Substance Abuse Counselor Career

I have wanted to be a counselor since my freshmen year of high school and in the counseling field there are many specialties that I can focus on. I am fairly certain that I want to specialize in helping people with substance abuse and their families. I have always focused my studies, interests, and work on things that will help me in this field and I have a lot of qualities that help to enhance me in my eventual career. There are difficulties when I get to practice also like what people perceive as correct counseling style, challenges with my gender and race, and finally creating my own counseling style and plans.

Currently I am studying for my psychology degree and planning on finishing with my bachelors’ degree in 2014, I have faced few challenges with my plans so far because I feel as though I have prepared myself well for the future. I am a in the psychology club and I participate in psychology experiments at school. I want to utilize all that I can while I am in school to become the best at what I do. Where I work I call alumni of my college and ask them for donations, before I ask them I have to gain their trust and that is also the basis for any counselor patient relationship.

A big challenge that I will face is deciding which side I will take on a big debate in substance abuse counseling. Some people say that addiction is purely physical, while others disagree and believe that addiction is mostly psychological. Those who believe that it is psychological believe that it usually stems from abuse or as Jane Adams (2003) thinks an over dependence on parents. This side also says that addiction is operant conditioning and that cycle has to be broken (Silverman, Roll, & Higgins, 2008, p. 472). The other physical side of addi...

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Silverman, K., Roll, J., & Higgins, S. (2008). Introduction to the Special Issue on the Behavior Analysis and Treatment of Drug Addiction. Journal of Applied behavior Analysis, 41(4), 471-480. Retrieved June 12, 2011, from the proquest.com.navigator-ship.passhe.edu database.