As an active duty service member or veteran, you don’t need anyone to tell you that substance abuse is a real struggle for people who have served. You known exactly what kinds of stress and trauma our men and women in uniform go through. It’s not tough to understand how that sometimes involves turning to alcohol or drugs as a coping mechanism.
It’s also been the case that many veterans wounded in the Global War On Terror were treated during exactly the period that the American healthcare system was busily overprescribing opiate painkillers. And they were no less susceptible to becoming addicted than the rest of the American populace.
Even if you already had some idea that veterans face an outsized risk of experiencing substance use disorders, you probably didn’t understand quite how widespread that problem is. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for 2022 lays it out: an estimated 20 percent, or around 4.2 million veterans engage in illicit drug use.
Of those, some 480,000 misused opioid pain relievers or fell into the tarpit of heroin addiction. And around 2.4 million were experiencing an alcohol use disorder.
Coming from a culture where toughing it out and focusing on mission over self is prized, it’s no wonder that vets who need help have trouble asking for it.
Another key statistic from the survey will ring true to anyone who has served: almost all of the veterans who had a disorder but received no treatment for it didn’t believe treatment was needed.
One way to break that logjam is for people with similar patterns of experience and cultural backgrounds to reach out to them. And that’s why it’s critical to the country to get more military veterans into the substance use disorder (SUD) counselor workforce.
Veterans Deserve Support for Their Service Whether They Have Problems Or Not
Serving your country creates a kind of compact between you and other citizens. That’s why veteran drug abuse sometimes feels like it’s as much of a failing as the overall addiction crisis: our support system for the people who have honorably stepped forward to serve hasn’t worked for those vets.
That system is there for all veterans and service members, though. And it’s just what you need to help you become a qualified substance use disorder counselor.
A range of supportive and educational benefits are available both to individuals still on active duty and those who have been discharged. They are more than enough to kick your substance abuse counselor career into high gear.
Turning Your Military Experience and Education Benefits Into Training For a Substance Abuse Counseling Career
Substance abuse counseling is ultimately a triumph of education over addiction. Every state has specific training and degree requirements for licensed and certified counselors. You’ll need to meet those to get any job in the field.
Fortunately, some of the best benefits available to service members are for education.
Options For Active Duty Military Personnel Pursuing Substance Abuse Counseling Careers
Many of the same qualities that make a great SUD counselor will be drilled into you through your military career:
- Discipline
- Planning
- Accountability
- Ethics and responsibility
That’s all just an essential part of military basic training and culture. But if you are planning ahead, you also have various benefits you can use while you are still on active duty to get the right training and education for a career in addiction counseling.
Probably the best of these benefits is MTA, Military Tuition Assistance. Every branch offers this benefit, with slightly different levels of support, to pay for you to attend college while you are still in the service. Typically, it will cover up to $4,500 per year at a cap of $250 per semester hour of tuition.
The best part of MTA is that you can put it toward any kind of study, at any level of degree you choose. If you already have your bachelor’s, you can put it toward a Master of Science in Addiction Counseling. If you don’t have any college at all behind you, you can get started on a Bachelor of Science in Alcohol and Drug Counseling or even complete a full associate degree.
Any of those options will help you hit the fast track to SUD counselor credentials once you are out of the service.
Getting All the Training You Need as a Military Behavioral Health Technician
One of the big draws of military service for decades has been that you can often turn your active-duty training and experience directly into skills useful in civilian careers.
Substance abuse counseling isn’t quite the same slam dunk there as, say, diesel mechanics or cybersecurity. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t specific positions in the military that can help you build at least some of the skills you can use as an addiction counselor in civilian life.
In the Army, the clearest path comes through landing a job as a MOS 68X Behavioral Health Specialist. These enlisted troops work under the supervision of psychologists and psychiatrists to deliver care for mental conditions, behavioral issues, and drug and alcohol problems… a good preview of SUD counseling work.
To prepare, you go through 16 weeks of specialized training at Fort Sam Houston. It covers SOAP notes and documentation, basic CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and medication administration. It also includes at least two weeks of supervised, hands-on experience in behavioral health, similar to practicum work in an Associate of Science in Substance Abuse Counseling. U.S. Air Force Mental Health Service specialists (AFSC 4C031) cycle through the same training school and perform similar work.
The Navy has a somewhat similar sub-role for the Hospital Corpsman rating as an HM-Behavioral Health Technician. This path runs through standard field medical service training and is available only as a C school assignment for a select few.
