The impacts of addiction add up over time. Both mentally and physically, substance abuse takes a toll. The earlier you start using, the more damage is done.
That makes it particularly alarming when adolescents are struck by substance use disorders (SUD). More and more of them are struck by all the associated health, life, and family problems that come with them each year. Data from the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics from 2023 is stark: overdose deaths among 15 to 24 year olds have increased by 500 percent since 1999.
With increasing access to dangerous and addictive substances, but without the kind of brain development to make responsible decisions, kids are at particular risk of addiction. At least half of all teenagers have misused a drug at least once.
While experimentation for adolescents is perfectly normal, in the age of fentanyl and other powerful synthetic opioids, it’s also potentially deadly.
Even when the results aren’t fatal, kids with substance use disorders are on a path to deeply damage their prospects, their bodies, and their minds over time. Adolescent addiction counselors are mission-driven to make sure that doesn’t happen.
What Is an Adolescent Addictions Counselor?
Adolescent addiction counselors go to work every day trying to prevent those overdoses, addictions, and traumas.
Substance abuse counselors that work with children and adolescents have the same requirements to become licensed or certified in each state as those that work with any other population. In some cases, they may work in positions where they see a combination of both adult and adolescent patients, often when their focus is on a specific population that overlaps the two, like homeless individuals or people using a particular kind of substance.
But treating kids can take a very specific skillset, one that isn’t always taught in mainstream addiction counseling degree programs. So adolescent addiction counselors have typically gone on for additional education hours and focused practical experiential training to build their skills.
Establishing Your Credentials as an Adolescent Addiction Counselor Through Professional Certification
While the basic path to become an adolescent addiction counselor in terms of licensing and certification is basically the same as every other kind of SUD counselor, there is also one clear way to establish your credentials specifically in this field.
That comes from NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, in the form of their National Certified Adolescent Addictions Counselor (NCAAC) credential.
The NCAAC is a national professional certification that is completely voluntary. You don’t need it to work in addiction counseling, or even specifically with kids. But it’s the main way that specialists in adolescent addiction develop and confirm their special abilities and skills to deal with this sensitive population.
To earn the NCAAC, you must have:
- At least a bachelor’s degree in substance use disorders or related counseling majors
- A current credential or license in your state to practice as a substance abuse counselor
- At least 10,000 hours of supervised experience working in addiction treatment, half of which must include treatment of adolescents
- A minimum of 270 contact hours of education and training in SUD, with at least 70 hours specific to adolescent treatment, 6 hours of ethics training, and 6 hours on HIV and other pathogens
- A passing score on the NCAAC exam
The educational requirements to become an NCAAC, notably, are over and above the requirements in many states to obtain some levels of SUD counseling licensure.
The training hours required for certification can be picked up through routine continuing education courses needed to maintain your licensure, or through special training programs designed to prepare you for adolescent substance abuse counseling.
The exam is the major challenge. It has 250 multiple-choice questions covering topics like:
- Adolescent Counseling Practice
- Theories of Counseling and Adolescent Practice
- Substance Abuse Assessment Specific to Adolescents
- Considerations in the Pharmacology of Psychoactive Substances in Adolescents
The NCAAC is primarily aimed at individuals who are already practicing adolescent substance abuse therapy at some level, which makes it easier to accumulate both training and practice hours. But the certification distinguishes you as a professional with special training and knowledge to show clients and potential employers your expertise in adolescent addiction treatment.
Getting the Right Education To Treat Kids With Substance Use Disorders
Degrees or certificates offering specializations in adolescent addiction treatment are few and far between. In the typical Certificate in Addiction Studies program, you may receive a few hours worth of coursework in topics that deal with handling substance abuse in children and families.
If you have opted for a more advanced college degree, like a Bachelor of Science in Substance Abuse Counseling, you will find more courses available to tailor your education to adolescent treatments. Expect some really fascinating classes such as Treatment Resistance and Motivation that teach the skills it takes to understand the barriers that naturally arise when working with young people in a stage of life when they’re developing a sense of self.
