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Summer/Fall 2017

www.IAODAPCA.org

Register Today

2017 ICB Fall

Conference

October 16-20, 2017

MT. Vernon

Hotel & Event Center

Mt. Vernon, IL

Full brochure and registration form at:

Www.IAODAPCA.org

Inside this issue:

From the Desk of the ICB Executive Director

1

ICRC Update 3

FEATURED ARTICLE A Founder’s Letter By: John Reese, CAADC

4

IABH Update 6

Training of Leaders 7

Newly Credentialed 8

Failed to Recertify 10

In Memorium 15

ICB NEWS From the Desk of ICB Executive Director, Jessica Hayes

Welcome to the August 2017 edition of the ICB Newsletter.

On a day-to-day basis ICB is committed to providing customer service to those in the application, examination, certification and recertification process. What you may not know is what goes on behind the scenes, on your behalf, out-side of normal operations. I’ve highlighted just a few areas of growth in which ICB has been involved since our last newsletter publication in December of 2016. On May 1, 2017, the ICB rolled out the Certified Veterans Support Specialist (CVSS) credential. The Certified Veteran Support Specialist credential is designed to certify an individual’s competency in the field of Veteran recovery support primarily for Service members, Veterans and their Families (SMVF). Under this credential, a Veteran is defined as any person who is or was a servicemember of the Armed Forces of the United States both Active and Reserve components, regardless of combat experience or discharge status. As the field of authentic peer support and assistance continues to expand, we believe in a fundamental need for CVSS professionals to assist consumers, agencies and professionals in making proper decisions concerning the correlat-ing of CVSS professional competencies with existing consumer needs. The Model and Application for the CVSS credential may be found on our website at www.iaodapca.org.

Answering a call to the need of a strong peer workforce in the State of Illinois, on October 1, 2017 ICB will commence a granting of equivalency period for the Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) credential. This credential is offered through the Illinois Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) and will have reciprocity with other IC&RC member jurisdictions offering this peer-focused credential. The CPRS is geared toward those working with substance use disorders. Granting of Equivalency requirements will be posted to the ICB website in the near future.

Additionally, ICB has been involved in conversations at the State level with Man-aged Care Organizations to educate their policy personnel on who the ICB credentialed professional is, what they do, and what is required to become an ICB credentialed professional. ICB continues to be present at the tables of those who make policy decisions; representing you, the credentialed professional.

Message continues on next page . . . .

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Page 2 Summer/Fall 2017

. . . . . Continued from page 1

As announced at the Spring Conference in March of 2017, ICB has negotiated an Individual Membership with the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health (IABH) in an effort to get advocacy information into the hands of all ICB professionals holding an active credential. This member benefit comes at no cost to the ICB professional. A letter was sent to each active ICB member outlining the benefits of the IABH individual membership in mid-July. As an individual member of IABH you will receive: Representation in State Government, Direct Email Communications, Education and Information Services, Career Center Posting, IABH conference discounts to name a few. Questions regarding your IABH Individual Membership can be answered by the IABH staff. All things related to credentialing are still processed through the ICB. I extend a heartfelt thank you to the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of the IABH for working with the ICB to keep our membership informed.

The ICB has been involved in two SAMHSA policy academies over the past five months. The first topic is Advancing Suicide Prevention Best Practices in SMVF Peer Support. The work being done by this group of subject matter experts focuses on suicide prevention best practices in peer support for Service Members, Veterans and their families. The second topic, BRSS TACS (Building a Strong Recovery-Oriented Workforce) focuses on building and strengthening a recovery-oriented behavioral health workforce. Both academies value the competency-based credentialing offered by the ICB; out of which stemmed the Certified Veterans Support Specialist (CVSS) and the Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS). The ICB continues to be acknowledged as leading the field in competency-based credentialing by those not only at the State level but at the Federal level as well.

The 2017 Fall Conference is fast approaching! With the closing of Rend Lake Conference Center, the event has been moved to the Mt. Vernon Hotel and Conference Center, in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. (Formerly Holiday Inn, coming soon Doubletree). While we will all miss the resort-type atmosphere enjoyed at Rend Lake, we look forward to a quality education experience in this new facility. Topics include: Opioid Crisis, Family, Clinical Supervision, Effective Assessments, Social Media and many more topics. Be sure to watch your mailbox for the brochure or view the brochure on-line at www.iaodapca.org. Hope to see you there!

