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Addictions counselor skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
2 min read
Quoted experts
Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.,
Dr. Pamela Fullerton
Addictions counselor example skills
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical addictions counselor skills. We ranked the top skills for addictions counselors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 18.2% of addictions counselor resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills an addictions counselor needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 addictions counselor skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how addictions counselors use patients:
  • Restore patients to productive roles by educating them about available community based organizations, and social and employment services.
  • Provided individualized interventions, psycho-education, and therapy/counseling to patients regarding misuse/abuse of alcohol and illicit substances.

2. Social Work

Here's how addictions counselors use social work:
  • Increase social work knowledge by reviewing current literature and conducting social research
  • Work with a multidisciplinary team consisting of medical doctors, nurses, social workers and primary counselors.

3. Chemical Dependency

Chemical dependency is a medical condition where a person relies on a chemical or drug in order to continue day-to-day activities. The condition can begin as abuse - where a person displays a clear pattern of substance use, commonly drugs or alcohol - and continue to dependency in which the person continues abusing substances even after problematic events have occurred.

Here's how addictions counselors use chemical dependency:
  • Evaluated adults with chemical dependency issues in an outpatient setting for both court and individual purposes and provided appropriate treatment recommendations.
  • Completed assessments, facilitated residential treatment placement and provided level one chemical dependency treatment in my private practice.

4. Crisis Intervention

Here's how addictions counselors use crisis intervention:
  • Provide direct drug and alcohol services to include intake assessment, individual/family/group therapy, and crisis intervention to assigned clients.
  • Conducted individual Counseling Sessions, Crisis Intervention, Relapse Prevention, and Behavioral Modification & Motivational Interviewing Groups.

5. Substance Abuse Treatment

Here's how addictions counselors use substance abuse treatment:
  • Provided group and individual therapy sessions for incarcerated women involved in four- and six-month Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for Women programs.
  • Conduct Health General Article 8-505 evaluations ordered by Frederick County judges to determine amenability for long-term substance abuse treatment.

6. Intake Assessments

Here's how addictions counselors use intake assessments:
  • Performed individual intake assessments and participated in interdisciplinary treatment planning while working collaboratively with other clinical departments to coordinate care.
  • Performed initial psychometric intake assessments and collaborated with medical team to formulate strategic treatment approaches for optimal healing.

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7. Rehabilitation

Here's how addictions counselors use rehabilitation:
  • Provided drug, alcohol, and rehabilitation counseling and education in a residential therapeutic community for female drug offenders.
  • Provided one-on-one counseling for recovering drug alcohol and mental health addicts in an intensive residential rehabilitation services program.

8. Patient Care

Patient care entails the diagnosis, recovery, and control of sickness as well as the maintenance of physical and emotional well-being through the use of healthcare providers' services. Patient care is described as services provided to patients by health practitioners or non-professionals under guidance.

Here's how addictions counselors use patient care:
  • Determined appropriateness of patient admission against admission criteria and documented patient care assessment in the medical record.
  • Assisted with special administrative tasks and projects whenever necessary to facilitate better patient care and/or program evaluation.

9. Treatment Services

Here's how addictions counselors use treatment services:
  • Facilitated and/or co-facilitated group treatment services, using evidence-based treatment models with demonstrated effectiveness for the Hispanic community.
  • Served as second-in-charge providing out-patient treatment services to a chemically addicted population.

10. Relapse Prevention

Relapse prevention is a therapy, derived by Marlatt and Donovan in 2005, that targets the cognitive behavior of participants. The therapy is conducted to prevent relapses in patients, by helping them understand and predict those circumstances that trigger a relapse. The therapy facilitates people in developing behavioral strategies, also known as relapse prevention plan, which deals with relapse-oriented situations in advance.

Here's how addictions counselors use relapse prevention:
  • Provided motivational interviewing, addiction counseling, and relapse prevention education to clients with severe mental illness, and co-occurring disorders.
  • Plan follow-up or aftercare programs including relapse prevention planning, primary health care, intensive outpatient services and community support organizations.