Military service means following orders, so there are no guarantees that your behavioral health assignments will specialize in drug and alcohol counseling even when you land one of these coveted roles. But the training and experience you will gain while enlisted will be an invaluable preparation for civilian SUD counseling jobs no matter what.
Getting a COOL Start to Your Substance Abuse Counseling Credentials
If you are fortunate enough to land in a MOS slot that includes some behavioral health or counseling work, you can take advantage of COOL: Credentialing Opportunities On-Line.
Available with every branch, COOL is a program that both identifies potential credentials and certifications that may align with your military training and responsibilities, and offers financial assistance to obtain them.
That can bring up to $4,000 your way to take any mandatory classes, pay for required examinations, or cover filing or licensing costs for those credentials.
On the list for enlisted behavior techs are several important certifications that are common in the world of addiction counseling:
- National Certification in Nicotine and Tobacco Treatment (NCNTT) - NAADAC
- Registered Addiction Specialist (Breining Institute)
- Alcohol & Drug Counselor Exam (IC&RC)
- Advanced Alcohol & Drug Counselor Exam (IC&RC)
- Clinical Supervisor Exam (IC&RC)
- Master Addiction Counselor (NAADAC)
- Peer Recovery Exam (IC&RC)
- Prevention Specialist Exam (IC&RC)
- Substance Use Disorder Certified Counselor I/II/III/IV (CADTP)
Some of those certifications are useful in seeking employment opportunities in SUD counseling after discharge; others, depending on what state you are in, are a ticket to official board certification or licensure to practice.
A Full Degree in Substance Abuse Can Be Covered By Veteran GI Bill® Education Benefits
For veterans, absolutely the most life-changing benefit comes through the GI Bill®. Ever since the Greatest Generation came home from World War II, various forms of GI Bill® educational benefits have put them through school and altered the trajectory of their lives.
The current version of the GI Bill®, the Post-9/11 GI Bill®, can do the same for you by paying for your education as a substance abuse counselor.
For most service members being discharged today with 36 months or more of service behind them, the coverage is more than enough for a full bachelor’s degree in addiction counseling. You may receive:
- Full coverage of in-state tuition and fees at public universities (you may be eligible for in-state rates anywhere in the country, even if you haven’t lived there), or up to $28,900 per year for private universities
- A $1,000 annual stipend for books and supplies
- Monthly housing allowance while in school equivalent to an E-5 Basic Allowance for Housing
- Relocation costs to move to your university if you are coming from a rural location
You can receive these benefits for up to 36 months of college attendance. They can apply to either undergraduate or graduate schooling, so if you already have your bachelor’s degree, it’s enough for a master’s in substance abuse counseling.
All that is necessary to qualify for this generous program is that…
- You served for a total of at least 36 months (benefits are scaled down for less time in service.
- You served at least 90 days of active duty service after September 10, 2001.
- You hold a high school diploma or GED.
- You have been honorably discharged.
Special dispensations are available if you served for fewer than 90 days but were wounded in action or honorably discharged with a service-related disability.
When The GI Bill® Doesn’t Quite Cover It, Yellow Ribbon Can Step in To Help
Although $28,900 a year seems pretty generous when it comes to GI Bill® tuition limits, all you have to do is look at the typical cost of a year at a private university these days to see it’s not quite going to cut it. According to 2022 data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the average annual cost for undergraduate studies at private universities is an eye-popping $38,768.
That doesn’t include room and board.
So to cover your costs at the most elite private substance abuse degree programs, you need a little extra help. You may find it through the Yellow Ribbon program.
Yellow Ribbon is actually a partnership between colleges themselves and the VA. Participating schools agree to put up half the cost differential between GI Bill® rates and their own tuition costs; the VA covers the other half. That leaves you with no out-of-pocket expense for tuition and fees, just as was intended.
The big catch is that not every school participates in Yellow Ribbon. Even those that do may limit the number of students in the program at the same time. So you’ll need to be careful when you are checking potential schools to ensure you will be covered.
Military Assistance in Making the Transition from Active Duty to Active in the Field of Addiction Counseling
Figuring out your next steps after you separate from the service can be a big challenge. With many choices facing you and many different benefit programs available, it’s a huge difference from days that were structured by virtue of standing orders and mission assignments.
The military has recognized the problem and stepped in to help solve it with one more mandatory assignment: TAP, the Transition Assistance Program that every service member will go through prior to discharge.
