EVALUATING THE ACADEMIC PREPARATION OF ADDICTION COUNSELORS IN INDIANA FOR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Abstract

Currently, addiction counseling services are provided by individuals who do not possess degrees in addictions counseling or have had courses in addictions-related content in their academic programs of study. There is recognition that addictions counseling is nonexistent or inconsistent in academic curriculum in higher education. Other allied graduate counseling programs of clinical mental health, social work, and marriage and family therapy have established curricula. The current lack of addiction studies education brings questions of competency of the current and future providers of addictions counseling. As a result, inquiry is needed to examine the current addictions counseling workforce, and their academic preparation to determine what if any courses in addictions counseling were offered in their programs of study. Further, what are the current workforce duties and experiences of addictions counselors? With regard to those duties, what could be learned to incorporate into an academic program and curriculum content? The academic preparation of addiction counselors using a qualitative study was investigated. Participants were currently practicing addictions counselors at Indiana treatment programs. Each one possessed a master‘s degree, and all were grandfathered into an addictions counseling license in Indiana. The participants of this study were interviewed about academic preparation and what correlation the academic preparation had in relevance to current workforce duties and services. Participants also completed a survey related to graduate-level courses and course descriptions in addictions counseling. They endorsed the courses and descriptions with a Likert scale on degree of relevance or nonrelevance related to their workforce duties in addictions counseling. The participants provided perspectives on their self-awareness as addictions counselors and workforce issues. Their contributions provided data that coalesced into themes to be considered for academic and workforce issues to enhance addictions studies and services.