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IC&RC, the world leader in addiction-related credentialing, is making changes to the Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor (AADC) examination.

Since June of 2008, the AADC examination has included a written case presentation where candidates were provided with a case overview of a hypothetical client and asked 13 associated questions about the case. This long case study will be eliminated from the AADC examination effective September 1, 2017. The long case will be replaced with multiple small vignettes approximately 1-2 paragraphs in length with 3-5 associated examination question.

Candidates currently scheduled for the AADC examination on or after September 1, 2017 will be taking the examination with multiple small vignettes.

The change from long case studies to small vignettes will not affect the scoring of examination. There will continue to be 150 items on the AADC examination and the score range will be 200-800 with a 500 passing.

More information on IC&RC’s AADC credential and examination can be found at this link: AADC Candidate Guide.

Any questions about these changes may be directed to Rachel Witmer, Assistant Director, at Rachel@internationalcredentialing.org.

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A Founder’s Thoughts By: John Reese, CAADC

Why is it important for someone who wants to work or is working with people, or their families experienc-ing a Substance Use Disorder, to become a CADC (Certified Alcohol and Other Drug Counselor)? Not that long ago, I was asked that question by a student in one of our accredited training programs. I thought about the question and answered it to the best of my ability at the moment, but left that conver-sation with an unsettled feeling I had not provided an answer I was satisfied with. I have been thinking about the question and decided it is a truly important one that I want to answer. What follows is my an-swer, the history is certainly incomplete, and it lacks citation because it comes from memory and opinion, not research. It also lacks the names of the giants of our history who worked so hard to form the profes-sional field of addiction counseling, many who will always remain anonymous. A numbers of years ago I was honored to be named the IAODAPCA professional of the year, an amazing experience to say the least. I want to repeat something I said the day the award was presented to me. “Today we are all standing on the shoulders of the giants that made all this possible, it is imperative for us to acknowledge them and our history. We must repay them by being the mentors of the next generations of counselors.”

There is a saying I have heard that for most people history begins the day they are born, not sure who said that, but it is important that to really understand the importance of certification we go back in history a little bit. It was on May 8, 1945 that Germany surrendered, just 4 days before I was born. That surren-der was followed by Japan on September 2, 1945. Our country was full of exuberance and our economy was at full speed, our young men and women were returning home basking in the glory of victory. Alco-hol abuse, of course, was the dark side of the physical and mental casualties of war, just as we are ex-periencing today. As we moved into the 1950’s, the exuberance continued, but a dark shadow was growing across the nation about youthful drug use. It was not all “Ozzie and Harriet” or “Happy Days.” The reaction to this new epidemic of drug use at the time was to increase the criminalization of drug abuse and the drug user. The fears were based upon a belief that it was a minority, inner-city problem, and the user committed crimes to support their habit. There was also a belief the dealer was a predator taking advantage of our youth, and of course drug use leads to sexual behavior, especially by young women. Another consideration was the idea that other countries who were our “historical” enemies were behind much of the inflow of drugs into our country to destabilize our society.

The disease concept of alcoholism, supported by the rise of AA in 1935 fought off the criminalization aimed at alcohol use, and while most continued to see it as self-inflicted or a psychiatric problem, there was at least a belief that the alcoholic should be helped, not put in jail. The same could not be said for the drug user. While many associate the war on drugs to President Nixon, in 1954 President Eisenhow-er called for “war on narcotics addiction.”

The late 1960’s and early 1970’s historically has become known as the decade of turbulence in our country. Part of the turbulence was the perceived idea that drugs were moving out of the minority, inner-city into the suburban majority culture and college campuses. Also, our young men and women in Viet Nam would be returning addicted to drugs. These fears began the process of developing the political momentum to look at drug abuse and alcoholism as something that could not be controlled by legal en-forcement alone, although for many criminalization continued to be the simple solution. The treatment movement began to stress substance use as an illness, not a crime. The spokespersons for this move-ment of treatment of addiction as a medical problem, not a criminal or psychiatric condition for the most part were a few doctors, politicians and public figures who were themselves in recovery. This self-disclosure continued to support the public notion that you had to “be one to help one.” The large majority of people working with addicted people were themselves recovering.

