Substance Abuse Counselor Certification

Written by Sam Medley

If you’ve been investigating substance abuse counselor certification and exactly how to go about becoming a properly credentialed counselor, you’ve probably come across the two big national and international certification organizations for the industry:

The International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC)

The National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC)

While both organizations offer substance use disorder (SUD) counselor certifications at the national level, they’re entirely separate entities and the certifications they award are not exactly the same.

With few exceptions, every state requires new counselors and those advancing to higher credential levels to pass the exams administered by one organization or the other. Some states accept both organizations’ exams.

A survey conducted by the US Department of Health and Human Services found that 10 states and the District of Columbia accept NAADAC exams exclusively, while 30 accept IC&RC exams only. Just 10 states recognize both.

How IC&RC and NAADAC Influence State Credentialing Policies

While national certification can be a great step in your career, you’ll also have to abide by your state’s SUD counselor credentialing standards to be able to practice in your state.

The legal authority to practice substance abuse counseling can only be granted at the state level, either through a state government licensing board, but sometimes through a state affiliate of IC&RC or NAADAC, or other non-governmental state professional association.

Most state credentialing authorities base their education and experience hour requirements, at least generally, on either IC&RC or NAADAC standards. Most states have adopted the IC&RC exam and standards.

So when you take the exam required to become certified or licensed as a substance abuse counselor in your state, it won’t be your state’s own unique exam. It’ll be one created by the IC&RC or NAADAC, and identical to the ones used in many other states.

State	Exams Accepted
Alabama	NAADAC and IC&RC
Alaska	NAADAC
Arizona	NAADAC and IC&RC
Arkansas	IC&RC
California	IC&RC
Colorado	NAADAC
Connecticut	IC&RC
Delaware	IC&RC
Florida	IC&RC
Georgia	NAADAC and IC&RC
Hawaii	IC&RC
Idaho	IC&RC
Illinois	IC&RC
Indiana	NAADAC and IC&RC
Iowa	IC&RC
Kansas	NAADAC
Kentucky	IC&RC
Louisiana	IC&RC
Maine	IC&RC
Maryland	NAADAC and IC&RC
Massachusetts	IC&RC
Michigan	IC&RC
Minnesota	NAADAC and IC&RC
Mississippi	IC&RC
Missouri	IC&RC
Montana	NAADAC
Nebraska	IC&RC
Nevada	IC&RC
New Hampshire	IC&RC
New Jersey	IC&RC
New Mexico	NAADAC
New York	IC&RC
North Carolina	IC&RC
North Dakota	NAADAC
Ohio	IC&RC
Oklahoma	IC&RC
Oregon	NAADAC
Pennsylvania	IC&RC
Rhode Island	IC&RC
South Carolina	NAADAC
South Dakota	IC&RC
Tennessee	NAADAC
Texas	IC&RC
Utah	NAADAC and IC&RC
Vermont	IC&RC
Virginia	NAADAC and IC&RC
Washington	NAADAC
West Virginia	IC&RC
Wisconsin	NAADAC
Wyoming	NAADAC

With every state relying on IC&RC and NAADAC exams to vet candidates for state-level credentials, passing those exams in this context doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve also earned national certification in the process or that reciprocal certification with other states that use the same exam is a given.

You can only earn IC&RC certification through state-level affiliates, so it makes sense to think of it as state certification based on internationally-recognized standards.

With NAADAC, however, it is possible to pursue voluntary certification directly through NAADAC as an optional credential, completely independent of your state’s credentialing process. This would be understood to be national certification, but the authority to practice is still only granted through your state licensing agency or certification board.

Understanding the Unique Features of Both IC&RC and NAADAC Substance Abuse Counselor Certification

For those who choose to pursue IC&RC or NAADAC certification on top of state credentials, often there isn’t a lot involved in deciding which organization to go with. For most counselors, it’s pretty natural to simply work with the organization offering the exam that’s recognized by the state credentialing authority, and by extension, familiar to local employers. This isn’t a hard and fast rule though.

And while IC&RC certification is accepted in many more jurisdictions than NAADAC, there are a number of reasons why NAADAC certification may still be an excellent choice.

