In the addiction therapy community, not everyone can make the leap to fully certified addiction counselor right away. And not everyone wants to.
The associate-level alcohol and drug counselor credential available in most states offers a short step toward full practice. These credentialed professionals serve as official assistants, making it a more accessible hands-on role that still involves working with patients. With slightly less education and practice required to get started, this lower-level credential is a quicker path to getting into addiction therapy.
But that quicker pace doesn’t mean the credential doesn’t require intensive training. And it definitely doesn’t suggest that these professionals don’t make a real and meaningful contribution to patient recovery. In any state that offers the credential, associate-level substance use disorder professionals are an important part of the recovery team.
What Exactly Is an Associate-Level Substance Abuse Counselor?
Substance use disorder (SUD) counseling is a delicate, important, interdisciplinary undertaking. It’s not something that can be left to amateurs, or even people with substantial on the job training. The stakes are too high and the skills are too challenging.
So all states require anyone practicing in this sensitive area to have a license or certification to validate their training and skills. Associate substance use disorder counselors are one of several levels of licensing that are standard in the field:
- Substance Use Disorder Technician
- Associate Substance Use Disorder Counselor
- Certified Substance Use Disorder Counselor
- Clinical Substance Use Disorder Counselor
- Independent Clinical Substance Use Disorder Treatment Counselor/Supervisor
Only 31 states have a license offered at this level of professional substance abuse counseling. Even among those, it’s not always considered to be a permanent position. Many states treat the associate level position as a provisional or temporary credential. It’s used in those states as an official authorization that allows you to practice SUD counseling under supervision while you accumulate required hours of experience to progress to the next level of licensure. You can often tell when that’s the case by the title in your state.
Some of the state title variations for associate counselors who hold the credential only while in training are:
- Certified Addiction Counselor - Provisional
- Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor - Trainee
- Counselor-in-Training
- Addiction Counselor License Candidate
But in other cases, this is an assistant role to regular SUD and clinical SUD counselors that plays a valuable part in leading patients to recovery. These have titles like:
- Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant
- Certified Substance Abuse Counselor Assistant
- Alcohol and Drug Associate Counselor
- Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program Counselor
- Associate Addiction Counselor
- Licensed Associate Counselor
- Residential Counselor
Associate Counselors Often Handle One of the Linchpin Services in Opioid Addiction Treatment
One common job for associate level addiction treatment therapists is in overseeing methadone maintenance programs for opioid use disorder patients. It’s a bright spot in the treatment of a condition that is killing more people in the United States than any other substance.
Methadone is a synthetic drug that was introduced in the late 1940s for pain relief. It binds to the same receptors in the brain as opioids, but with longer duration and less intensity. After a relatively low dose of the drug, withdrawal symptoms from heroin are alleviated. More importantly, the high otherwise experienced on actual opioids is reduced.
This has some key advantages as a stepping stone toward recovery. The physiology of opioid addiction is hard to beat by going cold turkey. Medically-administered methadone offers a way to reduce the insatiable craving for heroin. Administered orally and in controlled doses, it reduces or eliminates the chance of overdose or catching transmissible disease through needle sharing.
Prescribed by doctors and usually administered by nurses, methadone’s role in the counseling process is often mediated by associate SUD counselors. They oversee and track distribution, ensure patients take their dose, and often watch over them after it has been consumed. They are also on hand to educate patients about side effects and deal with any unforeseen outcomes.
And in some cases, you will just see these positions listed as regular substance abuse counselors or clinical therapists in substance abuse. With demand for substance abuse counselors forecast to grow at a galloping rate of 18 percent over the next decade by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), treatment centers and government agencies are happy to get help at any level available.
What Kind of Work Do Assistant Addiction Counselors Perform?
In both cases, where the license is a stepping stone and where it is a separate but key part of the addiction treatment system, the tasks and responsibilities are very similar from state to state.
Those responsibilities are outlined in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) TAP 21 standards for addiction counseling competencies.
Every professional substance abuse counselor at every level has some duties within the same eight essential competency areas. The differences in the level of responsibility come with the license, and define the role of associate SUD counselor:
- Evaluation - Associate SUD professionals aren’t authorized to make full diagnoses or have the final say on screening. They do, however, evaluate clients and provide their diagnostic impressions to senior counselors, and make their own recommendations and even brief interventions and referrals on that basis.
- Treatment Plan monitoring - Likewise, associate counselors can’t make complete treatment plans on their own. They may make suggestions, and are often responsible for monitoring and implementing treatment, however.
