2015

Addiction counseling is a growing field with emerging practice competencies and
standards that have implications for counselor education programs. This study
examined addiction counseling practice competencies and curriculum elements in
CACREP-accredited programs to determine curriculum and program needs. A
survey of 62 CACREP programs found that programs are including addiction
counseling content into the curriculum, employing faculty who have experience
in addiction counseling, and addressing the skill practice competency by adding
increased credit hours in addiction counseling and teaching from a didactic and
constructivist pedagogy. Recommendations are made to align addiction
counseling training curriculum, including adding an addiction counseling
specialization track that incorporates practice experiences.

Keywords: addiction counseling, curriculum, practice competencies