Continues on next page . . . .

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In the late 1960’s, the movement for treatment began to see major victories that lead to the birth of modern treatment in the United States. In 1970, the Hughes Act, formally named the Com-prehensive Alcoholism Prevention and Treatment Act, passed and signed into law. This law provided funds to States to support addiction (alcoholism) treatment. The National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse was formed and a somewhat organized industry began to devel-op following the “Minnesota Model” to treat addiction.

Perhaps an argument can be made for July of 1975 as being the date when modern treatment as we understand it today began. This is based upon 5 major events that happened around that time. The first event was decriminalization of addiction, simply put based upon major court decisions, a person could no longer be jailed for showing symptoms of their illness. A person could be arrested for behavior, such as a DUI or possession of a controlled substance, but not for being intoxicated or high on a drug. The “drunk tank” would be no longer legal.

The second major step was the Federal Law on the confidentiality of alcohol and drug abuse records went into effect. These regulations reflected on a Federal level that addiction treatment had some unique needs for confidentiality and the addiction counselor had a high obligation to protect a client’s confidentiality that was different from other forms of counseling. The significant adherence to confidentiality was based on the stigma the current client could face, assurance of protection for future clients seeking care, and thirdly to guard against police/court use of treat-ment data in support of criminalization of activities.

The third major event was unique funding. The National Institute of Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) began to be funded in the national budget, and used these funds to support a network of State supported Detox centers. Blue Cross and Blue Shield along with several other major insurance companies begin to provide benefits for addiction treatment. No longer was the per-son suffering from addiction being admitted for care under a made up psychiatric diagnosis such as “depressive neurosis.” Alcoholism treatment had been legitimated as its own unique treatment diagnosis on a funding level.

The fourth step came along with the flow of money into the new treatment services, with this money came a requirement for oversight. For example, in Illinois, the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities formed the Division of Alcoholism (followed a couple of years later with the Dangerous Drugs Commission). The formation of the Division of Alcohol-ism effectively directed the new addiction treatment movement away from psychiatric treatment, while the Dangerous Drugs Commission began to provide treatment alternatives to incarcera-tion. As public money began to flow into treatment through these agencies, there was a grow-ing need for a licensure of programs that would provide the funded treatment. When health in-surance companies began to pay medical benefits for addiction treatment they demanded standards of care. This came in the form of the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hos-pitals, who publish and accredit programs based upon their standards of care.

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www.IAODAPCA.org

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On January 11, 2017 the General Assembly convened in Spring-field for the 100th General Assembly. IABH staff and lobbyist be-gan working behind the scenes to review introductions of new legislation (bills), House and Senate Resolutions, House and Senate Joint Resolutions, proposed constitutional amends, Executive Orders, committee amendments, and floor amendments.

Between January 11th and May 31st, the General Assembly introduced:

2,212 Senate Bills

4,063 House Bills

587 Senate Resolutions

489 House Resolutions

44 Senate Joint Resolutions

68 House Joint Resolutions

34 Proposed Constitutional Amendments

The House was in regular session for 62 days, the Senate for 56 days. In addition, both chambers had 12 days of “Special Session” to address the unresolved budgetary issues.

On July 6, 2017 Both the House and Senate voted to override the Governor’s veto of FY18 Budget package. For the first time in three years, Illinois passed a budget providing a full 12 months of funding for human services providers and others. Here is the funding breakdown in PA 100-0021 for Mental Health & Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Prevention services.

Note: Appropriations included for FY17 are in addition to funds that have already been appropriated in FY17.

Fiscal Year 2017

Addiction Treatment: $34,270,400

Addiction Prevention: $803,000

Mental Health: $89,350,800

Fiscal Year 2018

Addiction Treatment: $96,826,000

Addiction Prevention: $1,001,900

Mental Health: $218,590,200

In addition to working with the legislators to ensure adequate funding for services, IABH staff and lob-bying team tracked 167 separate pieces of legislation. Of these bills, approximately 25 have passed both chambers and were sent to the Governor for his signature.