- Referrals, Service Coordination, and Documentation - An introduction to SUD counseling is also an introduction to the paperwork and administrative work that is essential to care for patients. Assistant counselors spend a lot of time documenting their activities, patient status, and other vital data. They may coordinate as directed with other agencies and providers to ensure comprehensive care is available.
- Counseling - Associate counselors can engage in direct counseling work with patients, both individually and in group settings. They will typically do so either under direct or indirect supervision, and guided by senior counselors.
- Client, Family, and Community Education - One place that associate counselors can shine is in their educational outreach. Not entirely therapy, not entirely teaching, they use psychoeducational approaches to help create a more supportive environment for patients—and keep potential patients out of addiction in the first place.
- Professional and Ethical Responsibilities - Although associate counselors don’t have ultimate responsibility for patient care or treatment, they are held to the same high ethical standards as everyone in the addiction counseling field. Their job is to ensure client confidentiality, maintain professional behavior in the workplace, and to highlight potential conflicts for their supervisors for resolution.
Associate SUD counselors are only allowed to practice at a licensed treatment facility and under the clinical and administrative supervision of a regular or clinical SUD counselor.
SAMHSA lists an associate degree as the minimum level of qualification for associate SUD counselors, along with 100 hours of dedicated substance abuse and addiction training. As we’ll see, not every state holds exactly to that standard… but it’s a stake to aim at for anyone pursuing this kind of job in addiction treatment.
The Job Descriptions for Associate Substance Abuse Counselors Dive Into Gritty Details of Addiction Recovery
Because they are often mostly responsible for implementing and overseeing treatment programs, associate SUD counselors generally operate with guard rails. They have a plan to follow, and someone to call if things get off-script. Yet there is plenty of room for tailoring your approach to the individual and thinking on your feet in these jobs too.
You have to build client connections. Since every patient is different, you will spend a lot of time one-on-one, getting to know the stories and aspirations of the people you’re working with. Often, associate counselors get a more intimate picture of the people they are treating. You learn about families, their slide into addiction, their hopes for recovery.
Even better, you become a trusted therapist who can help them realize those hopes.
In the many associate addiction counseling jobs that serve as apprenticeships to higher levels of licensure, there’s also a large element of learning involved. While you are working with real patients, making real progress, you’re also absorbing lessons in how to take charge of such cases. The little things pop up on your radar:
- Dealing with the denial of first-time patients, and how to talk them through the evidence and consequences
- How the wrong environment can torpedo efforts by even the most dedicated patient to beat their addiction, and how to help structure a more supportive place for them
- Responding quickly and calmly to crisis and trauma events along the recovery path
All of these are elements of the job that involve thinking on your feet and making good connections using your training and expertise. Even if associate SUD counselors aren’t calling all the shots in treatment programs, they have plenty of leeway to help patients in the ways that matter most.
Your Place of Employment Will Determine the Type of Patients and Substance Addictions You Work With
A lot of the daily experiences you have as an associate substance abuse counselor will be defined by where you work. Working at a county health department in a screening job will give you a very different day-to-day experience than being part of the night shift at an inpatient alcohol treatment facility.
Some of the major areas you will find jobs as an associate addiction counselor include:
- Inpatient Rehabilitation - Often focused on particular kinds of substance use, like alcohol or opioids, assistant counselors play a critical role managing activities and monitoring therapy progress for patients in these facilities. They may take responsibility for a particular group, or have shift-work at any hour, monitoring patients. In some cases, an assistant counselor might run a sober house or other kind of intermediate recovery facility.
- Outpatient Rehabilitation Services - For patients who are either a step further down the road to recovery or who have a better support system in their lives, outpatient services also hire assistant addiction counselors. In these roles, one-on-one and group meetings are common, together with regular check-ins by phone and text. Counselors have to be adept at reading the tea leaves, and may need to be available to handle crisis counseling episodes at any moment.
- Screening and Outreach - Other services exist specifically to connect people who need SUD treatment with the kind of resources that can help them. Associate addiction counselors are important in this work, working with many different individuals very quickly to pre-screen and refer them on for more formal evaluation. This can involve spending a lot of your day outside the office, operating at health clinics, homeless shelters, or in correctional facilities.
Other employers may specialize in counseling teen addiction patients, working in healthcare settings to detect and prevent prescription medication addiction, or working with unique populations defined by culture or ethnicity.
Most of the different types of addiction treatment operations can be run by government, non-profit, or even private companies.
