Career: Addiction Counselors
When you experience pleasure -- from eating ice cream on a hot day, for example -- your brain releases a chemical called dopamine. When people first use a drug such as nicotine, dopamine floods the brain.
If they keep using the drug, the brain senses that it's getting more than enough dopamine, so it stops producing as much on its own. That leads to depression, which leads people to keep using the drug -- not to get high, but just to stop feeling awful.
Addiction counselors help people who have problems with alcohol, drugs, gambling, or other addictions.
Did You Know?
- Gambling isn't a drug, but it has the same effect: it gives gamblers a high they want to repeat. Over time, they need to gamble more and more to get that high.
Are You Ready To...?
- Diagnose clients (identify addictions)
- Give psychological tests
- Counsel people one-on-one, in families, and in groups
- Help people recognize the beliefs and problems connected to their addictions
- Keep up with the latest research on addiction as well as changes in related laws
- Keep records
- Work as part of a team
It Helps to Be...
Ready to form solid bonds with your clients, whether one-on-one or in groups. Such bonds will increase your clients' openness to receiving support, desire to change, and readiness to learn new coping skills to replace their addictive habits.
Make High School Count
- Take psychology to learn about human development, emotions, and communication.
- Sign up for health science.
- Become a peer counselor at your school.
- Work with student government or another group to plan abuse prevention programs at your school.
- Keep a diary to get to know your own inner thoughts, questions, and struggles at a deeper level.
- Visit the website of the Association for Addiction Professionals to learn more.
Did You Know?
- Addiction counselors also help people with eating disorders, such as bulimia.
Outlook
Government economists expect jobs for addiction counselors to grow much faster than the average for all careers through 2016. In fact, it is among the twenty fastest-growing careers.
New laws are creating jobs for counselors who help people beat drug addiction. Some states require that drug users get treatment, not jail sentences. Also, more people with addictions are deciding to get help on their own, thanks to new attitudes about treatment.
A lot of jobs open up when people leave the field because of low pay, long hours, and high stress.
Compensation
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average salary of substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors was $39,670 in 2008.
