Long story Test 2
His delusions set in when he was 13, which, combined with drug abuse fuzzed what was real and unreal over much of his life. Hale also saw … One day, he asked his counselor to take him to Walmart. The man … He learned to pay bills and ride the bus.
Read more on Charleston Post Courier (subscription)

More Davao drug addicts voluntarily seek treatment
He told MindaNews that such “good news,” referring to the voluntary submission for treatment of drug addicts, is a result of a multi-sectoral approach in the advocacy campaign against drug addiction. Fanugao noted that the CHD-11 is a part of an …
Read more on Minda News

The demons of a mental illness patient
Phelps died at the age of 47 on Nov 11 from the “demons of mental illness and substance abuse.”Photo courtesy of the Phelps family. of 3 clicks used. Register for … "And insurance would pay for it." People who needed help used to be able to go …
Read more on Cape Cod Times (subscription)

USA TODAY: UFC stands by UFC 155's Leben through thick and thin
Now, after a year suspension following a positive test for Oxycontin in November 2011, Leben (22-8 MMA, 12-7 UFC) returns Saturday against Derek Brunson (9-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in UFC 155 (pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET). For Leben, the fight comes with more …
Read more on MMAjunkie.com (blog)

Drug counselling spider diagram

Image by ohskylab
A drug-counsellor friend found this diagram on a whiteboard at work after another counsellor had given a two hour session. He recreated it on paper for us.

Pike County addiction counselor to plead guilty to health care fraud
A Pike County counselor will plead guilty to health care fraud for bilking insurance provider Blue Cross of North East Pennsylvania out of more than $ 10,000, federal court papers stated. Patricia Delorenzo is charged with using a variety of fraudulent …
Read more on Pocono Record

Alcohol, drug counselor Brenda Wiewel helps change lives, one addict at a time
As executive director of Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (L.A. CADA) Wiewel is passionate about saving lives and uniting families through the nonprofit's addiction counseling and "healthy living" services. For the licensed clinical …
Read more on San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Treatment options for tackling addiction can vary from hours to months
The 2012 Kentucky Substance Abuse Treatment Outcome Study examined 12-month follow-up results for 1,225 adults who received all sorts of treatment in publicly funded programs across the state. More than three-quarters reported no illicit drug or …
Read more on The Courier-Journal

'The Perfect Marriage' tackles prescription drug abuse
Roby will be signing copies of the book on Friday, Jan. 11, beginning at 7 … Roby created the characters in "The Perfect Marriage" to prove a point about the growing problem of prescription drug abuse and to clear up misconceptions about typical addicts.
Read more on Press-Register – al.com

LEAD program turns drug bust into help, not jail
Because addiction can be so potent, and the lure of fast money so enduring, police often end up arresting the same people over and over again — and those costs quickly add up. Each felony-drug arrest that results in a guilty plea costs taxpayers an …
Read more on The Seattle Times

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!

Treatment centers lack funding to help drug addiction
"It's the number one used substance that we get admissions into our inpatient program," said Addictions Program Coordinator Christy Hicks. Both law enforcement and officials at the treatment centers say just arresting the drug abusers is not going to …
Read more on WKYT

Oregon finds efforts to treat drug addicts paying off
"Oregon is a good state for treatment," said Liz Smith, a 35-year-old recovering prescription-drug addict from Portland who entered an intensive residential program in 2010 and is now sober. "We have an abundance of treatment centers and detox centers, …
Read more on USA TODAY

How to find a drug treatment program
Wallace: My 18-year-old daughter is addicted to drugs and has been abusing drugs for two years. She admits that she can't quit taking drugs on her own and needs help. I will put her in a chemical abuse program that will be approved by my insurance …
Read more on Post-Tribune

Raphaëlle's redemption: From homeless teen to law student
For Ferland, the turning point in that contest came the day she heard about the YSB's “Downtown Committee,” a youth group that would get together to discuss poverty, policing, drug abuse and other issues. Ferland held strong opinions on the subjects …
Read more on Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa's homeless youth tell their stories
She plans to study social work or addictions counselling at Algonquin College. Unlike many youth in similar circumstances, Naomi has never abused drugs or alcohol. “I've tried stuff, but I've never been hooked on anything,” she says. “I have a …
Read more on Ottawa Citizen