Do You Have What it Takes to be an Addiction Counselor?

Having worked as a substance abuse counselor for over 16 years, I have worked for, worked with, and supervised a lot of counselors. I have seen some excellent counselors who found their jobs challenging and rewarding. I have also seen counselors who got discouraged, burned out, and regretted ever getting into the field. So before you invest time and money, be sure you have what it takes to be a quality counselor and be happy doing it. I have listed some qualities that I believe are important if you plan on becoming an addiction counselor or are in a position to hire addiction counselors.

Be Caring

This seems like it should be obvious, but I have seen counselors who don’t care about their clients. Maybe at one point, they did, but for some reason, they lost their compassion. It is critical that you genuinely care about the people that you are treating. Perhaps you can fake it for a while, but eventually, they will be able to see if their recovery isn’t essential to you.

Optimistic

1. One of the most important things that you are selling is hope. During their active addiction, your clients may have lost family, careers, health, freedom, and much more. They may feel like their life is ruined beyond repair. Negativity is contagious, and being a counselor doesn’t automatically make you immune. (Counselors have bad days too.) I have found this to be especially important in group settings. If negativity starts taking over a group, it will not be beneficial, and no one will want to be there.
2. Self-Confident. A good dose of self-confidence is good in any profession. In substance abuse counseling, it is essential to realize that your self-worth is not dependent on the success of your clients. Every good counselor enjoys seeing his clients succeed in their recovery and is disappointed when they have setbacks. Hopefully, you will strive to be the best possible counselor you can be, but you must understand your role and limitations. Early in my counseling career, I would feel like a failure when one of my clients relapsed. I have learned not to take credit for their success, nor am I responsible for their setbacks. If you are a counselor for any length of time, you will get to see some great success stories, but you will also see some who continue to struggle, some who end up in jail, and even some who die.
3. Non-Judgmental. One of the quickest ways to lose rapport with your clients is to come across to them as judgmental or condescending. Being non-judgmental may be more challenging than it sounds because you will have clients who have done pretty nasty things. This doesn’t mean you condone their actions, but you don’t look down on them because of their poor choices. I think it is essential to recognize the power of addiction and that in active addiction, people will find themselves in places that they never could have imagined themselves and doing things that they never would have considered. Maybe it is also essential to recognize that their life experiences are likely much different than ours and that our life would resemble theirs if we had lived theirs. Having an addiction or growing up in a bad environment does not justify negative behavior, but it might help explain it. Others say, “I don’t know how you work with those people.” Well, the fact is that they are people just like the rest of us. They happen to have some issues that we don’t have. However, we all have issues and have made some poor decisions. Maybe our issues are more socially acceptable, or our consequences are less severe.
4. Trusting. This seems out of place in this list, but hear me out. Addicts have been known to lie, cheat, steal, manipulate, and use various other forms of deception. So why on earth would you trust them? This goes hand in hand with not being judgmental; someone having little faith in them could be the confidence builder they need. I am not suggesting that you loan anyone your car or have them babysit your kids, nor am I suggesting that you be naïve and ignore symptoms that they are getting off track. Over years of counseling, what I have noticed is that counselors get tired of being lied to and get to the point where they assume that everyone is lying to them. It isn’t fair or beneficial to your clients if you assume everything they tell you is a lie. I think it is better to give them the benefit of the doubt. Are they going to manipulate us or “pull one over on us” from time to time? They will, but I’m afraid we worry too much about them getting away with something or that we might appear gullible and naïve. Look at the big picture. In the long run, the lies usually come out, and having some faith in them might be what gets them started toward successful recovery. 
5. Professional. There are whole books written on this point, but for this article, I want to focus on not allowing your problems to affect your professionalism. Being a counselor does not make us immune to having family problems, financial problems, health problems or any other problems. As professionals, however, we need to be able to “compartmentalize”, meaning that we deal with our issues at the appropriate time, but when we are with clients, we must focus on them and their issues.
6. Organized. Often, counselors enjoy the counseling part of their job but will get discouraged by the amount of paperwork that goes with it. I have even seen counselors who were good at counseling but end up losing their jobs because they couldn’t keep up with all of the other responsibilities of their job. Your paperwork will vary from job to job, but it will always take up a significant amount of your time and is essential to being a good counselor. Self-discipline and time management are important in staying on top of things.

This is not an exhaustive list of characteristics of a good counselor, but just a few that I feel are important and sometimes overlooked. I’m certainly not trying to discourage anyone from becoming a substance abuse counselor, but if you don’t have the heart of a counselor, then you will not be happy in this career. If you are passionate about this, it can be a very fulfilling career.

About The Author

Ted Pinkard

Beyond his professional life, Ted is passionate about community service and actively participates in various local initiatives. He is an avid learner, always seeking to expand his knowledge through books, seminars, and hands-on experiences.

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