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NEWS FROM TOL . . . .

As many of you know this acronym TOL stands for Training of Leaders. You may have seen ourworkshops listed in the ICB Spring and Fall Conference brochures. TOL has been around for about 10 years. Originally intended to focus on recruitment, retention, advocacy, and mentorship, a recently revised mission statement now states: As an ICB project, TOL provides ongoing programming that enhances the impact of current and future leaders in the substance abuse field. Nina Henry, current Project Leader, succeeded Felicia Dudek last year. Besides Nina and Felicia, many outstanding trainers like Bob Carty, Mark Sanders, Joe Rosenfeld, Pam Woll, Gajef McNeill, Renee Lee, and Carolyn Hartfield have been featured as presenters. Workshops we are considering in the future include Training of Trainers (TOT) and grant writing, This fall at the ICB Conference, TOL will feature Joe Rosenfeld presenting on Ethical Issues for Leaders, an expanded version of his segment at the two day leadership workshop TOL conducted for ICB at the Spring Conference. Look for us when you receive your conference brochures, either in the fall or spring. We hope to see you at one of our presentations. And, If you are interested in joining the TOL planning committee, let Julia at ICB know at Julia@iaodapca.org

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www.IAODAPCA.org

Counselors

ICB Congratulates

its Newly Credentialed members!

Please note: These are

professionals credentialed by ICB between April 11, 2017 and August 10, 2017

This list also includes those

who have successfully transitioned to a higher level

of Certification or Board Registration.

