If you’ve been considering making a career change and earning your substance abuse certificate, Sober College of Addiction Studies can help you with one of the first steps in the process of becoming an addiction counselor – completing your education. But, let’s take a look at all of the requirements you’ll need to fulfill so you can have a better idea of what’s required.
First Step: Assess Your Skills
Before diving into any new career option, it’s crucial to determine whether or not you would be a good fit for the profession. When it comes to substance abuse counseling, we recommend that you check out our article about the 12 Core Functions of Substance Abuse Counseling. This will provide you with a good idea of the types of tasks that counselors must handle on a daily basis.
While actual counseling sessions are an important part of substance abuse counselor jobs, these professionals also must be highly organized and able to handle a great deal of paperwork. So, while empathy and strong listening and communication skills are important, you also must be able to handle the many tasks associated with case management.
Second Step: Complete Your Educational Requirements
There are several different types of addiction specialists, and one of the most common is the Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor or CADC. This job also is known as an Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADC) or perhaps a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LADC). While the names are not always the same from state to state, the educational requirements usually are about the same and 315 hours of approved education is required.
Whether you are trying to earn ADC certification, CADC certification or another similar title, Sober College is an approved provider of addiction studies education for individuals throughout the United States. As we are based in California, our curriculum is CCAPP-approved, but it is also NAADAC-approved and IC&R-approved, which means it can be used in just about every state except Alaska, Montana and North Dakota.
Our certificate program can be completed online and in just six months. In addition to the 315 hours of education, our program also helps you fulfill the 255-hour practicum requirement. This fieldwork practicum is a short internship where you will work at an approved facility and will spend at least 21 hours working on each of the 12 Core Functions.
In addition to the convenience of an online education, we also offer rolling admissions, so you can begin working toward earning your counseling certificate at any time. Our program also is far less expensive than any program at a traditional university with total costs at just $3,850 and additional book costs of $300 to $500. That is all you will pay for our program, and there are no hidden fees. This cost can be paid for in full or spread over six months or 12 months, depending on your needs.
Third Step: Pass The IC&RC Exam
IC&RC stands for International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium and this organization provides standardized testing for several types of addiction specialists. To earn your CADC certification, you will need to pass the Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADC) exam.
Our curriculum, along with your work experience and practicum experiences should provide you with the knowledge you need to pass this exam, which has about a 70% pass rate.
Fourth Step: Complete Your Work Experience Hours
Required work experience hours vary by state and depend upon the type of substance abuse certification you are working toward earning. For instance, there are three levels of CADC – CADC-I, CADC-II and CADC-II. A CADC I must complete 2,080 hours of supervised work experience if the person has earned an associate’s degree in behavior science or an allied mental health profession. Without this degree, one must complete 3,000 hours.
A CADC-II must earn 6,000 hours and no college is required nor will college degrees reduce this hour requirement. CADC-I’s often work toward CADC II certification after they complete their CADC-I certification. A CADC-III must possess a bachelor’s degree, and they also will need to complete 4,000 hours of supervised work for their substance abuse certificate. These work hours are paid work, and all of your practicum hours (255 in all) will count toward this total.
Fifth Step: Apply For Your Credential
Every state has a credentialing board that will ask you to complete an application, pay a fee and provide proof of your education, IC&RC exam score and your practicum and work experience hours. Once you’ve made it this far, this step is usually the easiest in the entire process!
Sixth Step: Continue Your Education
You must renew your credential every two years and in order to renew the credential you must complete a specific number of continuing education (CE) hours. For instance, if you wish to renew a CADC credential in California, 50 hours of CE units are required and six of these units must be related to ethics and confidentiality. Other states might have different requirements, but that is generally what you can expect in terms of CE units.
Learn More Or Enroll Now!
If you want to earn your substance abuse certificate but have questions about our addiction studies program, head to the Get Started tab on our homepage and select Speak With Somone and fill out our quick contact form. If you wish to download our application, simply head to the Appy section, which also can be found under the Get Started tab.
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