If you wish to become a licensed addiction counselor, you must complete several steps. One of which is completion of your practicum hours. At Sober College, this step is included in our program. Here’s a look at what to expect from this experience, and why it’s a crucial part of counselor training.
What Is A Practicum?
A practicum is a supervised, hands-on learning experience where you apply what you’ve studied in a realistic setting. For an addiction counseling trainee, this involves working at a licensed facility where addiction treatment is provided.
All states require students to complete practicum hours for certification, although the number of hours varies from state to state. In general, you will need to complete at least 255 hours of practicum experience to earn your certification.
Our program includes eight classes, and two of these classes are student practicums. The first practicum, which includes 45 clock hours, is typically a part-time observation experience where students go to approved substance use disorder (SUD) treatment facilities and get a look at the day-to-day experience of being a substance abuse counselor.
The second practicum, which in our program includes 255 hours, is a hands-on experience where you will truly begin to utilize all you have learned so far in your studies.
You will be required to spend at least 21 hours handling each of the 12 Core Functions of Addiction Counseling. These functions include the typical tasks that a certified addiction counselor must handle in the course of their work, and they include:
- Screening – During this process, counselors determine whether a person is eligible and appropriate for a treatment program.
- Intake – Counselors must gather essential information to complete the admission process.
- Orientation – During orientation, you will introduce the client to your program’s services, rules, and expectations.
- Assessment – While you will cover some of this during screening, this is a deeper dive into the client’s substance use, as well as their needs, strengths, and challenges.
- Treatment Planning – During this phase, personalized goals and treatment plans are developed.
- Counseling – Through individual, group, and family counseling sessions, you can help clients understand problems, develop coping skills, and make positive changes.
- Case Management – Counselors must coordinate services and resources needed to support recovery for each client.
- Crisis Intervention – If an urgent or dangerous situation arises, the counselor will need to provide immediate support.
- Client Education – During treatment, counselors will teach clients and their families about addiction, as well as treatment and recovery.
- Referral – This involves connecting the client with services that their current program cannot provide, such as social services, peer-recovery groups, employment services, housing and shelter assistance, legal aid, mental health counseling, and more.
- Reporting & Recordkeeping – Paperwork is a big part of your work as an addiction counselor, and you will need to document everything from assessments to treatment planning to progress reports and other important information.
- Consultation – Counselors will need to collaborate with other professionals to ensure that all of their clients’ needs are met. This might include talking to doctors or mental health professionals, social workers, and others.
While your educational coursework will describe each of these tasks in detail, your practicum experience should ensure that you have had hands-on experience with these tasks before you become a certified counselor. Typically, it takes about 6-8 weeks to complete a practicum if you work at a facility full-time. Again, every state has unique practicum hour requirements, so be sure to research what’s required in your area.
In addition to the practicum experience, Sober College also requires students to complete all assignments in our Supervised Practicum Course workbook as well as earn a final exam score of 75% or higher.
Additional Certification Requirements
Typically, the first step toward becoming a licensed addiction counselor is to begin working toward completion of your educational units. At Sober College, our educational program can be used by students who wish to become a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, or CADC.
Depending on your state, a CADC also might be known as an Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADC) or perhaps a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LADC) or another similar title. While the names might vary, most states require 315 hours of education, which is what we include in our program.
Once you have completed the educational units as well as your practicum, you will need to earn a passing score on the IC&RC Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADC) exam. IC&RC is an international organization that provides certification testing for several types of addiction specialists, including CADCs.
After these requirements have been completed, you can begin working toward completion of your work experience hours, some of which will be supervised. The number of work hours needed to earn your CADC certification varies by state. For instance, in California, a CADC I must complete 3,000 hours of work experience to become certified.
Unlike the practicum, these work hours will be paid and typically include benefits such as health care coverage and perhaps paid time off. Additionally, in many states, all or a portion of your practicum hours will count toward this total.
Become A Licensed Addiction Counselor
If you are considering a career as a SUD counselor, our program is IC&RC-approved and NAADAC-approved, which means it can be used in most states to complete educational requirements. Our program is 100% online and can be completed in just six months, including your practicum.
As a licensed addiction counselor, you will have the unique opportunity to truly help others every day, guiding them toward recovery. Ready to get started? Just head to our homepage and select the “Apply” tab. From there, you can download our application and begin the registration process.
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