Professional counselors and counselors-in-training continue to serve clients who have substance abuse issues, yet systematic training in substance abuse counseling is not available to many counselors. The authors investigated the extent to which students in programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational…

Analyzes the minimum professional training requirements of 32 state certifying bodies for substance abuse counselors. Only 14 of the certifying boards included any of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs core knowledge areas in their training components. The lack of specific drug and alcohol training brings…

Presents an interview with the director of the National Board for Certified Counselors, who provides a history of the organization. He discusses his efforts in establishing unified addictions specialist credentials and offers suggestions for addiction and offender counselors seeking these credentials. He explores the pressing credentialing issues…

Assesses the state of addiction-related training taken from a telephone survey of accredited counselor education programs (N=86). Results reveal that 30% required courses in substance abuse/dependency issues. Reviews syllabi, numbers and types of courses, course requirements, and course texts. Most respondents (97%) indicated that addiction…

The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) and the International Association of Addiction and Offender Counselors (IAAOC) developed a master's level certification for addictions counselors. While NBCC and IAAOC's position is that skills necessary for general counseling are sufficient for an addictions counselor, specific knowledge about…