NEWPORT – As health officials move to address a growing epidemic of street and prescription drug overdoses, Salve Regina University said it would offer Rhode Island’s first graduate certificate-level substance abuse counselor training program, aimed at helping those with counseling backgrounds to quickly qualify for state licensing as substance counselors.
The university is now enrolling students for the first class of its Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies program, to start in the fall.
“There is a compelling need for professionals to provide mental health counseling in substance abuse treatment, which goes beyond the master’s level counselor education training,” Nancy Gordon, chair and director of the university’s holistic studies department, said in a statement.
Students in the program, who must have already earned a master’s degree in mental health counseling or a similar field, will earn enough continuing education credits to meet both national certification standards and Rhode Island’s own state licensing requirements in substance abuse counseling, the university said.
The RI Department of Health recently said 75 people in Rhode Island have died from opiate overdoses since the start of 2014. Similar epidemics have been seen in other states as officials say addicts often hooked on prescription opiates are forced to turn to less-expensive street drugs.
In March, the DPH changed its regulations to increase access to Narcan, a drug that can halt an overdose, allow physicians to prescribe the antidote to family members of addicts and others likely to come in contact with an overdosing patient.
Amid the crisis, Salve Regina said its program is meant to address the longer-term need for more counselors to help prevent and address substance abuse earlier.
The program will require students to complete four courses on substance abuse treatment theory, practice and ethics, as well as a course on the neurobiology of chemical dependency. Courses will be offered at night at the university’s main Newport campus.