CRSS

CAAP

Yaa Afriyie CADC

Andrea Anderson CADC

Charlene Andrew CADC

Patricia Banks CADC

Denise Bowman CADC

Ma hew Brown CADC

Les Butler CRADC

Carlos Cantu CADC

Nathaniel Carlson CADC

Tonya Davis CADC

Stacey Day CADC

Ashley Deetjen CADC

Katrina Deutsche‐Vaclavik CADC

Jessie Dozier CADC

Nataliya Dyachuk CADC

Jennifer Dziatkowiec CADC

Crystal Edwards CADC

Hank Exline CADC

Joan Fefferman CADC

Kimberly Filer‐Jacobs CADC

Michael Fink CADC

Wayne Gilliland CADC

Alexander Goreham CRADC

Miriam Greene CADC

Allison Grimm CADC

Joshua Guthrie CADC

Aus n Hall CADC

Karli Hall CADC

John Heldman CADC

Bri any Helmich CADC

Pren ce Hills CADC

Kayla Hotze CADC

Bernice Jarvis‐Anderson CADC

Cameron Johnson CAADC

Terri Johnson CADC

Peggy Kepple CADC

Katherine Kolinski CADC

Joshua Koshiol CADC

Danielle Larsen CADC

Lauren Less CADC

Damon Lewers CADC

Kelley Lochow CADC

Pamela Lugo CADC

Angela Marvin CADC

Catherine Ma eson CADC

Christopher McFarland CADC

Erika McGregory CADC

Heather Michael CADC

Meghan Mockus CADC

Brenda Monarrez CADC

Alicia Montes‐Figueroa CADC

Freda Monu O'Donoghue CADC

Victoria Moore CADC

Heather Morales CADC

Donald Mrozek CADC

Khalilah Muhammad CADC

Benjamin Murray CADC

Brandon O'Connor CADC

Esperanza Ortegel CADC

Kyle Pearson CADC

Jessica Perillo CADC

William Por s CADC

Stephanie Pruefer CADC

Ruth Reeves CADC

Jessica Reo CADC

Margaret Reynolds CADC

Kathryn Richie CADC

Samantha Ritacco CADC

Nicola Roache Ashley CADC

Kathryn Russell CADC

Claire Senglaub CADC

Josie Sha uck CADC

Nicole Sherbert CADC

Michelle Singer CADC

Allyson Smith CADC

Kristen Sohacki CADC

Beata Staszewski CADC

Joanna Stygar CADC

Sara Terzich CADC

Anna Themanson CADC

Claire Tobin CADC

Aundrea Tro olz CADC

Shanshan Tsu CADC

Erin Turner CADC

Melissa Valen ne CADC

Colleen Vargas CADC

Janet Voss CADC

Shelby Whitmer CADC

Rita Wiermanski CADC

Stephanie Williams CADC

Kayla Zawislak CADC

Ellen Auten CRSS

Madelyn Bell CRSS

Donna Clay CRSS

Ravi Doshi CRSS

Chris ne Harmon CRSS

Anna Johnson CRSS

Carrie McIntyre CRSS

Cole e Pezley CRSS

Kathy Raney CRSS

Alina Valadez CRSS

Kevin Zeigler CRSS

Rita Johnson CAAP

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CARS MAATP MISA I/II

Aida Alejandro CARS

Donna Dunn CARS

Stephanie Fowler CARS

Talmadge O'Neal CARS

Alma Rivera CARS

Derek Svezia CARS

Ronald White CARS

PCGC

Daifeny Arias MAATP

Felicia Franklin MAATP

Stacey Miller MAATP

Christopher Thomas MAATP

Gregory Cox PCGC

Mary Crick PCGC

Michelle Hommert PCGC

Charles Lawrence PCGC

Faye Smith‐Freeman PCGC

Chris ne Treski PCGC

John Moss MISA I

Amy Hemann MISA I

RDDP CPS

NCRS

Megan Marker RDDP

Anthony Williams NCRS

Colleen O'Connor CPS

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www.IAODAPCA.org

Failed To Recertify

The following is a list of members who have failed to

renew their credential with ICB.

There are a number of reasons why they have not renewed. These include, transferring credentials to another state, failing to pay fees and/or failure to obtain

ceus, retired or simply left the field.

What ever the reason may be, it is the responsibility of ICB to inform the field and the public regarding any and all persons

change in credentials.

Thank you.

Counselors

Ainsworth, Katherine Alder, Gretchen Barkus, Kim Barlow, Wesley Barrett, Christine Barry, Dianne Battu, Deep Blain, Daun Borchard, Steven Brack, David Branson, Sandra Brasch, Lisa Braun, Matthew Breashears, Nesha Bridges, Katrina Brown, LaVon

Brown-Davis, Brenda Bunnell, John Calbert, Lela Carrico, Shana Cash, Kim Castle-Enyard, Mary Cauwels, Irene Celichowski, Christopherr Clark, Barry Cobb, Billy Cobb, Sue Cohen, David Cooper, Larry Corcoran, Sylvia Creek, Susan Criseto, Gloria

Cupp, Jody Dahl, Ashlee Dawson, Gina Dawson, Tonya Dean, George DeLeon, Jenny Dilbeck, Matthew Dillard, Gregory Dowers, Kelley Edwards, James Eggers, Diana Eka, Lawrence Elliott, James Ellison, Suzanne Enders-Baldwin, Jenna Fisher, Roderick Flaugher, Stephanie Foley, Nicole Garber, Ashley Garrison, Melissa Gilbert, Heather

Golden, Tomika Gordon, Annie Grace, Alicija Gregory, Joshua Hale, Gary Hamatian, Avraham Harris, Jeanette Hathaway, Lisa Hearne, William Heel, Garrett Hendrix, Satonia Hollonbeck, Richard Horsley, Timothy Houlihan, John Howard, Melodie Howard, Tawna Ioder, Judith Kap, James Keefe, Andrew Kellogg, Lolita Kennedy, Bridget

Kennedy, Geoffrey Kennedy, Ramona Keys, Johnny Lafin, Brittany Larsen, Mary Lation, Erica Lear, Andrew Leonhardt, Mary Lessard-Templin, Alexis Lindsey, Steven Loftin, James Lotito, Karen Marchunt, Diana Markel, Leslie Marshall, Tena Masi, Michel May, Cheri McCrary, Marvin McLeod, Tanya McMillian Jr., Edward Miller, Jackie

