The Advanced Skills for Addiction Treatment Counselors Certificate of Achievement is intended for students who have completed the foundational courses of a CAADE (California Association of Alcohol/Drug Educators) approved program of at least 39 units and are either certified as a CATC-I or preparing to be. At Oxnard College, these foundational courses include: ADS R101, ADS R102, ADS R103, ADS R104, ADS R105A, ADS R113A, ADS R118, and ADS R124. This program will further develop group counseling skills and teach counselors to recognize and treat clients who have both substance abuse and mental illness or eating disorders, as well as victims of domestic violence or batterers. Students will be taught to recognize post- traumatic stress and will learn effective treatment methods and modalities supporting trauma informed care for trauma survivors. Students will also learn skills required for creating and/or administering alcohol prevention programs, and supervisory skills for management of alcohol and drug treatment programs.

To complete a Certificate of Achievement, students must also meet requirements in scholarship and residency. Refer to Earn a Certificate of Achievement section in this catalog. 

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to: 

• Describe the organizational structures, management and administrative policies and procedures affecting success and failure of alcohol and drug treatment programs.
• Train, supervise, evaluate, and discipline other counselors in order to enhance and facilitate professional development within an organization.
• Design and effectively lead group counseling sessions utilizing a variety of advanced group leadership practices such as: depth work engagement and the application of effective methods and modalities, interventions, techniques, and theories as applied to addiction and recovery counseling services.
• Describe mental disorders and best practices for their treatment including recognizing the appropriate use of psychotropic medications, and when psychiatric referral and professional consultation is required.
• Identify the major types of eating disorders that are often co-occurring with addictions and the unique nutritional needs of recovering individuals.
• Identify the cycle, patterns and progression of domestic violence/interpersonal abuse through the use of power and control strategies and the relationship between alcohol/drug abuse and domestic/interpersonal abuse.
• Utilize screening, intake and counseling procedures unique to domestic violence/interpersonal abuse (specifically how they relate to those individuals on probation, parole and/or in Batterers' Intervention Programs as per the CA Penal Code.
• Describe the role of public policy in addressing binge and underage drinking and explain the process of formulating and enacting prevention strategies and the rational for community involvement.
• Describe how treatment and recovery from trauma bonds reduces the likelihood of re-experiencing traumatizing events by increasing awareness of these bonds, thereby extinguishing potentially high-risk, repetitive behaviors and addiction.
• Define the concept of the disease of alcoholism as a family disease, describe its effects on family relationships and development of co-dependency and demonstrate knowledge of the reprogramming strategies for adult children of alcoholics.