Chemical Dependency Professional Requirements in Washington
While conversations about substance use disorders (SUDs) in Washington are often focused on Seattle, smaller cities like Spokane and Tacoma along with the communities dotting the state’s woodlands all have their own struggles. By becoming a Substance Use Disorder Professional (SUDP) through the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), you can ensure they all get the support they need.
SUDP certification is available to professionals with all levels of education and from a wide range of professional backgrounds. That being said, though, understanding the nuances of the certification process is key to plotting your own journey.
Select a Washington Chemical Dependency Professional Topic Below…
- Educational Requirements
- Supervised Experience Requirement
- Examination Requirement
- Out-of-State Addiction Counselors
- Application Process
- Contacts and Additional Information Sources
Educational Requirements
To become a Substance Use Disorder Professional in Washington, you need an associate’s degree at minimum. You can also qualify by completing 60 semester credits at a college or university that’s been accredited by a regional or national accrediting agency.
Whether you have an associate’s degree or not, you’ll need to take 30 semester credits-worth of classes on:
- Pharmacological actions of drugs and alcohol
- Understanding addiction
- Treatment methods
- Addiction placement/ discharge criteria/ continuing care
- Treatment planning
- Developmental psychology
- Psychopathology
- Cultural diversity and treatment implications
- Clinical evaluation, including referral for comorbid disorders
- HIV/ AIDS brief risk intervention
- Service coordination
- Community resources and referral
- Case management
- Individual counseling
- Group counseling
- Chemical dependency family and couple counseling
- Relapse prevention
- Client/ family/ community education
- Professional and ethical responsibility
- Confidentiality
- Adolescent chemical dependency
- Documentation
- Rules and regulations
According to the Washington State Department of Health, if you earn an associate degree or higher in addiction studies or substance use disorder counseling, you’re good to go. But if you have a degree in another subject, you’ll have to submit a course-by-course breakdown to ensure you’ve sufficiently studied all required topics.
Supervised Experience Requirement
Once you’ve earned your degree and completed all required courses, you can register as a SUDP trainee with the Department of Health and start earning supervised experience hours. How many hours you need will depend on what level of degree you have:
- Associate degree: 2,500 hours
- Bachelor’s degree: 2,000
- Master’s degree or doctorate: 1,500 hours
However, no matter what kind of degree you have, you’ll need to dedicate a total of 850 hours to three things. You’ll need to spend at least 200 hours on clinical evaluation (100 of which must be spent in direct contact with patients), 600 hours on face-to-face individual, group, and family counseling, and 50 hours on professional and ethical obligations. The rest of your time can be spent working on skills as your supervisor sees fit.
Until 2024, trainees could only renew their one-year training licenses four times and had to complete their training in five years or less. That year, though, the Department of Health instituted a set of emergency rules that, among other things, did away with those restrictions. These rules are designed to bolster the state’s behavioral health workforce and will remain in place until similar ones are encoded into law by the state legislature.
Examination Requirement
The last requirement for becoming certified as a Substance use Disorder Professional in Washington is passing a final exam. Fortunately, you have a few options.
The first option is passing an exam created by the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC), one of the nation’s leading SUD counselor organizations. You can choose from the National Certified Addiction Counselor Level 1 or Level 2 (NCAC I or NCAC II) Exam or the Master Addiction Counselor (MAC) Exam. You’ll need a GED or higher to sit for the NCAC I, a bachelor’s for the NCAC II, and a master’s for the MAC. By taking higher level exams, you can qualify for higher level national certification from the NAADAC.
Your second option is passing an exam administered by the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC), another national leader in SUD counseling. You can take either their Alcohol Drug Counselor (ADC) Exam or their Advanced Alcohol Drug Counselor (AADC) Exam. The ADC requires a high school diploma while the AADC requires a master’s degree.
It’s important to note, though, that the Washington State Department of Health only offers NAADAC exams and not IC&RC exams. However, you can take an IC&RC exam in another state and have your scores sent to the DOH. This is so counselors who get licensed in other states can get licensed in Washington, too.
The Application Process
At every stage, you can submit application materials to the DOH online or through the mail. Resources for both methods can be found on their licensing information webpage. Whichever method you choose, you’ll be asked to submit things like official college transcripts, questionnaires about your legal, professional, and health history, and verification of your supervised experience hours. You’ll also need to submit to a fingerprint-based background check.
The DOH charges a $100 fee for applications and initial certification meaning your total up-front cost will be $200. The NAADAC charges a $150 exam fee while IC&RC exam fees may differ depending on where you take the exam. In both cases, retakes cost an additional fee and so does getting a national certification from either organization.
Out-of-State Addiction Counselors
If you’ve been a licensed substance abuse counselor in another state for two years or more, you can transfer your license to Washington by simply providing proof of licensure if your home state has similar regulations. You may also have to work under a probationary license for a year depending on your qualifications. Fortunately, the DOH maintains a list of states with similar requirements.
States that don’t have similar requirements include:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Maine
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Texas
- West Virginia
If you come from one of these states, you may have to verify every detail of your education and training before getting certified in Washington. On top of that, you may need to take some classes, complete some supervised experience hours, and/or pass an IC&RC or NAADAC exam. Typically, though, if you’re nationally certified at the appropriate level through the IC&RC or NAADAC, you can qualify for an expedited certification process in Washington.
Additionally, some certifications in other states aren’t deemed similar while others are. For example, if you’re a Level II or III Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor from Oregon, you can transfer your license pretty easily. If you’re a Level I counselor, though, you’ll likely have to meet additional requirements before becoming an SUDP in Washington.
Additional Information
To make sure you’re up-to-date on all regulations, you can visit the Washington State Department of Health’s website for news and contact information.
For information about training opportunities, advocacy events, and more, contact the Washington Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (WAADAC). As a state affiliate of the NAADAC, they’re a great resource for future and current substance use disorder counselors alike.