Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor Counsel and advise individuals with alcohol, tobacco, drug, or other problems, such as gambling and eating disorders. May counsel individuals, families, or groups or engage in prevention programs.
Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor is Also Know as
In different settings, Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor is titled as
- Addictions Counselor
- Case Manager
- Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADAC)
- Chemical Dependency Counselor (CD Counselor)
- Chemical Dependency Professional
- Clinical Counselor
- Counselor
- Drug and Alcohol Treatment Specialist (DATS)
- Prevention Specialist
- Substance Abuse Counselor (SA Counselor)
Education and Training of Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor
Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Education Required for Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Degrees Related to Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor
- Bachelor in Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling
- Associate Degree Courses in Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling
- Masters Degree Courses in Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling
- Bachelor in Clinical/Medical Social Work
- Associate Degree Courses in Clinical/Medical Social Work
- Masters Degree Courses in Clinical/Medical Social Work
Training Required for Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor in different industries are
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
- Mental Health Counselors
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Rehabilitation Counselors
- Healthcare Social Workers
- Child, Family, and School Social Workers
- Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
- Recreational Therapists
- Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
- Psychiatrists
- Psychiatric Technicians
- Psychiatric Aides
- Social and Human Service Assistants
- Occupational Therapy Aides
- Physical Therapist Aides
- Emergency Medicine Physicians
- Community Health Workers
- Occupational Therapists
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
- Health Education Specialists
What Do Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor do?
- Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.
- Complete and maintain accurate records or reports regarding the patients' histories and progress, services provided, or other required information.
- Develop client treatment plans based on research, clinical experience, and client histories.
- Review and evaluate clients' progress in relation to measurable goals described in treatment and care plans.
- Interview clients, review records, and confer with other professionals to evaluate individuals' mental and physical condition and to determine their suitability for participation in a specific program.
- Intervene as an advocate for clients or patients to resolve emergency problems in crisis situations.
- Provide clients or family members with information about addiction issues and about available services or programs, making appropriate referrals when necessary.
- Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in client status.
- Coordinate counseling efforts with mental health professionals or other health professionals, such as doctors, nurses, or social workers.
- Attend training sessions to increase knowledge and skills.
- Plan or implement follow-up or aftercare programs for clients to be discharged from treatment programs.
- Conduct chemical dependency program orientation sessions.
- Counsel family members to assist them in understanding, dealing with, and supporting clients or patients.
- Participate in case conferences or staff meetings.
- Act as liaisons between clients and medical staff.
- Coordinate activities with courts, probation officers, community services, or other post-treatment agencies.
- Confer with family members or others close to clients to keep them informed of treatment planning and progress.
- Instruct others in program methods, procedures, or functions.
- Follow progress of discharged patients to determine effectiveness of treatments.
- Develop, implement, or evaluate public education, prevention, or health promotion programs, working in collaboration with organizations, institutions, or communities.
- Supervise or direct other workers providing services to clients or patients.
- Assess individuals' degree of drug dependency by collecting and analyzing urine samples.
- Train or supervise student interns or new staff members.
Qualities of Good Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Tools Used by Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor
- Breathalyzers
- Desktop computers
- Notebook computers
- Personal computers
- Personal digital assistants PDA
Technology Skills required for Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselor
- ACMS Casewatch Millenium
- Addison Health Systems WritePad EHR
- Allscripts Canopy
- Anasazi Software Assessment and Treatment Plan Systems
- Athena Software Penelope Case Management
- Cadence Solutions extendedReach
- Case management software
- CaseManagement.com E-Reports
- Client System
- danic Technology
- Database software
- Economic Analysis Group EAG CaseTrack
- Email software
- IBM Lotus Notes
- IMA Technologies CaseTrakker
- Libera System7
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- Online informational database software
- Practice Technology Prevail
- Presentation software
- Scheduling software
- Spreadsheet software
- Statistical software
- STI Computer Services ChartMaker
- Varian Medical Systems
- Web browser software
- Word processing software