Category: Addiction Counselor, CCAPP, CCAPP Certification, NAADAC, Substance Abuse Counseling
If you decide to earn your addiction counseling certificate, one of the first things you will hear about during your educational experience are the “12 Core Functions” of addiction counseling. Counselors need to be proficient in each of these 12 functions, or tasks, in order to be successful in their careers.
These core functions are simply the types of tasks that are required day-to-day in the world of addiction counseling. If you’ve ever wondered what addiction counselors do specifically, these core functions should give you a solid foundation. Each function is based on a set of global criteria, and these 12 core functions are used by addiction professionals around the world. Let’s take a quick look at each function.
1. Patient Screening
Before a patient becomes a patient in any type of addiction counseling program, we must first determine if the patient is a good match for the program in question. You also will evaluate your patient for signs of alcohol and drug use and also work to identify any co-occurring disorders.
You will find that co-occurring disorders are extremely common with many of your patients. These include medical, psychiatric and physical conditions. For instance, you might have a patient with bipolar disorder and drug addiction. You might have a patient with depression and addiction, or perhaps chronic pain and addiction. All of these conditions need to be identified and then addressed to treat the whole person.
2. Intake
Once you determine via screening that a patient is a good match for your program, the admissions or intake process begins. Every program or facility will have its own schedule of paperwork that will need to be completed during this process. This will include signed consent forms, as well as information about items such as insurance, emergency contacts, the initial patient assessment and more.
3. Orientation
During this process, you help your patient understand the program itself. Each program is unique and what you discuss during this part of the process will include everything from rules of client conduct to treatment costs to your client’s rights and more. For an inpatient facility, you might discuss rules, quiet hours, daily schedules, etc. With an outpatient program, you will provide information about daily services and hours of operation and so forth.
4. Assessment
This is similar to screening, but it dives much deeper into your patient’s history. You’ll want to gather information about your patient’s history with drugs and/or alcohol as well as focusing on your patient’s problems and needs as well as their strengths and weaknesses. From there, you will develop a solid evaluation of the patient’s substance abuse and any co-occurring disorders.
5. Treatment Planning
As you can see each of the core functions builds on the previous function, and once you have completed a detailed assessment, it’s time to work on planning your patient’s treatment. Of course, the patient will be involved during each step of the process, as it’s crucial that they understand the treatment plan and how and why the addiction counselor chose this specific plan.
The plan will need to identify the problems your patient faces and prioritize each of these issues. Short-term goals and long-term goals will be created and agreed upon. Treatment methods will be discussed as well the types of resources available to your patient to support them through the treatment and recovery process.
6. Counseling
Students are sometimes surprised about how much paperwork and planning are involved in the addiction counseling process, but all of that paperwork is crucial to help a patient manage long-term recovery. The counseling process, as you can see, tends to occur after several steps have been taken.
Counseling can involve many different options, including individual counseling, family counseling and group counseling. There may be different types of therapy involved, such as cognitive behavioral therapy to help patients deal with all of their issues.
7. Case Management
As a certified addiction counselor, you will create a plan for each patient that includes a variety of services. This might include finding 12-step programs after a person leaves a rehab facility or perhaps identifying doctors that can help with various physical and mental illnesses. Each case will be unique and designed to help your patient achieve long-term sobriety and also to help them deal with all of the issues or problems they might be facing.
8. Crisis Intervention
A crisis can occur at any point during rehab or recovery, and steps will need to be taken as quickly as possible to mitigate the crisis. This could be an emotional crisis during rehab or perhaps an issue during recovery but having a crisis plan can help your patient work through the crisis and get back to a healthier state of mind and body.
9. Client Education
Many patients don’t understand their addictions or other problems they might be facing. They also often aren’t aware of the many resources out there that are available to them. Part of the job of an addiction counselor is helping to educate your patient about support services as well as about addiction in general.
10. Referral
In some ways, this is part of case management. The important aspect of this core function is identifying areas where you cannot meet your client’s needs and finding appropriate services to help them. For instance, perhaps they need help with bipolar disorder or perhaps they have been diagnosed with an eating disorder or diabetes and need nutritional support and advice. Finding professionals that can help meet all of the needs of your client is one of the best ways to ensure that recovery is successful.
11. Reporting & Record Keeping
Paperwork is a huge component of addiction counseling, and you will be maintaining a variety of records that include assessments, treatment plans, discharge summaries and a variety of reports. Not only does all the paperwork need to be carefully organized, but patient confidentiality is also crucial.
12. Consultation With Other Professionals
This includes working with other professionals at your facility as well as contacting and collaborating with outside professionals. While you will gain many important skills during your education and training, there will be times when issues are present that are beyond your own skills or knowledge. In these cases, consultation with others is a crucial step in the process of addiction counseling.
Start Earning Your Addiction Counseling Certificate
At Sober College, we can help you fulfill all of the educational requirements to earn your addiction counseling certificate. This includes gaining a thorough understanding of the 12 Core Functions as well as everything else you need to pass the IC&RC Alcohol and Drug Counselor exam.
Our program can be finished in just six months, and you can complete the courses online. Best of all, we offer rolling admissions so you can get started at any time. We offer a high-quality curriculum taught by instructors with real-world experience, and many of our instructors are still working in the addiction counseling industry.
We can help students throughout the United States earn their addiction counseling certificate. Sober College’s online counseling courses are transferable in 47 states, as we are an IC&RC member as well as an approved education provider in multiple states across the country. Our curriculum is IC&RC-approved, CCAPP-approved and NAADAC-approved.
To get started, you can click on the Get Started tab at the top of this page. This provides links to our application as well as our quick contact form. If you have any questions about our addiction counseling program or how to earn your addiction counseling certificate, feel free to contact us at any time.