Advantages of NAADAC Certification

You Can Apply Directly Through the NAADAC

While the IC&RC offers certification through its state-based member boards, you can apply for NAADAC certification directly through the NAADAC itself. This means that unless your state has extra requirements, you might be able to qualify for certification with fewer steps and fewer fees.

The NAADAC Offers a Couple of Unique Certifications and Certificates

In addition to its three main counselor certifications, the NAADAC also offers certifications in nicotine and tobacco treatment and adolescent addictions counseling. If you already have another NAADAC certification, earning these certifications might not take too much extra work.

The NAADAC also offers some counselor training certificate programs for counselors who want to expand their skill sets. They offer certificates in:

Addiction Treatment in Military & Veteran Culture
Adolescent Treatment and Recovery
Advances in Technology in the Addiction Profession
Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Co-occurring Disorders and Substance Use Disorders
Conflict Resolution in Recovery
Clinical Supervision in the Addiction Profession
Incorporating the Family into Treatment and Recovery
Practice Management, Administration, and Operations
Recovery to Practice
Treating Older Adults in Recovery
Women in Recovery

Even if you’re not NAADAC-certified, earning one of these certificates can help you support new populations and find even more exciting career opportunities.

The NAADAC Has a Large Professional Development and Advocacy Community

If you become a member of the NAADAC in addition to earning one of their certifications, you’ll have free access to over 360 hours of continuing education opportunities, their career and jobs center, and a number of annual advocacy events, seminars, and summits. These resources could be great for building a large professional support network and finding new opportunities.

Advantages of IC&RC Certification

IC&RC Member Boards Often Offer Reciprocity Certifications

One of the IC&RC’s main goals is to provide counselors the flexibility to go where they’re needed most. Because of that, many of their state affiliates have reciprocity agreements with other states and can help you transfer your credential to another state. They also offer a number of international credentials you can use to find opportunities in other countries.

The Clinical Supervisor Certification Is Great for High-level Positions

If you’d like to become a program manager, director, counselor trainer, or another type of advanced recovery professional, earning the IC&RC’s Clinical Supervisor certification might be a good move. While it’s not necessarily required for clinical or administrative positions, it can show employers that you’ve been trained and tested at an advanced level.

IC&RC Offers New Peer Recovery Certification and Other Training Programs

Peer recovery support specialists are people who are in recovery themselves and have undergone training to help others through the process. If you’re in recovery yourself, earning one of these certifications can be a great way to introduce yourself to the field before earning a degree in substance use disorder counseling and becoming a full-fledged counselor.

The IC&RC also offers training on behavioral health assessment software and becoming a harm reduction specialist. These opportunities might a great option for substance use disorder counselors and professionals in related fields that want to broaden their skill set.

Why NAADAC and IC&RC Are Important to the Recovery Community

It’s important to understand why the IC&RC and NAADAC exist in the first place. While they’re separate organizations, they both play crucial roles in supporting both counselors and the people they serve.

By certifying counselors all over the world, the IC&RC and NAADAC help people seeking treatment identify qualified professionals. But there’s even more to it than that.

National Certification Can Broaden Your Career Options

While employers have their own hiring standards, national certification is pretty much universally recognized, signaling to prospective employers and the broader professional community that you’ve met rigorous training and experience standards and are equipped to handle the job.

Similarly, if you eventually go on to earn an advanced certification through one of these organizations, you might be more competitive for director or program management roles.

National Certification Allows for Interstate Mobility

All states use NAADAC or IC&RC exams or both to vet counselors for credentials at various levels. States that use the same tests and have similar standards often have reciprocity agreements in place. Reciprocity agreements between states simply mean that one state recognizes the credentialing standards from another state as being nearly identical to their own. This means counselors relocating or otherwise working in a new state can be fast-tracked through the credentialing process.

National certification goes one step further. If you’re already certified through the NAADAC or IC&RC, you may find recognition of this achievement even beyond the small group of states that may have reciprocity agreements in place with your own state. This means being able to work as a counselor in more places without having to fulfill significant additional requirements.

