The Pennsylvania State University's Chemical Dependency Counselor Training Program: Addressing the Needs of Educators and Addiction Specialists
✍ Scribed by Michael J. Taleff; Macrina Martin
- Publisher
- American Counseling Association
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 493 KB
- Volume
- 17
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1055-3835
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The skills that the alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse counselor must possess are far different and more extensive from those required in the past (Galanter & Kleber, 1994). Today's AOD abuse counselor is expected to know not only addiction and its variants, but also to be competent in such areas as family dynamics, relapse prevention, dual disorders, gender, and cultural issues. In addition, there are demands for expertise in quality conirol, utilization review, and the whole range of managed care requirements.
Currently, a number of AOD abuse counseling practitioners lack the formal educational background to engage these issues (Lawson & Lawson, 1990;Milgram, 1990;Thombs, 1994). Professional preparation opportunities for AOD abuse counselors are still not widely available (Goodwin & Lotterhos, 1991). This lack of academic training presents major problems for the field in terms of state and national credentialing. Many credentialing processes require an extensive knowledge base in case management, assessment, counseling, education, and professional responsibility.
Recent surveys reveal a low level of training in the AOD abuse counseling profession. For example, the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (1993) surveyed a sample of its members and