Maryland Health Occupations Section 17-302.3

      (a)      Except as otherwise provided in this section, to qualify as a certified professional counselor-alcohol and drug an applicant shall meet the requirements of § 17-302 of this subtitle.

      (b)      The applicant shall be of good moral character.

      (c)      The applicant shall be at least 18 years old.

      (d)      (1)      The applicant shall hold a master's or doctoral degree in a health and human services counseling field from an accredited educational institution that is approved by the Board or have completed a program of studies judged by the Board to be substantially equivalent in subject matter and extent of training as required under this section.

            (2)      The applicant shall have completed a minimum of 25 credit hours in alcohol and drug counselor training.

            (3)      The applicant shall have completed not less than 3 years with a minimum of 2,000 hours of supervised experience in alcohol and drug counseling approved by the Board, 2 years of which shall have been completed after the award of the master's or doctoral degree or its substantial equivalent.

            (4)      In this subsection, "alcohol and drug counselor training" includes but is not limited to instruction in:

                  (i)      Medical aspects of chemical dependency;

                  (ii)      Group counseling;

                  (iii)      Individual counseling;

                  (iv)      Family counseling;

                  (v)      Assessment and treatment planning;

                  (vi)      Ethics for alcohol and drug counselors;

                  (vii)      Human development;

                  (viii)      Abnormal psychology; and

                  (ix)      Courses pertaining to counselor core functions of screening, intake, orientation, case management, crisis intervention, education and prevention, referral, consultation, reports and record keeping, and special alcohol and drug dependency topics.