Substance abuse counselors have to work with people struggling to keep themselves away from drugs or alcohol as well as people who fear that their poor family history will inadvertently cause them to resort to substance abuse in the future. These counselors may deal with patients who are addicted to various drugs including crack cocaine, heroin or even alcohol. They may even have to handle patients who have come out of rehab & are trying to stay away from their bad habits. Counselors can even help patients adjust to their lives after rehab and ensure the transition from rehab to the real world is as smooth and stress free as possible. After all, you need to ensure people don't start using again once they come out of rehab don't you?

 

Most substance abuse counselors will find employment in unsavory places like treatment centers, prisons, clinics, hospitals, etc. The biggest challenge for them is to make patients believe that they have a problem. More often than not, getting a client out of denial & to make him/her believe that he/she has a substance abuse problem is a lot harder than it looks. This is simply because these people don't want to believe the truth. They just want to remain in their own fantasy world where they can do whatever they want. But a counselor will ensure that his/her client makes the right choices after getting out of rehab and no matter what they were addicted to ensure that it remains in the past and never haunts them again in the future.

 

All counselors will need to at least have a Bachelor's degree in any discipline before they can be certified. If you are looking for a high level job then a Master's degree will definitely help although it isn't compulsory. 

 

After certification, a counselor can hope to earn a varied salary depending on the location of his/her job. Higher education will obviously result in higher pay and you will also get many more job opportunities the more that you study. Getting addiction certification may also be required in many cases.

 

Don't think of this job as a piece of cake. It can be quite stressful but it is just as rewarding. At the end of the day when you see how much you have influenced another person's life and how you are the reason they are managing to rebuild their own lives slowly but surely, you will feel something that all the money in the world cannot get you, contentment. So what are you waiting for? If you want to start giving back to society, become a substance abuse counselor today.