A master’s degree offers even more opportunities to specialize, since these one-to-two-year programs allow you to build your studies around a subject of your choosing.
Going further up the educational food chain, you may even find that a Master of Arts in Addiction Counseling and Prevention accelerates your career in adolescent SUD treatment. Unlocking the top levels of licensure and certification, graduate studies take you on a deep dive to understanding addiction and recovery. They can also reduce your total practice hour requirements for licensure in many states.
Of course, there is another angle to take for specialized education in child and adolescent counseling. Degrees in majors like counseling or psychology often include concentrations in children and adolescent counseling. These focus more on issues of human development and growth, and growing connections and engagement with younger clients.
But they are often also accepted by state credentialing authorities as qualification toward substance abuse counseling licensure. As long as the degree, or a certificate you may add on later, covers the specific educational requirements, you can get both your unique expertise in counseling for kids and the necessary lessons in addiction therapy.
Most Counselors Will Need Additional Training To Qualify for Adolescent Addiction Counseling Certification
With college degrees off the table as the primary way to build specialized expertise in adolescent addiction counseling, most of your training hours are likely to come through continuing education.
NAADAC offers a specialized six-part training series online, the Adolescent Treatment and Recovery course, which can lead to a certificate of achievement. It will also clock in some of the extra training hours you’ll need for certification.
You can also find private organizations offering training, including some that comes with its own certifications. The Certified Adolescent and Addiction Motivation Coach from The Addiction Academy is one example. Although the credential doesn’t carry the same weight as NAADAC certification, and covers slightly different ground, the training series that leads to it also counts as continuing education.
Programs like that, or even piece-meal classes in adolescent addiction counseling, can both help you keep your current license and build qualifications toward a specialty certificate in the field.
How To Find Jobs for Adolescent Addiction Counselors
Although there are plenty of jobs for addiction counselors focused on adolescent treatment, they aren’t always easy to identify. Many simply are listed under the usual range of titles that are used in SUD counseling:
- Addiction Counselor
- Chemical Dependency Counselor
- Residential Case Manager
- Substance Abuse Professional
- Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counselor
In fact, the day-to-day tasks of those positions don’t differ too much from that of any other kind of SUD counseling. They routinely conduct evaluations, plan treatments, make referrals, coordinate services, and offer therapy directly to patients in individual or group settings.
Some of the biggest differences in these jobs are the emphasis on coordination and education. Adolescents, by definition, aren’t out on their own as independent players acting under their own responsibility. They have families, custodians, teachers, and social workers who are responsible for their overall well-being.
Adolescent addiction counseling jobs spend more time than usual working in client, family, and overall community education as part of their duties.
They also involve additional emphasis on ethical and professional responsibilities of their own when dealing with such a vulnerable population. That means that paperwork and other considerations for oversight are constantly front and center.
Employers for Adolescent Addiction Counselors Are Found in Every Community
Adolescent addiction counselors work in environments where the kids are. So schools and school districts, community service organizations, and non-profits focused on the youth population are major employers.
There are also many private addiction treatment providers who either focus on or offer adolescent substance abuse treatment. These can include both inpatient and outpatient facilities, which may serve both adolescents and adults but often in separate groups or units.
Various social services agencies may also employ substance abuse counselors focused on youth treatment and prevention. These positions might have less hands-on treatment in their scope, but larger environmental and community education potential.
You will generally find that adolescent addiction counseling roles have similar salaries to other addiction counselors. However, they also come with the same various levels of expertise and responsibility—it’s possible to become a licensed master addiction counselor specializing in youth treatment, with the same overall bump in salary range.
The best part about a career in substance abuse counseling with adolescents, though, is the opportunity to get ahead of lives about to be wrecked. Your gift saves them from decades worth of damage, damage that can cost them dearly later in life. The earlier you set them on a path to recovery, the more of that life they have to enjoy as happy, productive adults.