Some associate SUD counselors may settle in immediately to a specialization they are most comfortable with. You can develop a deep understanding and hone your techniques in that area to become more effective. But this is also a role where it’s common to experiment with a number of different practice areas, particularly if you are on the track to full licensure. It’s a good way to get a sense of what other kinds of positions are out there, and what sort of jobs are the most fulfilling for you personally.
Salary Levels for Associate Substance Abuse Counselors
If you assume that associate implies a somewhat lower salary range than a regular or clinical substance use disorder professional, you’re correct. But you’re still looking at a perfectly livable wage—and in a job that is hard to beat for personal satisfaction and social justice.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics collects data on American payroll and job categories, placing substance abuse counselors in with behavioral disorder and mental health counselors. Associate counselors will probably fall somewhere in the lower half of wage earners in the category.
For 2022, the lower 25 percent of substance abuse counselors earned $44,600 per year across the country.
Since these are transitional roles in many states, though, you can expect to be working your way up the ladder to the overall median salary for SUD counselors, which was $53,710 in 2023.
How To Get the Education and Experience You Need To Become an Associate Addiction Counselor
If your level of practice in addiction counseling is defined by what your responsibilities are under the eight core competencies, the authority and ability to perform those functions are set out by licenses and certifications in each state.
Your ability to earn a license as an assistant substance use disorder counselor comes down to the conditions set by state licensing and certification boards. We’ll get into the specifics below.
Taking a Look at the College Degrees That Qualify You for Assistant Substance Abuse Counseling Jobs
Although the model professional in these roles will have an Associate of Applied Science in Substance Use Disorder Counseling or a similar degree, you’ll see that the actual requirements for many states don’t require it.
Instead, many people get their required education hours in through something like a Certificate in Addiction Counseling. These programs typically last less than a year and are laser-focused on the coursework required by state credentialing bodies.
On the other hand, even where it isn’t mandatory, an Associate of Science in Alcohol and Other Drug Studies or an Associate of Applied Science in Addiction Studies is a good way to fast-track your career.
You will quickly find that most associate degree programs in addiction counseling line up their coursework with state licensing requirements for education.
These programs are time-tested ways to prepare for counseling careers. They hit the required educational marks in psychology, biology, and therapy, while also delivering a big chunk of modern liberal arts education. That means social studies, history, English, and more… all areas of knowledge that will boost your communication, empathy, and understanding of substance use disorders.
A formal education can also be a must-have in introducing a critical piece of all SUD counseling practice: self-care and handling the inevitable stresses of the job.
Associate degrees are also a good bet for another reason. They are often also called transfer degrees, because if your college accepts the coursework you completed in your associate program, it can count toward the first two years of a full bachelor’s degree. Earned at a lower cost and often more flexibility, that’s a great way to stack the deck in your favor if you should choose to bump up to a more advanced position later on.
Building Practice Hours Develops Practical Skills in Addiction Therapy
Another benefit to associate degrees is that they will usually get you started down the path to building your critical practice hours. Through practicum and internship offerings, you will be placed in local agencies and organizations that give you hands-on experience putting your training into real-world use.
If you opt for a certificate program instead, it’s less likely to include experiential training as a part of it. And in any case, the practice hour requirements in many states can be as high as 6,000 hours. That’s usually three years worth of work, which is longer than a degree, and much longer than a certificate program!
But these are common requirements and the addiction treatment community is used to helping students fill them. You’ll find it relatively easy to find additional internship or hire-to-license placements where you can accumulate your needed practice and supervision hours.
Requirements to Practice as an Assistant Substance Abuse Counselor in Your State
Associate addiction counseling licenses are harder to categorized than other substance use disorder licensing.
As noted earlier, there are two basic tracks for licenses at this level:
- Licenses intended as permanent qualification for an assistant-level position in SUD counseling
- Licenses used as temporary qualifications so you can practice legally to build your practice hours toward more permanent licensing as a SUD counselor
For the first type, you’ll often find that a high school education is enough—although an associate degree is the easy way to get the necessary education hours clocked in. For the second type, you’re more likely to find a bachelor’s degree required, if that is necessary for the full credential this license builds toward.
Some states even have both types of associate counselor roles, easily distinguished by the different degree requirements.
We’ve put together a grid that lists each available credential in each state for this level of license. An NA in the Titles column marks states that don’t have any associate licensing; an NA in the Degrees column means that no mention is made of specific degree requirements. An asterisk in that column indicates a state that offers credit toward additional practice hours if you hold a higher level degree than required.
