This personnel is a licensed mental health professional that helps people overcome alcohol and substance abuse problems. He/She helps patients overcome addiction and adopt proper lifestyles. He/She offers support, motivation, and treatment to people having drug and alcohol problems. Also, he/she evaluates the physical and mental behaviors of patients. Asides from that, he/she develops and implements appropriate treatment and recovery plans. Additionally, he/she works with psychiatrists, doctors, nurses, social workers, and the likes.
States have varying education, licensing, and certification requirements for this position. Educational requirements range from a high school diploma to a master's degree. You either get on-the-job training or have previous experience in a similar role. You must possess communication, conflict resolution, and interpersonal skills. Also, you must be compassionate. Applicants can find employment in residential treatment centers, outpatient facilities, or private practice. This personnel earns about $42,865 per annum. Their salary falls between $29,000 and $64,000.
How to Become an Alcohol And Drug Counselor
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an alcohol and drug counselor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.99 an hour? That's $43,661 a year!
What Does an Alcohol And Drug Counselor Do
When it comes to the most important skills required to be an alcohol and drug counselor, we found that a lot of resumes listed 25.8% of alcohol and drug counselors included substance abuse, while 19.3% of resumes included treatment plans, and 6.7% of resumes included crisis intervention. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
How To Become an Alcohol And Drug Counselor
If you're interested in becoming an alcohol and drug counselor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 53.4% of alcohol and drug counselors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 22.1% of alcohol and drug counselors have master's degrees. Even though most alcohol and drug 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 alcohol and drug counselor. When we researched the most common majors for an alcohol and drug counselor, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on alcohol and drug counselor resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an alcohol and drug counselor. In fact, many alcohol and drug counselor jobs require experience in a role such as internship. Meanwhile, many alcohol and drug counselors also have previous career experience in roles such as counselor or case manager.
Alcohol And Drug Counselor Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of substance abuse counselor you might progress to a role such as therapist eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title medical case manager.
Average Salary for an Alcohol And Drug Counselor
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Alcohol And Drug Counselors
1. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
2. Hunter College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
3. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
4. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
5. New York University
New York, NY • Private
6. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
7. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
8. SUNY at Albany
Albany, NY • Private
9. San Jose State University
San Jose, CA • Private
10. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
Choose From 10+ Customizable Alcohol And Drug Counselor Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Alcohol And Drug Counselor templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Alcohol And Drug Counselor resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Alcohol And Drug Counselor Demographics
Alcohol And Drug Counselor Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among alcohol and drug counselors, 62.5% of them are women, while 37.5% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among alcohol and drug counselors is White, which makes up 64.5% of all alcohol and drug counselors.
- The most common foreign language among alcohol and drug counselors is Spanish at 68.6%.
Online Courses For Alcohol And Drug Counselor That You May Like
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Interventions - Understand Drug & Alcohol Addiction & Mental Health. How to help people...
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Interventions: Drug & Alcohol Addiction & Mental Health - Integrative Holistic Approach...
Learn psychology of human behaviour related to addictions, alcohol- and drug treatments, diagnose & symptoms, overdose...
Best States For an Alcohol And Drug Counselor
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an alcohol and drug counselor. The best states for people in this position are California, Alaska, Nevada, and New Hampshire. Alcohol and drug counselors make the most in California with an average salary of $56,384. Whereas in Alaska and Nevada, they would average $49,286 and $48,374, respectively. While alcohol and drug counselors would only make an average of $47,858 in New Hampshire, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. California
$56,384
Avg. Salary
2. Alaska
$49,286
Avg. Salary
3. New York
$45,836
Avg. Salary
How Do Alcohol And Drug Counselor Rate Their Jobs?
Top Alcohol And Drug Counselor Employers
Most Common Employers For Alcohol And Drug Counselor
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mayo Clinic | $47,396 | $22.79 | 16 |
| 2 | Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation | $43,661 | $20.99 | 30 |
| 3 | LifeWorks NW | $43,661 | $20.99 | 20 |
| 4 | Ryther | $43,661 | $20.99 | 16 |
| 5 | Travis County | $43,661 | $20.99 | 15 |
| 6 | NDTI | $43,578 | $20.95 | 16 |
| 7 | ms.gov - Mississippi's Official State Website | $43,043 | $20.69 | 16 |
| 8 | Minnesota State Fair | $43,033 | $20.69 | 18 |
| 9 | Summit Academy | $42,340 | $20.36 | 36 |
| 10 | ProgressiveMedInc | $41,732 | $20.06 | 20 |
Alcohol And Drug Counselor Videos
