Union College Offers Chemical Dependency Counselor Program Online
Barbourville, KY (PRWEB) October 20, 2013 -- As the national demand for professionals in social services increases, Union College has answered the call by offering its chemical dependency certification program online.
According to the United States Department of Labor, employment of substance abuse counselors is expected to grow faster than the average for all other occupations—27 percent—by the year 2020. This is due to health insurance providers increasingly covering mental and behavior health treatment.
This projected growth is also attributed to more people seeking addiction treatment, either independently or as part of a court-ordered sentence.
Chemical dependency is a widespread problem with a $600 billion annual price tag for costs related to crime, work productivity and healthcare, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The role of a chemical dependency counselor is to help in the addict’s recovery process, and a byproduct of that success is to relieve some of the economic burden.
The need is great. In Kentucky, the abuse of prescription painkillers leads to more than 1,000 deaths each year, the sixth-highest overdose death rate in the nation, according to the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General. More Kentuckians die annually from overdoses than traffic accidents.
The problem does not discriminate. A 2011 Kentucky Healthy Issues poll revealed that one-third of all Kentuckians have a family member of close friend who regularly abuses prescription drugs.
The Union College chemical dependency counselor certificate program is offered fully online. It consists of 21 credit hours for both undergraduate and graduate level students. For more information, visit http://www.unionky.edu/cdc-grad.
Union College is a liberal arts institution located in the foothills of Appalachia and affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
Missy Reid, Union College, http://www.unionky.edu, +1 6065461610, [email protected]
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