How You Can Become A Substance Abuse Counselor Pasadena

By Jennie Sandoval


When it comes to substance abuse counseling, there are mainly two phases involved. The first phase is where a patient is helped to stop using these drugs. The second phase is the psychological rehabilitation to help the individual from the effects of withdrawal symptoms. People suffering from addiction of prescription drugs, alcohol or street drugs can be rehabilitated using this two-pronged approach. There is more than one category of substance abuse counselor Pasadena citizens need to know about.

Normally, there are various types of counseling with respect to substance abuse. The type of counseling one has depends on a number of factors, and these include the age of the patient, potential for harming self or others and also the severity of addiction. The most common counseling approaches are retreat-style, out-patient and in-patient.

If you want a career that lets you help people, then this is your career. In order to venture into it, it is important that you study sociology or psychology at a college. This gives you the basic understanding of the task ahead.

The most important function of drug abuse counseling is to reinforce to the patients that they are able cope well within the confines of any society without depending on these addictive substances. This in turn requires that the professional relearns basic mechanisms for coping, appreciating problems that are deep-seated and which can trigger addictive behavior and finally, efforts aimed at recognizing opportunities as well as learning how to go after those opportunities.

To get the practical experience needed for this career, you should look for volunteer positions at the nearest rehabs and addiction treatment centers. Gaining this experience is important and also lets you know whether you are up to this challenge or not. Sometimes there may be no clinics where you come from. If that is the case, you need to ask for internship opportunities at local hospitals.

Also, get in touch with the local alcohol addiction group. You may be allowed to attend their meetings where you get to see for yourself how the counselors work. But the problem is that some groups may not be comfortable with your presence especially because members will not like their privacies to be intruded.

To start off, you may have to look for volunteer positions at local addiction treatment and rehabilitation centers. This gives you the experience you need to have in order to work as a counselor. If it happens that there are no clinics where you come from, inquire from the hospitals in your area if you can intern in any of its departments.

Getting certified helps improve your credentials. Get in touch with the certification board of your state and talk to them on how you can become certified. However, you will have to meet a certain number of work hours in order to be eligible for taking a written test.

This is not only a rewarding career but one that gives you the chance to help other people. You will be working with these people direct and watching as they make progress in their recovery. This can be very satisfying especially knowing that you changed the life of someone. Therefore, by choosing to be substance abuse counselor Pasadena individuals will be making huge steps towards rehabilitating their fellow townspeople.




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