drug and alcohol addiction counsellor

Work context

This counselling work is usually close to people in unstable situations. Sessions may cover substance use patterns, family pressure, relapse risks, housing or work problems, and immediate safety concerns. The counsellor documents progress, coordinates with other social or health professionals, and may lead structured group meetings.

Skills and specializations

Useful strengths include addiction assessment, client-centred counselling, behavioural therapy, crisis intervention, confidentiality and calm communication. Some posts focus on adults in recovery programmes, while others support young people, families or outreach education for groups with higher exposure to substance harm.

Salary context

Salary context is shaped by caseload complexity, crisis responsibility, group facilitation, documentation demands and the level of cooperation with clinical or social-service teams. Roles with evening cover, outreach work or responsibility for programme development may be framed differently from mainly scheduled counselling posts.

Career paths

Experience can lead toward senior counselling, addiction programme coordination, family support, prevention education, clinical social work routes or supervision of social-service cases. Strong practice in risk assessment, records and inter-professional cooperation is useful for later specialist responsibility.

Good to know

Read adverts for the client group and intervention level. Check whether the role includes crisis response, group therapy, home or outreach visits, work with families, youth development, case notes, safeguarding routines or education programmes about substance and alcohol risks.

Editorial note

This guide is editorial career context. It is not official labour-market statistics or role-specific salary data.

Alternative labels

Occupation group

social counsellor (2635.1)

Source facts