11. Family Therapy

Here's how addictions counselors use family therapy:
  • Facilitated individual, group, and family therapy and presented psycho-educational information to clients and their family.
  • Worked on multidisciplinary team for assigned patients; facilitated family therapy; participated in interventions.

12. Treatment Programs

Here's how addictions counselors use treatment programs:
  • Facilitated two-week outpatient treatment programs, focusing on education and behavior modification through workshops and intensive group and individual therapy sessions.
  • Interview and evaluate inmates of various security levels to obtain their history and to determine eligibility for treatment programs.

13. Addiction Treatment

Here's how addictions counselors use addiction treatment:
  • Provided individual, family and group counseling for adolescents at the inpatient adolescent addiction treatment center.
  • Licensed Addiction Counselor and Behavioral Health's Addiction Treatment Supervisor.

14. Discharge Planning

Here's how addictions counselors use discharge planning:
  • Program Strengths Project Management Therapeutic alliance building Collaboration with agencies Creating new Programs Discharge Planning Documentation
  • Managed caseload that included bio-psycho social assessment, quarterly treatment planning and discharge planning.

15. Discharge Summaries

Here's how addictions counselors use discharge summaries:
  • Provided individual and group counseling, conducted intake interviews, completed bio-psycho-social evaluations, prepare case histories and discharge summaries.
  • Prepared necessary paperwork including evaluations, treatment plans, discharge summaries with electronic record.
top-skills

What skills help Addictions Counselors find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on addictions counselor resumes?

Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Human Factors, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Strong analytical skills are a must. This includes both logic and reasoning skills, but also data analysis skills. For many jobs, the ability to collect and scientifically evaluate data will be vital, if not an absolute necessity. Similarly, a strong understanding of experimental methods can put a candidate in a great position to be able to help a company evaluate existing programs and chart a path forward for new ones. Finally, I would say that a strong ability to write is critical. Those graduates who are able to effectively and persuasively communicate in writing are setting themselves up for success at any company and allowing the company to leverage them for increasingly important tasks.

What addictions counselor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Pamela FullertonDr. Pamela Fullerton LinkedIn profile

Owner, Clinical Director of Advocacy & Education Consulting; Adjunct Instructor, Northeastern Illinois University

Find a site with great supervision and a diverse range of clients. New clinicians really need to lean into competent and compassionate supervisory experiences that will help them not only increase their counseling competencies but also support in their growth around professional counseling identity, personal development, and multicultural and social justice advocacy. Additionally, working with a diverse range of clients at the beginning of a career will also support in increasing competencies in all the various areas of our field from skills and interventions to diagnosing and treatment planning.

What hard/technical skills are most important for addictions counselors?

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.

Associate Professor; Director, Master of Counseling, Louisiana State University at Shreveport

It is important that counselors are able to effectively take notes and summarize progress, interpret assessments, memorize and recall information, and keep clear yet concise records.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about addictions counselor

List of addictions counselor skills to add to your resume

Addictions counselor skills

The most important skills for an addictions counselor resume and required skills for an addictions counselor to have include:

  • Patients
  • Social Work
  • Chemical Dependency
  • Crisis Intervention
  • Substance Abuse Treatment
  • Intake Assessments
  • Rehabilitation
  • Patient Care
  • Treatment Services
  • Relapse Prevention
  • Family Therapy
  • Treatment Programs
  • Addiction Treatment
  • Discharge Planning
  • Discharge Summaries
  • Mental Health Issues
  • Community Resources
  • Substance USE Disorders
  • Psychosocial Assessments
  • ASAM
  • Community Services
  • Clinical Documentation
  • Group Therapy Sessions
  • Dual Diagnosis
  • Client Care
  • Methadone
  • OASAS
  • Family Sessions
  • Substance Abuse Issues
  • Group Facilitation
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • Community Agencies
  • Outpatient Treatment
  • Core Functions
  • Individual Therapy Sessions
  • Eating Disorders
  • Mental Health Disorders
  • Substance Abuse Problems
  • Treatment Plan
  • Anger Management
  • Recovery Process
  • DUI
  • CARF
  • Treatment Plan Reviews
  • Intake Interviews
  • Mental Health Professionals
  • HIV
  • Addiction Issues
  • Domestic Violence
  • Aftercare Programs

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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