Addiction Counseling – South Carolina
Licensed Addiction Counselor (LAC)
South Carolina requires that applicants for this licensure have a master’s degree, specialist’s degree or doctoral degree with a minimum of forty-eight (48) graduate semester hours primarily in counseling or related field from a program accredited by NASAC, CACREP, or one that follows similar educational standards, and from a college or university accredited by the Commission on the Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, one of its transferring regional associations, the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, or a regionally-accredited institution of higher learning subsequent to receiving the graduate degree.
Course Requirements
The graduate transcript(s) must demonstrate successful completion of 27 of the 48 hours consisting of courses in the following areas
- Human growth and development course; and/or
- Social and cultural foundations course; and/or
- Counseling Theory Course; and/or
- Family System Theory Course; and/or
- Career Theory; and/or
- Group Dynamics; and/or
- Screening, Assessment and Clinical Diagnosis within behavioral health; and/or
- Research and evaluation; and/or
- Professional orientation: coursework content providing an understanding of professional roles and functions, professional goals and objectives, professional organizations and associations, professional history and trends, ethical and legal standards, professional preparation standards, and professional credentialing; and
- 6 hours of substance use disorder/Addiction Specific Coursework; and
- Practicum: a minimum of one (1) supervised one hundred (100) hour counseling practicum; and
- Internship: completed an internship, as part of a degree program, of at least six hundred (600) hours, of which three hundred (300) hours must be working primarily with the substance use disordered population with a minimum of one hundred twenty (120) hours of direct client contact; however, if the 300/120 specific hours requirement is not met within the 600 hour internship, a post-graduate experience may be served to meet this requirement
Additional Requirements
Applicants will need to take CEFS 502 Human Growth and Development and CEFS 522 Career Development and Counseling, as well as 700 hours of internship.
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