Dear California Alcohol and Drug Counselor:

 

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the American Academy , I am pleased to announce a dual certification for California alcohol and drug counselors, the Certified Addiction Specialist (CAS) certification offered by the American Academy of Health Care Providers in the Addictive Disorders and the Registered Addiction Specialist (RAS) offered by the Breining Institute.

The American Academy was selected as one of ten agencies in California that would be recognized by the California Alcohol & Drug Program (CA ADP) for certification. The California regulations required these agencies to be accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA/NOCA). Although the Academy is continuing to work diligently through the accreditation process towards completion, it was unable to meet the CA ADP deadline of September 30, 2007.

As a result, all California non-licensed or non-certified alcohol and drug counselors providing counseling services in an AOD program and currently registered or certified by the Academy, in order to be in compliance, must re-register with one of nine approved agencies. The approved agencies and regulations affecting your current certification are posted at the CA ADP website:

http://www.adp.cahwnet.gov/Licensing/LCBhome.shtml.

The Breining Institute is one of the agencies that received NCCA/NOCA accreditation and is approved by the California Alcohol & Drug Program. Registration and information about the dual certification are available at the Breining Institute website:   http://www.breining.edu/aahcpandras.htm.

Thank you for your interest in providing high quality, credentialed services in the addictions field. We look forward to working with you towards receiving the Certified Addiction Specialist (CAS) and Registered Addiction Specialist (RAS) credential.

Best regards,

Cheri Swensson
Executive Director