Leaving aside the few points on which state credentialing bodies may agree, there is no easy way to define the term without contradicting, supplementing, or subtracting from the next person's definition. Despite the difficulty of the effort to mold a cohesive profession out of a number of different levels and types of specialization, and in spite of the maze of licensure and certification requirements that vary from one location to the next, leaders in the field have identified a range of knowledge and skills an addiction counselor needs to possess when the term is considered in its narrowest and broadest senses. But addiction counselors must also possess a core group of attitudes and traits, regardless of the specific definition of their work or qualifications. These characteristics are common to all the various stages of identification, treatment, recovery, and maintenance through which various kinds of addiction counselors assist the patient. Following a brief discussion of the problems of professionalization and the range and nature of addiction counselors' work, the core of knowledge, skills, and attitudes will be presented, with special emphasis on the personal characteristics that make an effective counselor.
Since 1993 the National Curriculum Committee (NCC) of the Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) has worked at assembling basic guidelines to define the outcomes toward which addiction counseling education needs to work. The Committee acknowledged that "even specialists in the addictions field have not been able to define with clarity the professional standards that should guide their work" (National, 1998, n. pag.). There is a marked lack of certainty regarding scope of practice, depth of training and educational qualifications, range of competencies needed, and many other questions. The NCC, therefore, determined that it was best to address the problem in ...