The School of Social Work offers a curriculum designed to meet the Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Professional Certification Association (IAODAPCA) requirements for candidates to become Certified Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Counselors (CADC) in Illinois. All of the requirements can be completed in one calendar year or extended to two years. The School of Social Work will guide you through the CADC certification process.
Application requirements
The applicant must have earned a Master of Social Work degree from a CSWE-approved program.
Applicants must submit:
- An application (obtained online or from the Center for Adult and Graduate Studies) for the Graduate Addictions Certification program
- Two letters of recommendation from professionals in the field
- An official transcript denoting the M.S.W. degree.
These materials should be sent to the Center for Adult and Graduate Studies. When all components of the application package are received by the Center for Adult and Graduate Studies, it is then forwarded to the School of Social Work.
Applicants will interview with the School of Social Work Admission Committee or the addictions training director after the application packet is forwarded to the School of Social Work. The purpose of the interview is to review the applicant's graduate transcript for course content that is required for the Graduate Addictions Certification program.
Course Work and Field Placement Requirements
Graduate Addictions Certification students must successfully complete the following courses:
- SWK 6340 — Survey of Substance Abuse Evaluation and Treatment (3 semester hours)
- SWK 6350 — Psychopharmacology (3 semester hours)
- SWK 6200 — Addictions Counseling I (3 semester hours)
- SWK 6400 — Addictions Counseling II (3 semester hours)
- SWK 6810 — Graduate Addictions Certification Advanced Field Instruction (3 semester hours)
We believe that the student should play a vital role in determining his/her field placement. As is the case with our M.S.W. students, we maintain a file with the names, addresses, phone numbers and contact persons of approved addictions agencies which have participated as internship sites, from which students can choose. Placements need to be arranged before a student registers for SWK6810 — Graduate Addictions Certification Advanced Field Instruction.
Academic requirements
The student must maintain a grade-point average of at least 3.00 for the entire course sequence.
The program must be completed within two academic years after being officially accepted into the certificate program. Any modification in the program completion plan must have prior approval of the addictions training director.
CADC requirements
Complete information on the CADC certificate can be found at the Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Professional Certification Association (IAODAPCA). The site includes certification and testing information.There are also study guides for the CADC exam on the IAODAPCA website.If you have any questions or need further information, please contact the Center for Adult and Graduate Studies at (630) 844-5294.
