Certified Addiction Counselor

Addiction is an ever-prevalent problem for a lot of societies today, and it is for the most part not getting any better. The good news is it is clear that addiction treatment does work, and our current treatment ideas are more effective than ever. The bad news is there isn’t nearly enough available treatment for everyone that needs it. A wise career choice for someone interested in taking part in addiction treatment is becoming a certified addiction counselor.

It’s an ever-growing field, and there is always a high demand for certified addiction counselors all over the United States and indeed much of the entire world. One clear benefit of being a certified addiction counselor is that you’ll never be out of work. This is good in the sense of job security, but of course bad in the sense that it’s a measure of how prevalent the disease of addiction is.

As a certified addiction counselor you can do a lot of different things in the field of addiction treatment. Most treatment facilities have a whole host of different positions, all of which require some training in addiction treatment and a good understanding of treatment facilities. As a certified addiction counselor you can of course become involved in a lot of group or one on one counseling, but you can also find work as an intake counselor, after care counselor, relapse prevention specialist, treatment planner, and much more.

A good certification to seek if you are interested in becoming a certified addiction counselor is by way of the NAADAC (National Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors) organization. Most states have a NAADAC affiliated certification board; in California, where I’m from, it is called CAADAC. These certifications tend to be the most respected and the most intensive. While many states have yet to choose a required minimum standard for certified addiction counselors, having a NAADAC affiliated certification is a guarantee that you’ll be well above the requirements.

I’ve been working on a CAADAC certification myself, and even though I’m not yet a certified addiction counselor I’ve found plenty of work just with the CAADAC training I’ve completed to date. Having completed the educational requirements to be a certified addiction counselor, I just need to accumulate the 6000 required internship hours to get my CAADAC certification. It’s a huge number of hours, and it’s a big part of the reason why CAAADAC certified addiction counselors are so well respected in the field.