Addictions Counselor Overview

There are certain skills that many addictions counselors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed compassion, communication skills and interpersonal skills.

When it comes to the most important skills required to be an addictions counselor, we found that a lot of resumes listed 20.5% of addictions counselors included treatment plans, while 20.1% of resumes included substance abuse, and 7.3% of resumes included chemical dependency. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.

When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the addictions counselor job title. But what industry to start with? Most addictions counselors actually find jobs in the health care and non profits industries.

If you're interested in becoming an addictions counselor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 31.6% of addictions counselors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 47.4% of addictions counselors have master's degrees. Even though most addictions counselors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an addictions counselor. When we researched the most common majors for an addictions counselor, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on addictions counselor resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.

You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an addictions counselor. In fact, many addictions counselor jobs require experience in a role such as case manager. Meanwhile, many addictions counselors also have previous career experience in roles such as substance abuse counselor or internship.