With remote counseling via Zoom now a standard platform for treatment delivery, the ability to work remotely across state lines is more important than ever. Then there’s the fact that treatment providers in large cities or near state borders often serve clients from different states as a matter of course, and often even have locations in more than one state.

Both Certification Agencies Advocate For Treatment Access on a National Level

While the primary purpose of both the NAADAC and IC&RC is to certify counselors, they’re also dedicated to advocating for their workforce and the people they serve. And because both organizations are made up of thousands of informed professionals, this advocacy sometimes has a big impact.

For example, the Family Support Services for Addiction Act of 2021 is a bill that provides grants to organizations that support people battling substance use disorders. Before the bill was passed, NAADAC members met with state representatives, shared insights and data, and emphasized the community-wide impact substance use disorders and treatment solutions can have. These highly organized efforts ensure everyone everywhere has a chance at recovery.

What Addiction Treatment Was Like Before NAADAC and IC&RC

Today, substance use disorder counseling is an evidence-based practice. People can go to treatment centers dedicated completely to addiction and seek help from people with rigorous clinical training. And people who want to enter the field have structured training and education programs to turn to. However, this wasn’t always the case.

In 1963, the American Medical Association declared that alcoholism – and later all substance use disorders – are in fact diseases that can be treated. Before that, treatment was mostly only available through fellowship programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and clinics modeled after the problematic asylums of old. There were a handful of specialty clinics around, but not on the scale needed.

As a result, the federal government started funding recovery programs. Doctors and psychiatrists began developing medications and therapies designed to aid in the recovery process.

But at this point, there were few, if any, dedicated substance use disorder counselors. Doctors, social workers, psychiatrists, and other professionals all helped but the title of substance abuse counselor really didn’t exist on a larger scale or independent of these other professions. It was more of a subspecialty than a field of its own.

That changed in the 1970s when newly-formed local, regional, and national substance use disorder treatment organizations began exploring the idea of certifying counselors so that a highly-trained professional support network could be created. NAADA was founded in 1972. IC&RC came along less than a decade later in 1981. Finally, in 1983, the California Society for the Treatment of Alcoholism and Other Drug Dependencies offered the first addiction treatment certification exam. Similar organizations in other states followed suit.

That brings us to where we are today. While the field is still dominated by state-level counselor certification and licensing agencies similar to California’s, there is much more structure for people wanting to enter or seek help from the SUD counseling field. As a result, colleges and other organizations across the country have programs dedicated to building up this invaluable, life-saving workforce.

About the NAADAC – National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors

Founded in 1972 as the National Association of Alcoholism Counselors and Trainers, the NAADAC provides training opportunities to and advocates for substance use disorder counselors in all 50 states.

They offer three main levels of counselor certification:

National Certified Addiction Counselor, Level I (NCAC I): an entry-level certification that allows counselors to work under general supervision.
National Certified Addiction Counselor, Level II (NCAC II): a certification that allows counselors to work more independently and handle more complex cases.
Master Addiction Counselor (MAC): a highly advanced credential that equips counselors to administer advanced therapeutic treatments and run their own practices in some states.

While slightly different, each certification level has a similar requirement process: get the right degree, complete enough education hours about substance use disorders, complete supervised training hours, and pass an exam. To be able to practice with an NAADAC credential, you may also have to earn a license from your local state board.

Certification	Minimum Degree Required	Education Hours Required	Supervised Work Hours Required	Exam Required
National Certified Addiction Counselor, Level I (NCAC I)	High school diploma or GED	270 hours	Three years or 6,000 hours (varies between states)	NCAC Level One
National Certified Addiction Counselor, Level II (NCAC II)	Bachelor’s degree in a counseling and/or addiction-related subject	450 hours	Three years or 6,000 hours (varies between states)	NCAC Level Two
Master Addiction Counselor (MAC)	Master’s degree in a counseling and/or addiction-related subject	500 hours	Three years or 6,000 hours (varies between states)	MAC Exam

What to Expect from NAADAC Exams

While there are separate exams for each level of certification, each exam is very similar. They’re all made up of 150 multiple choice questions, have a three hour time limit, and cover the same nine topics:

Admissions, intake, screening, and orientation
Clinical assessment
Treatment planning
Individual, group, and family counseling including crisis intervention and client education
Recordkeeping and documentation
Case management
Discharge planning and continuing care
Ethical, legal, and professional development issues
The physiology and psychopharmacology of substance use disorders

However, if you’re pursuing a high-level license, questions about these topics may be more in-depth and advanced than the ones you’d answer for a lower-level license. Exam scheduling policies vary between states, but you must generally take your NAADAC exam at an approved testing site.

