Substance Abuse Counseling Certification in Alabama

Each state has its own set of requirements to become a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor. In Alabama you are required to have met certain education, work experience and other requirements. There are three levels of certification. State Certified Addiction Counselor, National Certified Addiction Counselor I (NCACI) and National Certified Addiction Counselor II (NCACII). All levels of certification require that you have met the previous requirements for lower levels of certification.

Are you interested to learn about Addiction and Substance Counseling? Take the opportunity to learn about dedicated programs. Request free information to begin or continue a degree program.

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Southern New Hampshire University

Featured Program: Earn your BA in Human Services with concentrations in Child and Family Services; Substance Abuse and Gerontology.

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Grand Canyon University

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Walden University

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Liberty University

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Purdue Global

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Rasmussen University

Featured Program: Human Services Associate Degree; Human Services Bachelors Degree-Completion Program

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If you’re interested in helping people overcome substance abuse problems by going to the source of what causes people to turn to addictive behavior patterns, you may want to find out more about earning a psychology license in Alabama.

1. Earn an Associates or Bachelor’s degree in a Behavioral Science field.
2. Earn appropriate work experience.
3. Complete ethics and HIV/AIDS training.
4. Earn enough Continuing Education (CE) credits in Substance Use Disorders (SUD).
5. Apply for your certification.

Educational Requirements

While you are not strictly required to have a degree in order to become certified, having your degree will not only give you greater understanding in the field, it also counts towards having enough points to attain certification.

• Earn your Associate’s (2 points) or Bachelor’s (4 points and required for NCACII) in a Behavioral Science such as: Counseling, Social Work, Sociology, Addiction Counseling or Psychology.
• Complete 6 hours of Ethics as well as 6 hours of HIV/AIDS CE’s (required for all levels).
• Complete 60 hours of SUD CE credits for State certification.
• Complete 270 hours SUD CE credits for NCACI certification.
• Complete 270 hours SUD CE credits for NCACI certification.
• Complete 450 hours SUD CE credits for NCACII certification.

Supervised Experience

Each level of certification requires a different amount of SUD related work experience.

• For state level certification you will need 2 years of full-time (32-40 hours per week or equivalent part-time) SUD treatment work experience.
• For NCACI you will need 3 years of full-time (or equivalent) SUD treatment work experience.
• For NCACI you will need 5 years of full-time (or equivalent) SUD treatment work experience.

Apply for Your Certification

For all levels of certification you must be a current member of the National Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC).

• All levels of certification require that you are a member of the NAADAC.
• All levels of certification require that you meet the 4 point option as explained here, this is also the application for your certification: https://www.naadac.org/assets/2416/alabama_cert_application_packet.pdf
• Apply to the NAADAC for certification once you have met all previous requirements.