Drug and addictions therapist?!

Drug and addictions therapist?

I am considering going into a career as a drug and addictions therapist. What kind of schooling/degrees is required?

Having worked as a licensed clinician in the mental health field for several years (first licensed in 1992), and having specialized for a number of those years in addiction disorders, I honestly think that the best training for someone who wants to work with addictive disorders is to first get a Masters (MA or MS) in psychology, and then a doctorate--preferably a PsyD--in clinical psych. During the practicum phase of education and in your pre-licensure internship hours, one would do best to work with a variety of mental health issues but to focus on addictive disorders. Most important though is to get a solid background in clinical training and then branch out to addictive disorders. It truly helps to be able to recognize when a person with drug/addiction disorders also has "co-morbid" psychological disorders--depression, personality d/os, etc. that are complicating the picture, and one will be able to treat those as well.

The poorest training is those who only work towards a certificate as an "addictions counselor" or certificate in alcoholism and drug dependency counseling, because such people do not have the training to recognize the complicating factors of co-existing disorders and tend to only see one facet of the person's disorders.

It does not matter, contrary to popular opinion, whether someone has been an alcoholic or addict oneself. In fact, that can make it more difficult because such counselors are often too close to their own issues to be able to deal with the problems of someone else. Or, they often tend to focus on "what worked" for them, not realizing that different approaches are necessary for treating different people. After all, you wouldn't necessarily think that a doctor who him/herself had cancer would make the best oncologist, would you?

I designed and started a "dual diagnosis" (substance-abusing chronically mentally ill) treatment program in So Calif, and was the clinical supervisor of another program that treated pregnant and parenting women. I worked in the field with SAMHSA, NIMH, and other federal agencies as well, and have a great deal of experience supervising and providing treatment for drug and alcohol issues. The best clinicians are those who are truly empathetic, caring people who also have excellent clinical skills in a broad range of mental health treatment modalities, not just as drug and alcohol counselors.