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Alcohol and Drug Counseling BS

College of Community Studies and Public Affairs / Human Services
Undergraduate major / Bachelor of Science

About The Program

Prepare for a career as an alcohol and drug counselor. Help save and enrich the lives of people struggling with addiction by studying on campus in Saint Paul to earn a bachelor’s degree in Alcohol and Drug Counseling. At Metro State, learn how to respond effectively to substance use disorder problems, whether you are a community college transfer student, someone who wants to complete an undergraduate degree or an allied professional (social worker, psychologist, nurse, school counselor, law enforcement officer).

Benefits of the bachelor’s degree in Alcohol and Drug Counseling degree include:

  • Forming professional therapeutic relationships with people struggling with addiction.
  • Learning how to carry out evidence-based interventions that help people and their families move from life-threatening addiction to life-affirming recovery.
  • Exploring your many interests related to substance use disorder problems. Gain the skills to qualify for licensure.

If you have a prior bachelor’s degree, you are eligible to enroll in the Substance Use Disorders Post-baccalaureate Certificate Program. For further information, go to the Substance Use Disorders Post-baccalaureate UCERT program page.

National Addiciton Studies Accreditation Commission logo

The Alcohol and Drug Counseling BS degree is accredited by the National Addiction Studies Accreditation Commission (NASAC) https://nasacaccreditation.org/.

Student Outcomes

Students who complete the Alcohol and Drug Counseling bachelor’s degree program:

  • Deliver best practice alcohol and drug counseling services in diverse communities.
  • Demonstrate competence in counseling and related professional skills.
  • Integrate and apply ethical standards.
  • Cultivate professional relationships through cultural responsiveness and advocacy to provide leadership in the field.
  • Are prepared to gain licensure in Alcohol and Drug Counseling.

Interested in Metro State’s Alcohol and Drug Counseling Degree?

Metro State’s urban campus in Saint Paul specializes in serving non-traditional students with diverse backgrounds. Students working to earn a bachelor’s degree in Alcohol and Drug Counseling are dreamers and doers, members of an academic community who value equity and inclusion. If this sounds like you, apply or request additional information below.

Advance Your Education

How to enroll

Current students: Declare this program

Once you’re admitted as an undergraduate student and have met any further admission requirements your chosen program may have, you may declare a major or declare an optional minor.

Future students: Apply now

Apply to Metropolitan State: Start the journey toward your Alcohol and Drug Counseling BS now. Learn about the steps to enroll or, if you have questions about what Metropolitan State can offer you, request information, visit campus or chat with an admissions counselor.

Get started on your Alcohol and Drug Counseling BS

Program eligibility requirements

To be eligible for acceptance to the Alcohol and Drug Counseling major, the following must be completed:

  • Approved admission to Metro State University
  • Students must complete an official degree plan with their academic advisor

Courses and Requirements

SKIP TO COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Students must complete a minimum of 60 credits in the Alcohol and Drug Counseling major. This includes transfer credits as well as academic work completed at Metro State University.

  • 26 credits in the major must be taken at Metro State University.
  • Students must complete the major program courses with a letter grade of C- or higher.
  • Students must pass a Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) background study prior to practicum.

Student licensure

Licensing is required to work as an LADC. Our program program prepares students to take and pass the licensure exam.

Requirements (120 credits)

+ Required (60 credits)

Courses listed are in suggested sequence order.

HSER 346 is a variable credit course; ADC students should register for the 4 credit course.

This course is designed to be an overview of the practice of Alcohol and Drug Counseling. It covers the main theories or models which explain what chemical dependency is. It also provides a survey of the practice of alcohol and drug counseling, including history, licensure requirements, 12 core functions, continuum of services, culture, evidence-based practices, laws, ethics and professionalism. An orientation to the Alcohol and Drug major will also be provided.

