Substance abuse counselor charged with falsifying business records
Posted at: 02/14/2013 11:37 AM. Deputies in Wayne County have arrested a Rochester man on charges of falsifying business records. Investigators say 42-year-old Pedro Franco is a certified substance abuse counselor in Wayne County. News10NBC is told …
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LaPage pleads for substance abuse counselor in city schools
PORTSMOUTH — School Board member Kent LaPage made an impassioned plea to restore funding in the school budget for a drug abuse counselor Tuesday night. The call for more preventive measures to assist at-risk students came in the wake of a …
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Question by Cancerbeater: How To obtain a “CSAC”.Certified Substance Abuse Counselor” accreditation?
I am wanting to get my certification to work in the “Substance Abuse” field. I am slowing dying from having had throat cancr and I also have Lung Disease to go with it.
This is more important to me than life. I Need help !!
I live in Atlanta and will go home to Roanoke, Va to work when completed. It use to be in some states, if you could pass the test, you got your accreditation. That easy !! But where and how do I start now, being on a limited time schedule ????

Best answer:

Answer by allen e
In most states it is required that you can show that you have the experience working under another CSAC before you are allowed to sit for the test. The average is about 2 years as a helper under supervision and a bit of classroom learning as well, CEU’s showing that you have had exposure to the various aspects of the job here in my state it is 149 CEU’s on the various parts and an additional 9 on ethics.

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Family Video Counseling Aids in Substance Abuse Treatment
CHICAGO, Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — When the best substance abuse treatment for a person's drug abuse or drug addiction isn't close to home, it makes it difficult for family members to participate in the treatment of a loved one …
Read more on PR Newswire (press release)

Narconon Of Georgia Shows Support for Addiction Counselors Association
The event was sponsored by the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse and was sponsored by Georgia treatment centers and addiction professional associations. The day before the event Narconon Of Georgia displayed information about drug abuse and …
Read more on EIN News (press release)

Panelists focus on substance abuse
MOREHEAD CITY — Individuals filed into West Carteret High School Auditorium Thursday night to hear what a panel made up of medical personnel, law enforcement, a counselor and a former addict had to say about substance abuse in Carteret County.
Read more on Carolinacoastonline

DEADLY DOPE: Heroin deaths hit Weatherford hard
His parents say their son intended to become a substance abuse counselor and talked of helping those who faced the same struggles he had dealt with since high school. Though his addiction had significantly impacted his life, it also didn't define the …
Read more on Weatherford Democrat

Question by Dan W: Can i become a councilor with a GED?
Well i am wondering if you can become a councilor for drug abuse if you only have a GED, because i was addicted to methamphetamine, marijuana, inhalants, and alcohol for about five years of my life and luckily i got myself help and have been clean for about 2 years now and i would really like to help people overcome the demons i also faced trying to become clean, any help would be wonderful. Thanks for any feed back.

Best answer:

Answer by jannsody
Congratulations on having almost two years of sobriety! With regard to becoming a substance abuse counselor, I believe that most with a Certified Addiction Counselor (CAC) have a master’s degree which takes about six years of college, if attending on a full-time basis. There are different levels of training for addictions counseling, but most jobs prefer those with a master’s degree.

Please also be aware that in order to get one’s certification as a CAC (or similar credentials), the person needs A LOT of clinical experience which includes having an actual patient caseload of those with addiction.

With regard to schooling, please AVOID those private overly priced For-profit schools such as kaplan, ashworth, capella, university of phoenix, devry, ITT tech, strayer, everest, brown mackie, american public university, keiser, argosy, penn foster, ashford, grand canyon, westwood, stratford career, pima medical institute, colorado tech and others as they are merely out to “make a profit” (** and their course credits usually do NOT transfer to other schools).

These consumer sites have a lot of negative posts by former students about those for-profit schools, and please heed the students’ warnings:

– http://www.ripoffreport.com

– http://www.pissedconsumer.com

– http://www.complaintsboard.com and can search.

Please instead consider the more affordable community college and/or public/state university as long as the program is accredited within the industry.