As of August 2024, 22 states use NAADAC tests to certify counselors:

Alabama (also accepts IC&RC)
Alaska
Arizona (also accepts IC&RC)
California
Colorado
Washington, DC
Georgia (also accepts IC&RC)
Indiana (also accepts IC&RC)
Kansas
Maryland (also accepts IC&RC)
Minnesota (also accepts IC&RC)
Montana
New Mexico
North Dakota
Oregon
South Carolina
Tennessee
Utah (also accepts IC&RC)
Virginia (also accepts IC&RC)
Washington
Wisconsin
Wyoming

It’s important to note, though, that many of these states also accept IC&RC exams, as well.

About the IC&RC – International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium

The International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium was founded in 1981. But despite starting later than the NAADAC, the IC&RC has seen impressive growth — as of August 2024, 49 states (excluding Alaska) are home to IC&RC-affiliated certification boards. They also have affiliates in India, Guam, Germany, and more.

Like the NAADAC, the IC&RC has three main levels of counselor certification in addition to credentials for peer recovery specialists and other professionals:

Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADC): a certification that equips counselors to take part in every stage of the recovery process under supervision.
Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor (AADC): a higher-level certification that allows counselors to either work more independently or run their own practices depending on state regulations.
Clinical Supervisor (CS): a certification that prepares counselors to administer clinical therapeutic treatment and supervise and assess other counselors.

However, the exact requirements you need to meet to earn each certification aren’t determined by the IC&RC. They’re determined by each individual member board. This means that there are slight variations in requirements between states. Some states even use different titles for each level of certification.

That being said, the certification process is generally the same between states and similar to the NAADAC’s certification process: get the right level of education, complete enough education hours about substance use disorders, complete supervised training hours, and pass an exam.

Certification	Minimum Degree Required	Education Hours Required	Work Practice Hours Required	Exam Required
Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADC)	High school diploma or GED (Associate degree or bachelor’s degree in some states)	150 – 350 hours	4,000 to 6,000 hours	ADC Exam
Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor (AADC)	Master’s degree (Bachelor’s degree in some states)	180 – 350 hours	2,000 to 10,000	AADC Exam
Clinical Supervisor (CS)	Master’s degree	~30 hours of clinical supervisor education in addition to other requirements	~4,000 hours of supervision practice in addition to other requirements	CS Exam

What to Expect From IC&RC Exams

Like NAADAC exams, IC&RC exams are made up of 150 multiple choice questions and have a three-hour time limit. While you might have to take your IC&RC exam at an approved testing site (there are multiple testing sites in all states), you may also be able to take it at home under the supervision of an online proctor. However, not all local certification agencies offer at-home testing.

Each of the three IC&RC exams have questions about different subjects. On the ADC Exam, you’ll be asked questions about:

On the AADC Exam, you’ll be asked about:

On the CS Exam, you’ll be asked about:

Counselor development
The ethical and professional standards of your role as an advanced counselor and supervisor
Program development and evaluation
Assessing other counselors
Your knowledge of different treatment methods

Can You Earn Your Substance Abuse Counselor Certification Online?

Despite the substance abuse counseling certification process being hands-on, there are certain parts of it you may be able to complete online no matter which organization you go through.

Of course, you’ll have to complete your supervised practice-hour requirements in-person, but there are plenty of online degree programs that can help you meet minimum education requirements remotely.

Many approved continuing education providers also offer online classes for people completing additional education requirements toward advanced certification.

When getting certified at the state level, though, you’ll need to look into the rules set by your state’s credentialing board. In some places, you can take all of your SUD-specific classes online. In others, you can only complete a certain, limited number of contact hours remotely.