State | Titles | Degrees |
Alaska | NA | NA |
Alabama | NA | NA |
Arkansas | NA | NA |
Arizona | Certified Addiction Counselor | High school* |
California | CADTP Alcohol-Other Drug Counselor / Certified Alcohol Drug Counselor I | NA/Associate |
Colorado | Certified Addiction Counselor II | High school |
Connecticut | Certified Addiction Counselor – Provisional | NA |
Washington DC | NA | NA |
Delaware | NA | NA |
Florida | Certified Addiction Counselor | High school |
Georgia | Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor – Trainee/Electronic-Counseling Alcohol & Drug Counselor | High school/High school |
Hawaii | NA | NA |
Iowa | NA | NA |
Idaho | NA | NA |
Illinois | Certified Assessment & Referral Specialist | High school |
Indiana | Indiana Certified Addiction Counselor I / Certified Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Counselor I / Licensed Addiction Counselor – Associate | NA / None / Bachelor |
Kansas | NA | NA |
Kentucky | NA | NA |
Louisiana | Counselor-in-Training / Registered Addiction Counselor | High school / High school |
Massachusetts | Certified Alcoholism Counselor | High school |
Maryland | Certified Supervised Counselor-Alcohol & Drug | Associate |
Maine | NA | NA |
Michigan | NA | NA |
Minnesota | Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselor | NA |
Missouri | Addiction Counselor I / Missouri Associate Alcohol Drug Counselor I | Bachelor / High school |
Mississippi | Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselor | High school |
Montana | Addiction Counselor License Candidate | Associate |
North Carolina | NA | NA |
North Dakota | NA | NA |
Nebraska | NA | NA |
New Hampshire | NA | NA |
New Jersey | Chemical Dependence Associate | NA |
New Mexico | Licensed Substance Abuse Associate Counselor | Associate |
Nevada | Provisional Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counselor | Bachelor |
New York | Credentialed Alcoholism & Substance Abuse Counselor | High school |
Ohio | Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant | High school |
Oklahoma | NA | NA |
Oregon | Certified Alcohol Drug Counselor I | Associate |
Pennsylvania | Associate Addiction Counselor | High school |
Rhode Island | Provisional Alcohol & Drug Counselor | High school |
South Carolina | NA | NA |
South Dakota | Addiction Counselor Trainee | High school |
Tennessee | NA | NA |
Texas | NA | NA |
Utah | Certified Substance Use Disorder Counselor / Licensed Substance Use Disorder Counselor / Certified Advanced Substance Use Disorder Counselor Intern | Associate / Associate / Bachelor |
Virginia | Associate Addiction Counselor / Certified Substance Abuse Counselor Assistant | High school / High school |
Vermont | Apprentice Addiction Professional | Bachelor |
Washington | Substance Use Disorder Professional Trainee | Associate |
Wisconsin | Substance Abuse Counselor-in-Training | NA |
West Virginia | NA | NA |
Wyoming | Certified Addictions Practitioner Assistant | Associate |
Even in the states that require college degrees, it’s not as simple as earning a degree and sending in a license application, however. You also have to meet other standards… again, often influenced by which type of associate license is being offered. Those include:
- Number of specific substance use disorder education hours earned through college or certificate programs - These can range from 60 to over 300.
- Amount of practice hours with clients needed under supervision - Assistant-level positions usually have lower requirements, around 2,000 hours or so, while provisional licenses run to the higher end.
- Number of supervision hours receiving direct instruction from a supervisor - This requirement is less common for associate level positions than it is for higher level licenses, but you may need between 100 and 300 hours in states that require it.
- A standardized examination - Again, this is a less common requirement, particularly for dedicated assistant positions. Provisional licenses typically require the same exam as a full counseling license, the IC&RC ADC, or NAADAC NCAC I. Some states have their own unique associate examination, however.
Starting as an Associate Addiction Counselor, You’ll Find it Natural to Keep Climbing the Career Ladder
Even in states where associate licensing is not explicitly set out as a path toward higher SUD counseling credentials, many people who aim for these jobs at first will eventually find themselves moving up the career ladder. Once you’ve become involved with treating substance use disorder patients and had a taste of the difference you can make, it’s hard not to want even more knowledge and skill to help solve those problems.
So don’t get too comfortable in your associate addiction counselor job. There are people that need more. You’ll do all you can and change many lives for the better in this role… but you’ll probably also eventually aim even higher.
With the experience and expertise you develop as an associate addiction counselor, you’ll be an asset to your community and individuals that need the help if and when you choose to earn the more advanced Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselor credential.
2023 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary and employment figures for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors reflect national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed April 2024.