospitals or even for nonprofit and community organizations.
In general, as you will learn during your time at Sober College, substance abuse counselors must be able to master what is known as the 12 Core Functions of Addiction Counseling, which include the following.
Patient Screening – This is the first step before a person is enrolled in an addiction treatment program and the counselor will determine whether or not the potential patient is a good match for the program.
Intake – If a patient does seem like a good match, the intake process commences and the patient will need to sign several consent forms as well as provide information about insurance, emergency contacts, any medications they are taking, medical conditions, etc.
Orientation – During this process, you familiarize your patient with the rules of the facility as well as what to expect on a daily basis. If you work at an outpatient facility, you might provide a tour of the building and explain working hours, etc.
Assessment – During that initial intake, you will gather as much information as possible, but during the assessment phase, you take much more time to get to know your patient and all of their issues so you can begin to create an addiction treatment plan that will guide them toward long-term sobriety and success.
Treatment Planning – In order for addiction treatment to be successful, you must think about the whole patient, and not just their addiction to alcohol or drugs. You will need to address all of the issues they are facing. For instance, do they have co-occurring mental health disorders or chronic pain? Successful treatment includes finding ways to help with all of the issues your patient faces and not just substance abuse treatment.
Counseling – When it comes to counseling, this might include individual therapy sessions one-on-one with your patient, as well as leading support groups with multiple people and engaging in family therapy with your patient’s family and friends.
Case Management – Organizational skills are important for most jobs, but addiction counselors must be able to manage many facets of a client’s case, from helping them find doctors and services after release from treatment to creating a plan for long-term sobriety.
Crisis Intervention – It’s common for clients to reach a crisis point during treatment and learning how to help guide your client through the crisis and lead them to a healthier state of mind will be an important part of your job. Providing emotional support is an important part of the treatment process.
Client Education – Often your clients don’t understand the medical aspects of addiction and understanding how they became addicted and how substances affect our brain and body can be a helpful part of recovery. Clients also need to know about the many resources available to them after they complete their initial phase of treatment.
Referral – As stated above, treatment planning isn’t just about dealing with the immediate need to gain sobriety, it’s about long-term treatment of all of the issues your patient faces. This often means you will need to work with medical professionals, community outreach programs, therapists, psychiatrists and others. Your clients will need mental health counseling and often medical-related health care after they leave your treatment program.
Reporting & Record Keeping – Paperwork is a big part of the daily work of an addiction counselor, and you will need to be able to keep thorough records for each patient that comes your way.
Consultation With Other Professionals – Sometimes you will encounter an issue where you need some advice or help from another professional. This might be a counselor with more years of experience than you or perhaps an expert in some type of addiction specialties, such as an intervention specialist or criminal justice specialist.
How To Become An Addiction Counselor
To become a certified drug and alcohol counselor (CADC), you must fulfill several requirements, the first of which is completed 315 hours of approved education. The curriculum you select must be approved by your state credentialing organization.
As part of your substance abuse training, you also must complete 255 hours of field practicum, which is basically an internship. Additional requirements include passing the IC&RC Addiction and Drug Counselor exam, and you must complete a specific number of supervised work experience hours. The number of supervised work hours you must complete depends upon several factors.
For instance, to become a CADC-I, you must complete 3,000 hours of supervised work experience. However, if you do have an associate’s degree in behavioral science, behavioral health or an allied mental health profession, this is reduced to 2,080 hours.
To become a CADC-II, you must complete 6,000 hours of supervised work experience, regardless of any earned degrees. Keep in mind, that to become a CADC-I or CADC-II, you only need a high school diploma, and no college degrees are required.
The highest level of CADC is the CADC-III, and these individuals must possess a bachelor’s degree. They also must complete the same educational requirements and practicum as a CADC-I or CADC-II, and complete 4,000 hours of supervised work experience.
Why Enroll In Sober College?
Sober College’s curriculum is CCAPP-approved, NAADAC-approved and IC&RC-reciprocal. This means students throughout the United States can use Sober College to complete their required educational hours. The only states where we do not have reciprocity include Alaska, Montana and North Dakota.
Our program is entirely online, and we’ve been providing high-quality online education for years, so our system is tried-and-true and user-friendly. It takes just six months to complete your coursework and instructors are available to assist students daily and can be reached via email 24.7 with a 24-hour turnaround time for an email response.
We also offer rolling admissions, so you can begin at any time and even enroll online quickly and easily. Unlike many other programs, there are no hidden fees with Sober College. Our program tuition is just $2,500 with an additional $300-$500 for book purchases. All other class materials are included in the cost of our program.
Get Started Today!
To apply for Sober College’s addiction counseling program, simply click on the Get Started tab at the top of this page and click on Apply. If you have questions, you also can use this tab and select the Speak With Someone tab and fill out our quick content form.
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