Loading ...Substance abuse certification online programs are for students that are seeking to obtain their licensure as a substance abuse counselor. Most states will have different types of licensing requirements, which means the student will need to find out if a program meets their state requirements before enrolling in a program in order to determine if the program can provide accredited material that will be recognized by the state they reside in. Here we will find out how on online substance abuse counselor program will work and the requirements needed in order to qualify for enrollment.
Substance Abuse Education Courses Online
A student in a substance abuse counselor program will be required to obtain clinical hours in the field in addition to coursework for this type of program. In order to do this the student will need to find a local school that offers online programs for this career field and provides the student with an internship in order to work their needed clinical hours. It may be possible to find programs from online universities that have affiliations with local drug treatment hospitals, but this can prove difficult to find. 
There are also blended programs available for the substance abuse counselor program that will allow the student more flexibility in their schedule by featuring half of the program as online courses and the other half as in-class courses. This gives the student the benefit of interacting more closely with their program instructor and fellow classmates while also having some freedom to complete coursework based on their availability.
Substance abuse certification online programs that are exclusively online will enable the student to maintain their daily routine while obtaining their degree at their own pace. Once you have earned your degree you will need to take the state written and oral licensing exam.
The Substance Abuse Counselor Career Field
Working as a substance abuse counselor you can choose to work in homeless shelters, hospitals, jails, prisons, schools, private practices, in-patient treatment centers, out-patient treatment centers or private rehabs.
A private rehab will offer the highest paying salary in this field; however, this type of position is highly competitive and will typically require the substance abuse counselor to have three to five years of experience in the field.
Places of employment such as hospitals can offer longer hours and the opportunity to work on an on-call schedule which will offer the counselor two to three more dollars an hour when working an on-call shift. Working in a hospital can also be a high risk environment as the counselor will be working with some patients that have been arrested but have been sent to the hospital first in order to safely detox off of alcohol or drugs. Hospitals will often offer entry level positions for those substance abuse counselors that have just obtained their degrees in this field.
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