For U.S. colleges: http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ

This site is supposed to have more info re: (regarding) getting certified in addictions counseling: http://www.naadac.org/certification and can scroll down a bit.

General career info: http://www.bls.gov/oco and can search “counselors”, “social workers” or such.

Regarding inhalants or “huffing” (fumes or chemical vapors), my friend actually has a Brain Injury from inhalant use at the age of 12, now in her 30s.

Other risks of huffing include sight loss/blindness, heart/liver/kidney damage, seizures, limb spasms, hearing loss and even death, all of which can happen after the very FIRST time of use.

For anyone, this site has more info about the dangers of huffing – National Inhalant Prevention Coalition: http://www.inhalants.org

Wishing you continued recovery and wellness and that you continue making good, HEALTHY choices in life 🙂

Add your own answer in the comments!

Drug Counselor Accused of DUI in Deadly Hit-and-Run Pleads Not Guilty
A substance abuse counselor accused of crashing into a pedestrian and driving for about two miles with the victim embedded in the vehicle's windshield pleaded not guilty Monday in connection with the man's death. Sherri Lynn Wilkins, 51, was in court …
Read more on NBC Southern California

Pike County addiction counselor to plead guilty to health care fraud
Delorenzo has held a counseling license in Pennsylvania since 2002, and her profession is listed as social work. Her current license will be up for renewal in February, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. The phone at Serenity Drug and …
Read more on Pocono Record

An addict's story: Cocaine and the crash
Cayuga County resident Liz Barnes has been a credentialed alcohol and substance abuse counselor for more than 25 years. This column is not meant as medical advice; for that, see your health professional. If you have a question, write to this column at …
Read more on Auburn Citizen

Question by Dan W: Can i become a councilor with a GED?
Well i am wondering if you can become a councilor for drug abuse if you only have a GED, because i was addicted to methamphetamine, marijuana, inhalants, and alcohol for about five years of my life and luckily i got myself help and have been clean for about 2 years now and i would really like to help people overcome the demons i also faced trying to become clean, any help would be wonderful. Thanks for any feed back.

Best answer:

Answer by jannsody
Congratulations on having almost two years of sobriety! With regard to becoming a substance abuse counselor, I believe that most with a Certified Addiction Counselor (CAC) have a master’s degree which takes about six years of college, if attending on a full-time basis. There are different levels of training for addictions counseling, but most jobs prefer those with a master’s degree.

Please also be aware that in order to get one’s certification as a CAC (or similar credentials), the person needs A LOT of clinical experience which includes having an actual patient caseload of those with addiction.

With regard to schooling, please AVOID those private overly priced For-profit schools such as kaplan, ashworth, capella, university of phoenix, devry, ITT tech, strayer, everest, brown mackie, american public university, keiser, argosy, penn foster, ashford, grand canyon, westwood, stratford career, pima medical institute, colorado tech and others as they are merely out to “make a profit” (** and their course credits usually do NOT transfer to other schools).

These consumer sites have a lot of negative posts by former students about those for-profit schools, and please heed the students’ warnings:

– http://www.ripoffreport.com

– http://www.pissedconsumer.com

– http://www.complaintsboard.com and can search.

Please instead consider the more affordable community college and/or public/state university as long as the program is accredited within the industry.

For U.S. colleges: http://www.utexas.edu/world/univ

This site is supposed to have more info re: (regarding) getting certified in addictions counseling: http://www.naadac.org/certification and can scroll down a bit.

General career info: http://www.bls.gov/oco and can search “counselors”, “social workers” or such.

Regarding inhalants or “huffing” (fumes or chemical vapors), my friend actually has a Brain Injury from inhalant use at the age of 12, now in her 30s.

Other risks of huffing include sight loss/blindness, heart/liver/kidney damage, seizures, limb spasms, hearing loss and even death, all of which can happen after the very FIRST time of use.

For anyone, this site has more info about the dangers of huffing – National Inhalant Prevention Coalition: http://www.inhalants.org

Wishing you continued recovery and wellness and that you continue making good, HEALTHY choices in life 🙂

What do you think? Answer below!