Careers > Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors

Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors

$51.18K Median Salary 14.1K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 23.2% Job Growth

Find Colleges for this Career Find Certificates for this Career

About This Career

Counsel and advise individuals with alcohol, tobacco, drug, or other problems, such as gambling and eating disorders. May counsel individuals, families, or groups or engage in prevention programs.

Reported Job Titles

Addictions Counselor, Case Manager, Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADAC), Chemical Dependency Counselor (CD Counselor), Chemical Dependency Professional, Clinical Counselor, Counselor, Drug and Alcohol Treatment Specialist (DATS), Prevention Specialist, Substance Abuse Counselor (SA Counselor)

Career data shown for:

Skills You'll Need

Click on skills to find related courses.

Abilities

Oral Expression

Problem Sensitivity

Speech Clarity

Deductive Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning

Oral Comprehension

Written Comprehension

Written Expression

Speech Recognition

Information Ordering

Fluency of Ideas

Category Flexibility

Near Vision

Originality

Selective Attention

Far Vision

Flexibility of Closure

Time Sharing

Knowledge

Therapy and Counseling

Psychology

Education and Training

Customer and Personal Service

English Language

Administrative

Administration and Management

Sociology and Anthropology

Philosophy and Theology

Computers and Electronics

Medicine and Dentistry

Public Safety and Security

Skills

Active Listening

Speaking

Critical Thinking

Social Perceptiveness

Monitoring

Reading Comprehension

Writing

Judgment and Decision Making

Persuasion

Service Orientation

Active Learning

Complex Problem Solving

Coordination

Instructing

Learning Strategies

Negotiation

Systems Analysis

Systems Evaluation

Management of Personnel Resources

Time Management

Technology Skills

Electronic mail software

Presentation software

Medical software

Data base user interface and query software

Spreadsheet software

Office suite software

Word processing software

Analytical or scientific software

Internet browser software

Project management software

Calendar and scheduling software

Tools

Notebook computers

Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers

Alcohol analyzers

Desktop computers

Personal computers

Abilities

Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).

Knowledge

Therapy and Counseling: Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Psychology: Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Education and Training: Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Administrative: Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Administration and Management: Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Sociology and Anthropology: Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Philosophy and Theology: Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Medicine and Dentistry: Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Public Safety and Security: Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

Skills

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Learning Strategies: Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.

Technology Skills

Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Medical software: Henry Schein Dentrix; Medical condition coding software; Medical procedure coding software; MEDITECH software
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Analytical or scientific software: Statistical analysis software; TapRooT
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Project management software: Mavenlink; Microsoft Project
Calendar and scheduling software: Appointment scheduling software

Tools

Notebook computers: Laptop computers
Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers: Personal digital assistants PDA
Alcohol analyzers: Breathalyzers
Desktop computers:
Personal computers:

Related Careers

Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses

$81.22K Salary 9% Job Growth

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists

$90.13K Salary

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

$50.82K Salary 12.6% Job Growth

Psychiatrists

$226.88K Salary 12.5% Job Growth

View All