TAP is a combined effort by seven different government agencies to help you figure out exactly what the next steps are in your substance abuse counseling career path, and how best to apply your benefits to accomplishing those steps. The career counseling and benefits explanations will go to good use helping you untangle both your own benefits, and the specific steps to licensure required for substance abuse counselors in your state.
Figuring Out How to Turn Your Service into College Credits with CLEP
A major resource you will be introduced to in TAP is DANTES: Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support.
It’s an online clearinghouse for information and counseling regarding career planning and financial aid. But just as importantly, it’s a path to finding college credits for your military experience.
CLEP and DSST are credit-by-examination programs that allow you to take tests for course credits at participating schools without having to actually take the course. The idea is that your military training can effectively deliver the same knowledge. You don’t have to go through it twice, saving you both time and money.
This is a particularly great benefit for anyone who has served in any kind of counseling or behavioral health role while on duty. But DANTES will help any service member find alignments between their training and the classes they may need credits for in order to graduate.
Enjoy Support Throughout Your College Career With VSOC Counseling
While your TAP assistance expires after you get that crucial DD-214 Certified of Release or Discharge document into your hands, you’re not entirely without advice and counseling at some schools.
That’s because of a new VA program called VSOC: VetSuccess on Campus.
At participating schools, a specialized counseling and advisory office staffed by experts in veteran’s benefits and higher education is ready to answer your calls.
VSOC counselors both understand the ins and outs of admissions, course enrollment, and degree pathways at their university, as well as having commando-level skills at negotiating the complexity of orchestrating and unsnarling VA education benefits.
That makes them a prime resource for anyone studying addiction therapy who needs to match their benefits to the sometimes complicated state rules for SUD counselor licensing.
Look For State-Specific Veteran Programs To Support Your Substance Abuse Counseling Education
Your federal veteran educational benefits are plenty generous for most vets in most cases. But it’s also worth checking into any potential benefits available from your own state, too.
Many states have their own programs to offer reduced or waived fees for tuition at state schools to vets who don’t qualify for federal help or have run into gaps in their GI Bill® coverage.
State veteran benefits can be your most important resource if you served primarily in the National Guard, a state-based military organization.
It’s fairly common for states to offer some sort of reimbursement or tuition coverage for soldiers currently serving in their National Guard units, a sort of state-based MTA. They may also offer other benefits to make attending college a bit easier, such as deferred payments, or loans offered at preferred rates.
Guard and Reserve members may also have access to a separate GI Bill® program, the Montgomery GI Bill® Selected Reserve program. Since normal Post-9/11 GI Bill® eligibility is restricted to those who have served on active duty, this program fills in the gaps for reservists.
You must have at least a 6-year obligation and have completed your initial training to be eligible, and remain in good standing with your unit to be eligible for Montgomery GI Bill® benefits.
MGIB-SR rates are adjusted annually, but as of 2024, they offer a directed payment of up to $466 per month for full-time enrollment. Unlike other GI Bill® programs, this comes directly to you, so you are responsible for meeting any up-front payments to the university yourself. Less money is offered for less than full-time enrollment.
It’s not as generous as the Post-9/11 GI Bill®, but since you are still in the Guard or Reserves while taking advantage of this, you receive your other normal benefits and pay at the same time.
Scholarships and Support For Veterans Can Cover Expenses Beyond Your Regular Benefits
Another angle for military vets seeking assistance in the costs of a substance abuse counseling degree comes through private assistance options: scholarships and grants that are exclusively aimed at veterans.
There are many of these, offered both locally and nationally. Consulting with your school’s financial assistance office is the best way to find those you may be eligible for in your area. But there are also big national organizations like Student Veterans of America that both offer scholarships themselves and provide advocacy and other assistance to students who are vets.
Of course, just because you are veteran doesn’t make you ineligible for all the other kinds of tuition assistance that are available to ordinary students. So you should also spend time looking into other scholarships, grants, and low-cost loan programs that are often made available to students in addiction counseling studies.
No matter what paths you take toward getting the education and experience needed to become licensed as a substance abuse counselor, there’s no question that military experience will work to your benefit. The kind of educational resources you can tap into leaves those available for civilians in the dust.
Maybe just as important, your experience will have given you discipline, an ability to compartmentalize, and the kind of initiative and get-it-done attitude that is much needed in American addiction counseling today. In some ways, your degree is just a cherry on top. You’ll find the best of both worlds as a veteran pursuing SUD counseling roles.