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Counselors CAAP

CARS

CRSS

Prevention Specialist

CRSS

CFPP

Myers, Natashia Naekrsz, Linda Norman, Robert O'Mullan, Robert Orem, Tyler Paluch, Christopher Pennington, Michael Perkins, LaDonna Person, Kimberly Prestion, Margo Price, Wayne Ragland, Paige Rehs, Andrew Renteria, Sussethe Richardson, Mark Ripper, Marianne Rivas-Harrington, Juanita Rivenburg, Courtney Rock, Vincent Rose, Larry Ruelas, Gilberta Ryden, Arthur Samangooie, Desiree Schalk, Gayla Schmidt, Kenneth Scruggs, Stephanie Seals, David Shafer, Nancy Shields, Trina Siebold, Hilary Sinclair, Debra Singh, Sangeeta Sipes, Tameka Smith, Brenda Smith, Cassandra Snipes, Donzell Sosa, Josefina Spellman, Carla Spihlman, Walter Spreitzer, Leo

Stack, Rebecca Stermensky, Gage Stone, Amanda Storto, Sherry Strauch, Robert Sullivan, Brady Swire, Neal Tansey, Linda Tarletion, Brian Thomas, Charlotte Thomas, Katheryn Thurmon, Philip Tilford, Mary Trrez, Steve Turner, Tonay Vlier, Ricahrd Wahler, Vicki Walsh, John Ward, Stefanie Watson, Debra Wheeler, Antonio Wilkerson, Douglas Williams, James Wisniowska, Grazyna Wozniak, Jillian Yetter, Michelle Zukowska, Paulina

Bergstedt, Priscilla Hibbs, Sandra Townsend, Trina

Aguirre, Taylor Goodwin, Kelly Goodwin, Trisha Williams, Sharon

Baker, Jerome

Calloway, Antone

Carpenter, Craig

Davis, Jr., Kenneth

Graves, Daniel

Harrison, Christopher

Jackson, Raphel

Jordan, Lenora

Kutella, Kenneth

Mayhew, Donyell

Rudolph, Landon

Smalley, William

Wilkes, William

Willliams, Sr., Anthony

Aguirre, Taylor Goodwin, Kelly Goodwin, Trisha Williams, Sharon

Forrest, Louise Lyons, Jennifer

Tudor, Teresa

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MISA I/II PCGC NCRS

Bassey, Freda Baker, Cheryl Barlow, Wesley Barry, Dianne Brack, David Brown-Davis, Brenda Calbert, Lela Dillard, Gregory Downing, Christine Eggers, Diana Kennedy, Bridget Keys, Johnny Loftin, James Morin, Gregory Norman, Robert Rauchut, Zbigniew Shafer, Nancy Smith Tansey, Linda Willis, Dortha Wisniowska, Grazyna

Chrismore, Shannon Kist, Elizabeth Matthews, Amy Salvatierra, Ana

Bardwell, Evelon Davis, Willie Hardrick, Elroy Herrera, Elena Hudson, Cynthia Jackson, Pearl Johnson, James Lowe, Darryl Norris, Isiah Young, Antonio

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Want Your Article

featured in the Next ICB Newsletter?

If you would like to submit an article for possible inclusion in the ICB Newsletter please

email your article to:

Dianne@iaodapca.org ICB will consider all articles that will be of some benefit to our

members. Articles are to include a written statement from the Author giving ICB

permission to use the article.

YOUR AD HERE! Interested in advertising in the

ICB Newsletter? Contact

Dianne Gutierrez at 217/698-8110

for all of the details. Dianne@iaodapca.org

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. . . . . . Continued from page 5

By July of 1975, decriminalization was the “law” of the land. The federal regulations on confidentiality had spelled a set of unique requirements for those practicing addiction treatment, specific funding channels were operating, and there were regulations and standards of care in place.

The fifth major event was the ground breaking research document known as the Littlejohn Report. This report defined the unique set of qualifications of the “alcoholism counselor.” This report set forth a clear distinction of the job skills specific to the addiction counselor.

