Certain Disaster: California Addiction Treatment in Peril

By: Pete Nielsen, CADC II, ICAD, SAP, CAS

Addiction treatment across the United Sates has changed over the last ten to fifteen years. It has changed from a small niche market of paraprofessionals to a thriving industry of trained professionals. From the industries humble beginnings as recovering addicts reaching out to help people still caught in the grip of addiction to an industry of licensed counselors, doctors, psychiatrists, licensed therapists, and certified drug counselors. There is one exception to this rule, "California". In California, doctors are not supposed to practice medicine at a community based addiction treatment center. To work in a treatment center, a counselor only needs to register with one of the nine certifying bodies authorized by the State Department of Alcohol and Drugs Programs (DADP) to certify counselors. According to the DADP website anyone interested in working in a licensed or certified drug and alcohol treatment facility must register with one of the nine certifying bodies then they have a maximum of five years to be certified. Seven of the nine certifying bodies have very minimal standards compared to almost every other state in the United States. Usually California is known to be a very progressive and state of the art state. Most of the trends across the nation are started in New York or California. This is also true for drug treatment, 20 to 30 years ago California was very progressive in the industry. Somehow California has stayed stuck in that era and the rest of the nation has moved on.
Where is California heading now? With DADP choosing to have nine certifying bodies instead of one. It does not look good. Nine certifying bodies means nine different standards. If you look at most other social service professions, they all have one certifying body. The marriage family therapists, and licensed social workers report to the Board of Behavior Science. Why are drug and alcohol counselors different? This is a question many people have asked and there is still no official answer. If higher standards and accountability are not demanded, then consumers will be left behind and disregarded because there are low standards and very little accountability asked of these certifying bodies from the state.
There needs to be drastic changes in the field of addiction treatment to make a change. Starting with more advocacy for higher standards in our profession. It is important to raise the standard of care. This should not be left to the few advocating at the state level. It is important for everyone involved with this industry (E.g. Counselor, doctors, judges, nurses, administrators, and county officials) to get involved. Right now there are two opportunities to get involved. One is AB 1367 to get licensure for counselors to do private practice, this would increase professionalism in our field and a career path. The most important would be consumer protection for our clients. Right now anyone can set up shop as a counselor for private practice, which means that there is no one overseeing this part of our industry.
The other is tougher regulations for counselors. There should be more than the minimum 155 hours of training mandated by the state. Drug and alcohol counselors should be well trained to work with this difficult population. Counselors have to help clients who have very complex issues. The standard should be raised to protect clients. Counselors who are minimally trained can unknowingly do harm to their clients. This is why it is important for counselors to get involved in advocating to associations, the state Department Alcohol and drug programs, and your state representative.
BIO

Pete Nielsen on the Board of California Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (CAADAC) as Regional Vice President for Region 5 (Northern CA). Mr. Nielsen holds an Associates degree in Human Services (counseling) and a Bachelors degree in Business Management. He is also a Certified Recovery Program Manager and a Certified Addiction Specialist. As well as being a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor-II and Internationally Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. He has worked in residential and outpatient programs as an AOD counselor for 10 years. Over many years he has worked with a diverse clientele, including adults, co-occurring disorders, coed and adolescents.

Mr. Nielsen is currently the Program Manager for The Gates Recovery Foundation (Gates). He has worked at Gates for a total of 7 years. In his current position, he manages all of Gates licensed and/or certified programs. Additionally, he designed and implemented progressive treatment policies, practices and philosophies in each of the Gates modalities, including but not limited to Co-Occurring Disorders Treatment Facility, Detoxification, Intensive Outpatient Counseling and Day Treatment Center.

He is a proponent of addiction treatment mostly because he feels it is pertinent to be a part of the solution, and not a part of the problem. Mr. Nielsen loves his career and enjoys being a part of something that has a positive impact on individuals, the community, and society.