CAADE’s Addiction Counselor Certification Board of California (ACCBC) is one of three certifying organizations approved by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to register and certify Alcohol & Other Drug (AOD)/ Substance Use Disorder (SUD) counselors in the State of California. CAADE’s ACCBC also maintains accreditation with the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) Institute of Credentialing Excellence (ICE), to demonstrate to the profession it represents and the general public it serves that its credentialing program has been reviewed by a panel of impartial experts who have determined that the program has met the stringent standards set by the credentialing community.
ATTENTION: Application review and processing is a minimum of thirty (30) calendar days (with the exception of Equivalency Applications) from the date received by our office. This means that your application will take no less than 30 days to be reviewed and processed by our office. This applies only to COMPLETE applications that are not missing documentation. If your application is incomplete, your application processing may be further delayed beyond 30 days. WE DO NOT EXPEDITE APPLICATIONS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, so please plan accordingly. Applications submitted without the required payment will not be reviewed. Please review each application and Page 66 of the Candidate Handbook for additional details regarding our application processing policies.
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ACCBC Career Ladder
RAC – Registered Addiction Counselor – Counselor is registered (not certified), is working on becoming fully certified, and has not passed the CATC Exam and has not yet met the requirements to become fully certified.
i – Registered Intern- Counselor is registered (not certified), is working on becoming fully certified, has already passed the CATC Exam, but has not yet met the requirements to become fully certified.
CATC – Counselor has met the minimum ACCBC and DHCS requirements for AOD certification.
CATC I – Counselor has a Certificate of Completion from a thirty (30) semester unit (minimum) approved Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD)/Addiction Studies or Alcohol and Drug Studies (ADS) Community College Program.
CATC II – Counselor has an Associate Degree, in addition to meeting the minimum ACCBC and DHCS requirements for AOD certification. Degree must be from a regionally accredited college/university and must be in Addiction Studies or a related behavioral health/behavioral science field.
CATC III – Counselor has a Bachelor’s Degree, in addition to meeting the minimum ACCBC and DHCS requirements for AOD certification. Degree must be from a regionally accredited college/university and must be in Addiction Studies or a related behavioral health/behavioral science field.
CATC IV – Counselor has a Master’s Degree, in addition to meeting the minimum ACCBC and DHCS requirements for AOD certification. Degree must be from a regionally accredited college/university and must be in Addiction Studies or a related behavioral health/behavioral science field.
CATC V – Counselor has a Doctoral Degree, in addition to meeting the minimum ACCBC and DHCS requirements for AOD certification. Degree must be from a regionally accredited college/university and must be in Addiction Studies or a related behavioral health/behavioral science field.
CATC N – Counselor has a Nursing Degree, in addition to meeting the minimum ACCBC and DHCS requirements for AOD certification. Degree must be from a regionally accredited college/university and must be in Addiction Studies or a related behavioral health/behavioral science field.