What Does an Addiction Counselor Do?
Two types of counselors deal with addictions: mental health counselors and substance maltreat counselors. Mental health counselors much help tribe or groups with a too many variation of issues including depression, stress, and sometimes addiction or substance maul.
Substance injure counselors spotlight their entire practice on people with addictions. Their clients may have problems with drugs, alcohol, gambling, or regular eating disorders. A lot of times they sway accumulation sessions for addicts or their families, or fall programs fanatic to preventing addictions.
Longitude Do Addiction Counselors Work?
A wide collection of facilities engage addiction counselors. Those that enrol the most include:
Outpatient Care Centers
Residential Mental Retardation, Mental Health and Substance Bully Facilities
Select and Family Services
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals
Other industries enrol far fewer professionals, but offer higher salaries:
Insurance Carriers
Elementary and Secondary Schools
Specialty Hospitals ( except Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Hospitals )
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools
Local government is the one industry that makes the top 5 list in both categories.
Working hours can also vary widely depending on where you work. Some counselors work evening and weekend hours to accommodate people with full - time jobs, others may work more traditional hours.
How Do You Become an Addiction Counselor?
Both education and licensing requirements vary by state, especially if you want to become a substance abuse counselor. In most states, a different agency or board governs them than the one that governs all other counselors. For instance, substance abuse counselors may only need a high school diploma plus counselor certification. By contrast, other counselors need a master ' s degree, up to 2 - years of supervised clinical experience, and a passing score on a state - recognized exam to obtain a license.
In any counseling field, you can choose to take an exam to receive national certification through the National Board for Certified Counselors ( NBCC ). It ' s not mandatory, but it does indicate to employers a certain level of proficiency.
The Association for Addiction Professionals ( NAADAC ) offers several other optional certifications specifically for addiction counselors. There are certificate programs focusing on drugs and alcohol, tobacco, and adolescent addictions. Finally, the Master Addiction Counselor certification is for those counselors who have a master ' s degree plus three years of supervised experience. Again, none of these are required for licensing but they can advance your career.
Job Prospects and Salaries for Addiction Counselors
While job prospects are excellent and growing rapidly, people don ' t enter this profession to make huge amounts of money. The median earnings for addiction counselors in 2006 were $34, 040, considerably lower than those of psychologists. Addiction counseling is an easier field to enter, however, with generally lower education requirements. Salaries are higher at the top employers, with mean annual wages at $42, 430 for local government and mean salaries over $49, 000 for those employed at elementary and secondary schools or with insurance carriers.
People who enter this profession can be proud of their work, helping individuals and loved ones deal with the difficulties of addictions and hopefully overcome them.