Full course description for Introduction to Substance Use Disorders

This course will focus on how prevention practitioners can design and implement scientifically defensible prevention principles, programs and practices that meet the needs of their own communities. The course will examine science-based prevention and its relevance, the theoretical approaches to evidence-based prevention, and identify effective prevention principles, programs and practices. Special emphasis will be placed on adapting evidence-based models to meet local needs and interests. Successful completion of the course will qualify students for certification as a Certified Prevention Professional (CPP) through the Minnesota Certification Board.

Full course description for Prevention of Substance Use Problems

This course introduces students to basic counseling skills to be used with clients dealing with a variety of issues including family challenges and substance use disorders. As such, it is designed to help students develop essential helping skills needed for client engagement, follow-through, completion and overall therapeutic effectiveness. It includes examination and practice Person-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing, techniques central to helping others across a range of issues including substance use disorders. Specific skills covered include developing rapport, building empathy and active listening, encouraging trust, self-disclosure, immediacy, questioning & evoking, addressing discrepancies, etc. This course is highly experiential in its format. Students will participate in classroom exercises, role plays, and video-taping and self-assessment of counseling skills.

Full course description for Counseling and Interviewing Skills

It is important for human service practitioners to understand the relationship between practice and research. According to social psychologist, Kurt Lewin, the best practice is founded in research and the best research is grounded in practice. Acknowledging this insight, this course will engage students in an examination of research as it is employed in the human service field. The primary focus of this course is to teach students how to be critical consumers of research, able to read, evaluate, and apply research for human service practice purposes. A second purpose is to develop students skills for their future role as collaborators with researchers in generating knowledge from the field. This course can serve as a companion course for the program evaluation offering or a foundations course for students interested in pursuing graduate study or a preview course for those intending to take social or behavioral science research methods courses.

Full course description for Understanding and Using Research for the Practitioner

This course brings students an understanding of race and racism while it explores the cultural dynamics of alcohol and drug counseling for diverse groups. It examines the intersection between cultural identity and the knowledge, skills and attitude necessary for addressing unique counseling issues for different cultural groups. The class reviews the history of how racist agendas have shaped the fabric of the systems that serve our clients. Students review the concept of white privilege and how it is reflected in the disparity of treatment opportunities. It also provides students with information on the history, cultural distinctiveness, and counseling concerns for the following cultural groups: African-Americans, Latin Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, European Americans, Lesbian Gay Bi-Sexual and Transgender, Women and Feminism, and Men.

Full course description for Racial and Cultural Considerations for Alcohol and Drug Counseling

This course teaches the dynamics of group counseling to be used with clients dealing with a variety of issues including family challenges and substance use disorders. Course includes examination and practice of Person-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing techniques central to helping others across a range of issues including substance use disorders. Students learn the skills of group counseling in a classroom and Training group experience. Topics include stages of group, group rules and goals, group leader skills, and types of groups. Students learn writing and charting skills necessary to document client progress. Emphasis is on interaction among group members, the counselors¿ role in group facilitating, and techniques to help group members learn to view their own behavior for self-awareness and self-disclosure.

Full course description for Group Counseling

Significant numbers of chemically-dependent individuals have one or more mental disorders. This course is designed to help the alcohol and drug counselor to become more familiar with the most common mental disorders, the interrelationship between mental disorders and substance abuse, and various counseling methods and treatment approaches for the dually disordered client. This course covers the main features of the most common mental disorders, how they interact with substance abuse, assessment and counseling approaches, medications used for treatment, and community resources used to help these clients.

Full course description for Co-Occurring Disorders: Substance Use and Mental Health

This course provides students with a beginning understanding of the essential components of successful case management for alcohol and drug counseling. That is, the activities which a counselor engages in to bring services, agencies, resources, and people together within a planned and coordinated framework of action toward achievement of established clinical goals. Specifically the course will focus on, the theory of case management for alcohol and drug counseling, related state and federal laws, the Twelve Core Functions, the Rules of Professional Conduct, and the practice of clinical writing.