As the above 5 factors came together in 1975, Illinois was already ahead of events. In 1973, Illinois had formed a taskforce of persons working with addicted people to develop a system to credential alcoholism counselors. It took the task force almost 3 years to develop a workable system which considered the needs of all parties involved. In 1975, the taskforce handed over its work, called the “Illinois model,” to the Illinois Alcoholism Counselor Certification Board (IACCB) for implementation. Based upon the work of this group, certification for “alcoholism counselors” began in 1975. The 1950’s notion of the criminalization of drug use was still too strong in both the United States and Illinois to be included in this first round of certification. IACCB understood there was a need for the credentialing of persons who were primarily counseling people who suffer from drug addiction, as compared to people who suffer from alcohol addiction. Thus IACCB supported and led the movement to develop standards for “drug abuse” counselors. By 1977, the new certification was complete and a new organization was formed to certify drug abuse counselors.

As we moved into the 1980’s there was the growing recognition and political acceptance that it was not “alcoholism” or drug abuse that we were treating, but rather it was the disease of addiction we were treating. With this realization, there was a diminishing need for the separate identities of counselors. From my recollection, I believe it was by 1986, the two certification organizations were able to set aside some historic concerns and merged forming our current association, Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Professional Certification Association, Inc. (IAODAPCA).

Today the mission statement of the Illinois Certification Board (ICB, d/b/a, IAODAPCA) is the same as it was in the 1980’s “to protect the public by providing competency based credentialing.” To fulfill this mission statement, ICB engages in a number of activities. First, and perhaps most important, is to publish and oversee the standards of competency based skills necessary to become a CADC in Illinois. To that end, ICB manages an application process that includes, documentation of training, supervision and experience in the core competencies of the addictions counselor. Additionally, the applicant must also success-fully pass an examination covering those core competencies. As was mentioned, during the early days of the formation of addiction treatment many of the people working in the field were people who themselves were in recovery. These individuals had a great and rich understanding of addiction and recovery, but they often were given only limited support in learning how to be a professional counselor. Many paid a high price for this lack of support and training. Understanding this, ICB developed a network of training programs along with a set of training standards to prepare people to become professional counselors working with addicted people. Today ICB accredits 26 training programs. These training programs are free standing, located in treatment centers, community colleges, four year colleges, and within master level universities. A third major part of the mission of ICB is to ensure that certified counselors maintain and keep current with the advancing field of addiction counseling. ICB requires its certified counselors to receive ongoing continuing education. It hosts two major conferences a year, the Fall Conference held in southern Illinois and the Spring Conference in northern Illinois. ICB recognizes ongoing continuing education events, online, and bibliocredit education opportunities. As highlighted in the mission statement, and within the issuing of the very first certificate awarded, was a strong code of ethics for counselors. ICB has published this Code of Ethics, and requires all certified counselors to read, understand, and follow them. ICB has established a specific process of how it investigates alleged ethical violations and potential consequences. ICB also requires each of its accredited training programs to educate their students on the nature, importance, and rationale for the Code of Ethics. Lastly, ICB has worked with other organizations to speak to the needs of addiction treatment in Illinois by providing the voice of the counselors who are working in the addiction field. ICB does not advocate on any specific political issue, however it does advocate for the integrity of its credential, and the critical role that certified counselors play in the treatment and recovery of persons suffering from a substance use disorder.

Addiction by its nature is a pervasive illness that affects all areas of a person’s life, and negatively impacts the life of the addicted person’s loved ones, and many others. There are a wide range of health care providers who provide an extensive array of critical services to the addicted person and their family, however it is the certified alcohol and other drug counselor by the nature of their education, skills, and global understanding of addiction who is able pull together all the pieces of an individual’s life to help them work toward the pathway of recovery. Having the credential of CADC demonstrates to the community that you hold a unique and central role in treating individuals and the families who are experiencing substance use disorders.

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To Protect the Public by providing competency based credentialing of Human Service Professionals

Illinois Certification Board d/b/a IAODAPCA

401 East Sangamon Avenue, Springfield, Illinois 62702 website: WWW.IAODAPCA.ORG ~ Email: INFO@IAODAPCA.ORG

In Memoriam . . . . .

Nathaniel Gordon, CADC—Member since 2005

“Good bye may seem forever. Farwell is like the end, but in my heart is the memory and there is where you will always be.” -Walt Disney