Approval for Addiction Counselors in Washington

At least 14 hours must be done in one or more of the following topic areas. For each topic area AddictionCounselorCE has courses that address the area. These can be found here: http://www.addictioncounselorce.com/courses. You may browse our Course Categories or do a keyword search.

• Understanding addiction;
• Pharmacological actions of alcohol and other drugs;
• Substance abuse and addiction treatment methods;
• Understanding addiction placement, continuing care, and discharge criteria, including American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) criteria;
• Cultural diversity including people with disabilities and its implication for treatment;
• Chemical dependency clinical evaluation (screening and referral to include comorbidity);
• HIV/AIDS brief risk intervention for the chemically dependent;
• Chemical dependency treatment planning;
• Referral and use of community resources;
• Service coordination (implementing the treatment plan, consulting, continuing assessment and treatment planning);
• Individual counseling;
• Group counseling;
• Chemical dependency counseling for families, couples and significant others;
• Developmental psychology;
• Psychopathology/abnormal psychology;
• Documentation, to include, screening, intake, assessment, treatment plan, clinical reports, clinical progress notes, discharge summaries, and other client related data;
• Chemical dependency confidentiality;
• Professional and ethical responsibilities;
• Relapse prevention;
• Adolescent chemical dependency assessment and treatment;
• Chemical dependency case management; and
• Chemical dependency rules and regulations.

A substance use disorder professional must complete a training in suicide assessment, including screening and referral. The training must be provided by a single provider and must be at least three hours in length. The training must be on the department’s model list for training programs in suicide assessment, treatment and management. (https://doh.wa.gov/public-health-healthcare-providers/healthcare-professions-and-facilities/suicide-prevention/training-programs/model-list)