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Addiction Counseling Competencies
Appendix C – National Validation Study:
Defining and Measuring the
Competence of Addiction Counselors
Introduction
Paula K. Horvatich, Ph.D., and Jon F. Wergin, Ph.D.
Virginia Commonwealth University 1
The education of addiction counselors, once based on tradition, myth, and politics, is becoming
increasingly professionalized, based on competencies, research, and best practice (Fisher 1997).
Treatment for psychoactive substance abuse and dependence has traditionally been provided
by addiction counselors. Although many counselors have academic degrees, many others have
become counselors following personal experiences with treatment and recovery (Deitch &
Carleton 1997). Formal education for addiction counselors has traditionally consisted of
specialty training provided by treatment agencies, professional or certification organizations,
or human service programs of community colleges that confer associate’s degrees. Certification
of addiction counselors varies from State to State but usually requires a high school diploma
and a specified number of years of experience in the field. A bachelor’s degree is required in
only some States. In others, addiction counselors require no certification as long as they work
in a State-approved facility.
Because of a variety of policy and economic factors, training requirements for certification in
addiction counseling have become more rigorous. These factors include, among others, the
pervasiveness and effect of substance abuse on society, expanded treatment research efforts,
and managed behavioral health care. If substance use problems were not so widespread and
costly to society, there would be less interest in the credentials of addiction counselors and the
outcomes of the treatment they provide.
Although treatment research has grown rapidly and has provided useful insights, new information
will be useless unless it is implemented by frontline practitioners. Addiction counselors
must be able to understand and apply new knowledge, but traditionally these connections have
not been made (Fisher 1997).
Efforts to make treatment more efficient have resulted in the integration of substance abuse
treatment with mental health services, thereby increasing the role of mental health and other
healthcare professionals in substance abuse treatment. Addiction specialties have emerged
in medicine, nursing, social work, psychology, and counseling, including rehabilitation
counseling. Managed care has made it increasingly likely that master’s-level addiction
1
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting,
April 13–17, 1998, in San Diego, California. This study was funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Grant Number 5U98 TI 00837. The original
version is archived on the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) Web site (http://www.eric.ed.gov) under
ERIC document number ED422545.
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