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The end of the year is rapidly approaching.  Licensed Professional Counselors(LPC), Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT) and Licensed Social Workers (LCSW | LSW) in Alabama, Washington DC, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana and Tenessee all have renewals approaching.
Don’t wait until the last minute to get your CEUs.

If you do not need 30 CEUs, check out our ala carte page.  CEUs for $3 per credit.

Even if you procrastinate, we can help you out.  Materials are online.  Tests are online and instantly graded.  Print your certificate as soon as you pass the exam. (read more…)

Pain Management for people with substance abuse issues | TIP 48: Managing Depressive Symptoms in Early Recovery | Counseling Clients in the Criminal Justice System | Psychological First Aid | The Angry Heart-Overcoming Borderline and Addictive Disorders.

 

Our courses are accepted in most states for CEUs.  Click on approvals in the menu bar to see if our courses are accepted in your state. (read more…)

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Substance Abuse Counselor, Addictions Counselor, Mental Health Counselor, potato, potAto, what what does it all mean?
The department of labor indicates that the need for counselors and, specifically addictions counselors, will continue to increase at a significantly higher pace than many other professions; however, looking at jobs, it seems that a lot of agencies are seeking counselors that are co-occurring competent. (Oh goody, another term)  About 15 years ago, the medical and mental health community began to realize that 1) Not all addictions are chemical, and 2) the majority of people have both a mental health issue and an addiction issue to some degree.  That gave rise to the development of certifications by IC & RC and states like Connecticut for persons who were competent in treating co-occurring disorders.  That is, who understand the emotional, cognitive, social and physiological interaction between mental health issues and addictive behaviors (alcoholism, drug abuse, eating disorders, sexual addictions etc). After working in community mental health for nearly 15 years, I can tell you that people who are licensed mental health counselors, social workers or marriage and family therapists AND certified as addictions counselors are in much higher demand.  This is because they have a broad array of knowledge making them very flexible, and they can supervise services provided to Medicaid clients (big money).

Don’t despair. There are a lot of very talented people who would love to be counselors, but do not have the time or desire to endure three years of graduate school and a two year internship.  Thankfully, many states have certifications for addictions counselors that do not require years of graduate school.  By getting a certification as a substance abuse counselor first, many people are able to “climb the ladder” at their agency, especially if they seek additional training in mental health counseling.  The Florida Certification Board for example has a certification for Mental Health Technicians as well as for Addictions Counselors.  Additionally, they have caveats for people who only have a bachelors that enable them to achieve the highest level of addictions certification, the CAP.

The majority of states will also allow people to get their training for addictions certification online.  Ensure that the online continuing education provider is accepted in your state though.  This usually means they are approved by NAADAC (like AllCEUs is) or are specifically approved by your state (California, Connecticut. and Georgia Certification Boards for example have their own approval process).

To get yourself started, you cal look on our approvals page to find links to the various agencies.  You can also Google: Addictions Counselor Certification Board and the name of your state.  For example: Addictions Counselor Certification Board Virginia will bring up Virginia’s Department of Health Professions who handles the addictions certification and licensing.  From there you can review the process for becoming a certified addictions counselor or mental health technician in your state. (read more…)