Considering a Drug and Alcohol Counselor Job

What influences or motivates people to become a drug and alcohol counselor? In an even broader sense, what calls anyone to become a therapist?

One hopes that a genuine concern for people's mental and emotional well-being is an important factor in the decision to work in these fields of psychology. The drug and alcohol counselors who I have met have dealt with their own addictions in the past. It's not a requirement, but I have been far more comfortable with addiction counselors knowing that they understand addiction because they have experienced it themselves. I think that many people who decide to become addiction counselors have undergone treatment for their own addictions and have been inspired by those counselors and therapists and professionals in those fields who have helped them.

In my last blog about cooking at several drug and alcohol treatment centers and a post-treatment/sober living facility, I mentioned how I started to become motivated to become a drug and alcohol counselor. It could simply be a matter of being a familiar face in the kitchen who is around to talk to, or perhaps some of the people in these places have trusted me with their own problems and secrets because they have seen me as a person who looks out for them and shows some concern, at least with their meals; it may be that I am a genuinely trustworthy guy who avoids gossip, can be a good listener, and isn't afraid to relate with my own personal stories and my own real opinions - whatever the reasons may be, and despite the very small amount of time that I have sober, I have been approached by people in this way that is similar to the way that a counselor is approached.

"You weren't sent here just to cook," a manager at a treatment center in South Central LA told me. "You are one of those lights that is bright enough to attract people, but not too bright to scare them away." I came to him, a bit freaked out, because several men at that particular rehab were coming to me with some very heavy burdens, past and present, and telling me about some of the anger and depression and triggers that set they struggled with everyday. They didn't just shoot the shit with me, they got deep, and I couldn't ignore them or pretend that I could not relate, so I listened and when it seemed like the right thing to do, I shared about my own struggles and my own ways of coping and understanding back to them.

One young guy who had just spent five years in prison and who was getting high while in the treatment center began hanging around the kitchen while I was in there working - at first, just helping out; and then later, opening up to me about his personal life, and especially the anger issues that he constantly dealt with. He slipped me a note during a group meeting that said, "I need help to stop using." Without ever having a conversation about it, he began calling me his sponsor and telling the managers that he was doing something about his problems by having me as his sponsor.

So I began to consider getting certified as a drug and alcohol counselor. This is not a position that ever appealed to me and neither did a career as a therapist or as anything in that area of psychology. I never thought that I had the patience or the genuine compassion to help others in that way.

When I first sought treatment, I caught a glimpse of the whole variety of messed up people that were in rehab and in post-rehab sober living, and I thought that the drug and alcohol counselor job would be a nightmare. I didn't even like to participate in groups or really talk to anyone at all. I wanted to stay low-key.

It took time to really see that I had what it takes to at least be a good listener. It took some time after that to let go of any judgments or reservations and really open myself up to the idea of helping other addicts with counseling. However, after the significant changes that have occurred in this line of work after 2017 because of the Medi-Cal takeover of many drug and alcohol treatment centers, I have to really consider what the job requires a person to do these days.

As an example, I will use the treatment centers in Los Angeles formally owned and operated by the Mary-Lind Foundation. The four rehabs are named Royal Palms, near downtown LA, Bimini House, in Koreatown/Hollywood, Rena B, also in Koreatown/Hollywood, and Omni, in El monte.

I have mentioned in past blogs that treatment at these facilities and many others that are not part of the Mary-Lind family used to last for over six months - sometimes eight months, sometimes up to 12 and more; and these facilities offered extended stays after treatment in order for former patients to transition back into society.

Under the new Medi-Cal guidelines that came about because of Obama's Affordable Care Act, drug and alcohol treatment became regulated to a 60-day stay with a 30-day extension if the patient were to qualify. I've mentioned the awkward pressure and assumptions that this has had on myself and on many other patients. Questions come up similar to these: "Should I be noticeably better in 3 months?" or "What if I don't sober up in 3 months?" or "Am I an even bigger failure if I don't fix this problem in 3 months?" It can be confusing, aggravating, and scary for the patient.

The new changes that occurred towards the end of 2017 also strongly affected the treatment center staff and administration, and especially the counselors. Counselors are certified and trained to work with participants in treatment who try to understand their own addictions. Through well-prepared group sessions, scheduled one-on-one sessions, and door open policy "on - the - fly" sessions, they possess and constantly gain experience in dealing with groups and individuals on a very sensitive level.

However, Medi-Cal, governed by the State Department of Health, now requires counselors in these facilities that it has taken over to account for every patient in treatment with vast amounts of standardized reports. Under the government regulated procedures, new software has been introduced to these treatment centers where forms with required fields need to be filled in upon each participant's admission and throughout his or her treatment.

Today, much of a drug and alcohol counselor's time is spent in a lot of data entry and clerical tasks instead of any applicable addiction theory and practice earned through certification, degree program, and field experience. Because of the extra office work, counselors don't have the same amount of time that they used to have to address groups or individuals. During a patient's 30 or 60 day stay, counselors are only expected to meet with them once a week; that's a total of eight, or maybe 12 meetings total to get to know their patients' individual needs, form and follow an individualized treatment plan, and be available to help them through the often confusing experiences of self-awareness in regards to addiction and the transitioning back into society.

One counselor at Rena B, a treatment center formally operated by Mary Lind Foundation and now under the State of California's Department of Health's, Social Model Recovery Systems, Inc., told me that it was "too bad" that he didn't have the time that he would like to have to spend with his patients. I have heard counselor's make comments like, "Okay, let's get through this," when they have had to fill out certain reports and ask standardized questions. The same counselor at Rena B told me that reports needed to be filled out after each one-on-one session and that all of these extra data entry tasks took up a lot of his workday.

So regardless of my ability to lend an ear and begin to relate to people in treatment in a way closer to that of a counselor, I have to truly consider how much time I would enjoy and get any sense of fulfillment from by punching buttons on my keyboard, filling out and filing standardized forms that sound desensitizing and impersonal in a very human line of work.