The transportation and interstate highway system in Texas is as massive as you’d expect. We’ve got 25 different numbered segments or auxiliary interstate highways and an almost uncountable number of loops, spurs, and frontages all adding up to more than 3,200 miles of primo blacktop reaching from the Rio Grande to the Red River. And that’s before you start counting up the U.S. and state highways, of which Texas has the largest network in the country.
Texas also is home to the oldest highway in the United States, El Camino Real, which originally blazed through to Louisiana back in 1691.
As a main vein in the transportation circuit for the United States, Texas has the second largest number of commercial trucks registered in the United States, numbering over 14 million. They cover untold numbers of road miles each year… and feature in more accidents than occur in any other state. That’s not a commentary on their driving skills. It’s just a statistical inevitability that places where more road miles are logged are going to have more accidents.
Unfortunately, quite a few of those accidents involve drugs or alcohol.
That makes for plenty of work for Substance Abuse Professionals serving the Texas DOT.
SAPs don’t work directly for DOT—many are independent contractors or work for specialist companies that handle transportation-related drug and alcohol services.
What Is a Substance Abuse Professional for the Department of Transportation?
U.S. DOT Substance Abuse Professionals are qualified, certified evaluators who examine employees who have violated DOT drug and alcohol regulations and make recommendations for treatment, follow-up testing, and further commercial driving permission.
SAPs also evaluate train engineers, personnel working in oil and gas fields, mariners, and other individuals with roles that can have a major impact on public safety.
Anyone in a DOT-covered role who has blown or refused a mandatory drug test needs to go through a Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) evaluation if they ever hope to return to their duties. They also have to continue on through a personalized education or treatment plan that has been put together by a qualified SAP in order to earn that return. Finally, the SAP will conduct a final evaluation to ensure that the goals of that program have been successfully completed, and update their compliance status so their employer is cleared to put them back on duty.
SAPs are important because they have the knowledge and training to go beyond the basic pass/fail result of a drug test. They can look at the underlying issues and have the assessment skills to determine if they represent a chronic problem. Beyond that, their treatment planning and counseling education allows them to put together realistic steps toward recovery, and the potential to return people to work safely.
Getting Certified in Substance Abuse Training for Texas Truck Drivers
Becoming a SAP might seem like an interesting sideline for someone who is already in the field of addiction counseling, but you’ll quickly find that it can be a full-on career all by itself.
With so many truckers, pipeline operators, rail engineers, and aviation professionals working in the Lone Star state, there’s plenty of training, assessments, and recovery plans to put together.
SAPs are a referral source rather than a counseling resource.
If your interests are more along the lines of assessment and planning rather than face-to-face counseling, this could be a good use of your addiction counselor training.
On the other hand, there are a lot of rules and regulations to comply with. Although SAPs work under the umbrella of DOT, various professions may have their own unique rules and regulations from other agencies. For instance, pilots also fall under FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) rules—you’ll have to keep up with those as well.
What It Takes To Become a SAP in Texas
SAP is actually a federally-defined role, so there’s no difference in the training required between becoming qualified to work in Texas versus anywhere else in the country. It’s a position that is restricted on the basis of existing professional credentials. SAPs have to be qualified as a:
- Licensed Physician
- Licensed or certified Social Worker
- Licensed or certified Psychologist
- Licensed or certified Employee Assistance Professional
- Licensed or certified Marriage and Family Therapist
- A specifically certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor
You’ll notice right away that addiction counselors don’t get the same straightforward approval as other professions, and you can probably guess why.
If you’re considering a career as an addiction counselor, then you already know that states have a veritable smorgasbord of titles and qualifications for the role. That’s quite a bit different from the more established rules in those other professions.
DOT sidesteps all the various differences in state-level requirements by specifying that you have to be certified by one of three national organizations as well, with certain minimum credential levels:
- The Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC) – National Certified Addiction Counselor (NCAC)
- International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) – Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADC)
- National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) – Master Addiction Counselor
Even though these are nationally-recognized certifications, SAPs still have geographic limitations based on the underlying credential. That almost always means the states where you hold a license or cert to practice as an addiction counselor.
For Texas, anyone following the IC&RC route will need to get their credential through the Texas Certification Board (TCBAP), the state IC&RC affiliate.
Getting Trained To Become a Substance Abuse Professional for Truck Drivers in Texas
On top of your basic professional qualifications, you also need to receive qualification training covering nine required components:
- Overview of the DOT drug and alcohol testing program
- Federal regulations governing testing rules
- Drug testing standards for collections, labs, and reviews
- Alcohol testing standards
- SAP qualifications and restrictions
- The role of the SAP in return-to-duty processes
- SAP communication standards
- Reporting and record keeping requirements
- Challenges in SAP positions
You’ll need to pass an exam that tests your knowledge of those topics as well. For addiction counselors, that usually means NAADAC or IC&RC SAP exams. TCBAP conducts SAP exams on an irregular schedule, exclusively on-site in Austin.
It’s not necessary to be an addiction counselor to take the NAADAC or IC&RC SAP exams—you can take their tests even if you are qualified through other professional credentials, whether a social work, psychology, or even a medical license.
NAADAC has a robust self-study course that covers all the topics you can expect to find on the exam. The organization also offers live two-day in-person or virtual trainings for anyone who learns better in class. These also cover the 12 hour professional development requirement for anyone re-qualifying as a SAP.
As a bonus, the cost of those courses includes the SAP Qualification Exam. You can take the NAADAC SAP test online with virtual proctoring.
The test itself is 100 questions, covering clinical diagnosis and treatment of substance abuse-related disorders as well as the special Part 40 regulations and rules for SAP conduct, reporting, and record-keeping.
Keeping Your Certification as a SAP in Texas Current
Just like other kinds of addiction counseling and recovery roles, SAPs have to complete ongoing professional development training in order to maintain their qualifications. That means 12 hours of refresher courses, covering the same subjects as your initial training.
You can go back to get that training at the same place you originally studied, or opt for a number of other organizations that deliver CEUs, such as:
- American Substance Abuse Professionals (ASAP)
- Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA)
- Substance Abuse Program Administrators Association (SAPAA)
You’ll also need to take a renewal exam, which has only 25 questions.
Just as with the initial trainings, you’ll usually find a discounted rate if you are a member of the organization that delivers it.
You’re responsible for completing those 12 CEUs during each three year renewal period, which only comes out to four hours a year. However, you don’t have to spread it out year-by-year—a single 12 CEU course any time during that period will do.
Considering the responsibility that comes with the position, it’s a small price to pay for maintaining your certification. Other drivers, citizens, and businesses across the state will rely on you to keep Texas highways safe… and help operators with substance abuse issues get back on the right track.
