Drug Counselors famously known as substance abuse counselors are those who assist their clients who are struggling with drug addictions. As a substance abuse counselor, you need to meet a wide variety of people, so you must have different skills to deal with them. Here, let’s know about Drug Counselor Job.
Many graduates in the field of psychology want to pursue and make their career in drug counseling. This is a highly skilled profession that requires a lot of effort, but the salary and perks enjoyed by a drug counselor are amazing. In this article, everything related to becoming a drug counselor will be highlighted.
Job Description:
A drug counselor is a professional who is responsible for supporting the family and an addicted person to overcome the addiction to drugs. You need to help the client with the addiction and promote mental health for their betterment. As a drug counselor, you are a professional mental health expert, so you need to maintain a record of your client and collaborate with them. You need to create reports and evaluate the performance of your client and check their progress.
Duties of a drug counselor:
The drug counselor is responsible for various tasks. On a daily basis, they have to look after the progress and development of the addicted person. The list of responsibilities and duties of a drug counselor is given below:
- As a drug counselor, you need to meet your client and evaluate the reason for their addiction.
- On a regular basis, they have to teach their client to cope up with the addiction.
- You have to lead therapy sessions for your client.
- Sometimes, you need to meet their family members to ask for guidance and support.
- You have to help them grow effectively and achieve their target in life.
- You must have a planned program beforehand to easily help your client.
- You sometimes need to go beyond your way to help the client as every employee will be different.
- You must keep regular track of clients’ progress and conduct sessions that will help clients more.
Skills:
Being a substance abuse counselor, you have to possess certain skills as you need to handle drug addicts to relax them and cool them down as needed. Below are given certain skills required to become a drug counselor:
- Communication Skills: A great communication skill is a necessity for this job role. Being a drug counselor, you should communicate and collaborate with clients effectively to help them get rid of drugs.
- Listening Skills: You need to be a good listener so that you can listen to the problems of your clients and help them accordingly. As a drug counselor, your client expects from you that you should have all ears to them, as they don’t feel that anyone else is hearing them. You need to make them feel comfortable and listen and talk with them.
- Problem-solving Skills: As a drug counselor, you need to solve the problems of your client and their families. You need to limit their problems, so you must have a solution to every problem.
- Confidence: You should sound confident while discussing the issue with the client. If the client finds you confident, then only they will continue contacting you to get rid of the addiction.
- Empathy: As a drug counselor you will be meeting a person who is already suffering mentally, so you need to show empathy towards them. If you feel empathetic towards your client, they will feel connected to you and it will become easier to solve their problems.
- Stress Management Skills: Being a drug counselor you will meet different sought of people. Few people might be suffering from mental conditions and few might be suffering from physical conditions. So, you must possess perfect stress management skills to help yourself.
- Respect Privacy: You would need to create confidentiality of information of your clients. Privacy of your client should be maintained at any cost, as leaking the information of clients can lead to mental and social degradation of your client.
Drug Counselor Salary:
This profession requires a lot of patience and expertise to handle patients who are addicted to drugs. Since the career option is itself unique as you get a chance to help people around. So the salary paid to the drug counselor is also great. As per the reports, on average they earn up to $46,240 per year. Though the salary highly differs depending upon various factors including location, educational qualification, and others.
Below you will find the salary of drug counselors depending on the city:
| Cities in the United States | Average Salary |
| Lewiston, Idaho | $81, 600 per annum |
| Salt Lake City, Utah | $76,710 per annum |
| Reno, Nevada | $75, 920 per annum |
| Mankato, Minnesota | $71,230 per annum |
| Hanford, California | $69, 420 per annum |
Through the given chart, you must have analyzed that Lewiston in Idaho is the best place to work in terms of salary. Also, all the cities listed above are top-rated. Thus, let’s have a look at the state which pay attractive salaries to drug counselor:
| State in the United States | Average Salary |
| Utah | $67, 410 per annum |
| Nevada | $63, 910 per annum |
| Oregon | $60, 960 per annum |
| Alaska | $60,830 per annum |
| New Jersey | $60, 120 per annum |
Ultimately, Utah is the best state in the United States which provides the best salary to the drug counselor. Now, we will check how much different industries pay to drug counselors.
| Industry | Average Salary |
| Government | $51,690 per annum |
| Hospitals | $48,310 per annum |
| Individual and family services | $44,120 per annum |
| Outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers | $43,120 per annum |
| Residential mental health and substance abuse facilities | $38,190 per annum |
So, you must have observed that working as a drug counselor in the government sector followed by hospitals will give you the highest amount of salary. Even, the salary differs depending on the experience level of a drug counselor. So, below is mentioned salary as per the experience level.
| Amount of Experience Level | Average Salary |
| Candidates with more than 20 years of experience | $47,501 per annum |
| Experienced (experience of around 10 to 19 years) | $47,463 per annum |
| Moderately Experienced (5 to 9 years of experience) | $44,781 per annum |
| Early career (experience of around 5 years) | $40,947 per annum |
| Fresher (less than 1 year of experience) | $39,328 per annum |
Educational Qualification:
To become a drug counselor, you must have proper education along with skills. If you are properly qualified only then, you will be able to assist the clients. Below are given the educational details which are required to become a drug counselor:
Step 1: Get a Bachelor’s Degree: You should earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology, addiction studies, or social science. To get a license you must have a master’s degree, and for a master’s degree, you should have a bachelor’s degree.
Step 2: Then, you have to get a Master’s Degree: To become a drug counselor, you must have a proper license to work which can be earned only when you complete your master’s. You should have a master’s degree in substance abuse or addiction counseling.
Step 3: Internship or experience Certificate: Internship or experience is crucial when it comes to becoming a counselor because your experience counts. If you have experience, then you can easily help the clients.
Step 4: Substance Counseling exam: Sometimes, to get a license you have to pass a substance counseling exam from the recognized examination center. As per your state, you need to look at whether a license is needed or not.
Step 5: Stay Up to date with trends of substance abuse counseling: Once, you are done with getting a license you can keep a regular check with new trends in substance abuse, and additionally, you can do some certificate courses.
Experience:
You need to have a good level of experience before start practicing as a drug counselor. Though you can start your career by opening a consultation center on your own if you want to work for the hospital or government sector then you need proper experience. You must have experience of around 1 to 2 years as a fresher. The more experience you will have the more money you will earn. Your experience can be in terms of internship or some part-time work.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Ques. 1: What is the starting pay of drug counselors?
Ans. 1: As a drug counselor you can earn around $39,328 per annum as a fresher. Though, the salary of freshers sometimes fluctuates based on the location of their work.
Ques. 2: How to become a drug counselor?
Ans. 2: You must have proper qualifications and skills to become a drug counselor. Few states ask for a license of a counselor too, so to earn a license you should have a master’s degree. Also, few skills like empathy, confidence, understanding quality, good listening skills, and many more.
Ques. 3: Are there jobs in the field of drug counseling?
Ans. 3: This is a profession that requires a lot of hard work and ultimately the hard work of candidates pays off. There are various job openings in the field of drug counseling depending on the different industries you can apply for a job as a substance abuse counselor.