Full course description for Case Management for Alcohol and Drug Counseling

This course's goal is to improve outcomes in the practice of alcohol and drug counseling by linking scientific research to treatment practice. As such, the course explores current best practices in alcohol and drug counseling, such as transtheoretical stages of change, motivational enhancement techniques, and so on. The student also selects, researches, and completes a study project, which explores an evidence-based approach to alcohol and drug counseling, in depth. Counseling skills are practiced in this course.

Full course description for Best Practices in Drug and Alcohol Counseling

This course is the culminating experience for seniors, who are majoring in alcohol and drug counseling. In this course students reflect on their academic course of study and demonstrate the relationship between what they have learned and how they apply this to the professional practice of alcohol and drug counseling. In addition, students analyze and explore agency management systems which complement their practice of alcohol and drug counseling. This course is a combination of Senior Seminar in Alcohol and Drug Counseling and the Human Services Capstone. Prerequisite: Completion of at least 28 credits in the alcohol and drug counseling major, must have been completed or is currently or enrolled in an internship.

Full course description for Senior Seminar: Alcohol and Drug Counseling

+ Practicum (9 credits)

This course is intended to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills acquired during their academic coursework and transfer it into clinical settings. This internship requires students to demonstrate competence in the Transdisciplinary Foundations of 8 Practice Dimensions (12 core functions) of alcohol and drug counseling, including culturally competent and professionally ethical practice.

Full course description for Alcohol and Drug Counseling Group Practicum I

The alcohol and drug counseling group internship is intended to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills acquired during their academic coursework and transfer it into clinical settings. This Internship requires students to demonstrate competence in the Transdisciplinary Foundations and 8 Practice Dimensions (12 core functions) of alcohol and drug counseling, including culturally competent and professionally ethical practice. In the classroom portion of this course, students will review and critically analyze counseling style, diversity, ethics and the agency in which they are conducting their internship. In addition, they will continue to practice and enhance clinical skills and techniques.

Full course description for Alcohol and Drug Counseling Group Practicum II

+ Electives (at least 3 credits)

This course provides a basic understanding of the unique cultural, historic and legal status of the American Indian. Topics covered include; population demographics; the shifting public policies toward American Indians; the historic rise of chemical dependency among American Indians bio-psycho-social and economic needs and resources of the American Indian. This course focuses on culture, history and related chemical dependency issues from the American Indian perspective.

Full course description for Substance Use and Native Americans

This course explores the bio-psycho-social developmental issues and tasks of adolescence, substance use trends, risk and protective factors and recognition of the signs of potential substance abuse problems. Methods of screening, assessing and treating adolescents and how to involve the family and other collaterals in the treatment process are addressed. Interventions and approaches that are identified as "best practices" are emphasized. Legal and ethical issues of screening, assessing and treating teens are addressed.

Full course description for Adolescent Substance Use Disorders

This course presents a historic overview of gambling and describes gambling addiction and the variety of ways in which it manifests itself in society. The course will also identify diagnostic criteria and treatment strategies for the pathological gambler and how gambling impacts family, society, and crime. When the academic coursework is completed to satisfy Minnesota statute 2005 chapter 148C, this course would be credited toward the 270 hours needed for chemical dependency licensure and the 60 hours needed to meet provider status in the state of Minnesota.

Full course description for Problem Gambling

Students confront complex ethical and moral issues in their professional and personal lives. In this course, students study and apply the cultural, social, legal, economic, theological and philosophical bases for making such decisions. Each student learns to articulate coherent arguments involving at least two divergent views of many current ethical issues confronted in human services today. Students select, research and present an individual project on a major ethical issue relevant to their professional interests in human services.

Full course description for Ethical Issues in Human Services

This course reviews current information on the clinical use of psychoactive medication. The course focuses on standard clinical psychopharmacology, applications of psychoactive medication, and relative merits of medication vs. psychotherapy rather than on illicit drugs. This course examines several classes of therapeutic drugs, such as neuroleptics, antidepressants, tranquilizers and hypnotics, their mechanisms of action and side effects, and research/experimental issues.

Full course description for Drugs and Behavior: An Introduction to Behavioral Pharmacology