Social media (SM), which is frequently preferred by young people, poses a risk of addiction when used excessively and unconsciously. Having self-awareness and becoming digitally literate, unlike other university students, is essential for psychological counselor candidates (PCC) in terms of preventive counseling they will do in the institutions…

Historically, paraprofessionals and those trained outside the counseling field have provided addiction counseling services to people struggling with addictions. In 2009, CACREP introduced standardized addictions training for counselors. Within the CACREP standards, no formalized structure exists to guide addiction content integration into…

Social workers have an important role in the field of mental health, and social work programs have a responsibility to prepare students for practice in the field. This scoping review mapped and synthesized the literature on mental health, addictions, and suicide in social work education and training. We found 51 articles that examined social work…

Social work educators must prioritize effective preparation of MSW students for the pivotal roles they will play in supporting clients struggling with Substance Use Disorders (SUDs). Understanding what concerns MSW students have about working in the substance use field can highlight student training needs and inform learner-centered curricula.…

Given the prevalence of sex addiction (SA) among collegiate populations, the authors designed this study to examine college counselors' training in SA, use of formal assessments, and referrals to support groups. Results indicated that 84.4% of college counselors (N = 77) had at least one client present with SA-related issues in the past year.…

Life challenges and traumas come in many forms and the capacity to bounce back, adapt, and move on to a new normal also comes in many forms. This study examined some common life challenges and trauma experiences and how persons in these have reacted and grown past the experiences. The study also used action research to provide graduate student…

Counselors-in-training may struggle in working with addictions populations for various reasons, including limited training, pre-existing stigma toward the population, and low self-efficacy treating substance use disorders. This is concerning because professional counselors have the highest proportion of clients with a primary substance abuse…

Currently, addiction counseling services are provided by individuals who do not possess degrees in addictions counseling or have had courses in addictions-related content in their academic programs of study. There is recognition that addictions counseling is nonexistent or inconsistent in academic curriculum in higher education. Other allied…

The present study is a qualitative exploration of the conceptualizations of substance use, abuse, dependence, and treatment from the perspectives of Italian and American counselors-in-training. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with two Italian and two American graduate-level counseling students. Thematic elements identified…

Social work is uniquely situated among helping professions, as the clinical practice is an extension of ethical responsibility to pursue social justice. Whether in mental health, addictions, child protection, intimate partner violence services, youth and adult homelessness programs, or any number of social work services, the individuals, families,…

As gambling opportunities proliferate, social workers are likely to see clients with gambling-related problems, but they often lack the expertise to address these concerns. This descriptive study assessed the inclusion of content on gambling-related problems in graduate social work curricula. Responses to an online survey from 86 (43.7%) of the…

The Internet offers unprecedented opportunity for individuals to have anonymous, inexpensive, and unrestricted access to an essentially unlimited range of sexually explicit materials. Counseling clients are increasingly presenting with problematic issues regarding Internet pornography use. The purposes of this mixed-method study were (a) to…

Providing skilled treatment options for clients experiencing addiction is imperative to positive client treatment outcomes. As a prerequisite to providing efficacious addiction treatment, counselors-in-training are charged with the responsibility of understanding the affect of cravings on addiction relapse. This article presents 3 experiential,…

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs developed addiction competencies for clinical mental health counseling students. This article highlights these competencies, provides an overview of current addiction training, and describes methods to integrate addiction education into curricula.

An exploratory study was conducted to compare addiction studies and community counseling students' attitudes toward research. A survey of 66 addiction studies and 17 community counseling students in graduate programs was used to explore interest and self-efficacy in research and the research training environment. A pre/post test design was used to…