Basic Ethics for Addiction Professionals

Goals/Objectives

This course will provide counselors and other professionals in the substance abuse treatment field with an understanding of the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC). In working with clients, colleagues, and agencies, there are events that occur which may not be covered in this code. Since the NAADAC Code of Ethics is a general guideline for professional behavior, this course will also provide information for readers about general ethical principles and ethical decision making.

By participating in this course trainees will:

1. review each of the 12 Principles of the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC).
2. obtain a greater understanding of the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC) by in-depth examination of each principle.
3. receive information about general ethical principles and ethical decision making to assist you with events that occur beyond the scope of NAADAC's Code of Ethics.
4. examine issues that important to the practice of addiction counselors;
5. recognize difficulties presented by clients that create ethical dilemmas.

Your Course Instructor:
Kevin R. Scheel
MS, MAC, LMFT
Co-Founder, DLCAS

Kevin R. Scheel is a Masters prepared chemical dependency counselor with more than twenty-three years of experience in the human service field. He has served as the director of programs in the public sector as well as in private care facilities, both in the profit and not-for-profit arenas. He has been involved in the delivery of education services to the field since 1986 as an instructor at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, and as a private training consultant with Hazelden. Mr. Scheel is the author of "Alcohol: Chemistry & Culture," as well as a series of education videotapes on the various drugs of abuse, published and marketed by WRS Group, Inc. He has also created a preparation and review manual that is currently in use by a variety of colleges and universities in Texas, designed to aid students preparing for their Texas chemical dependency credential.

While in Texas Kevin served as the Texas Coordinator for the federally funded Project for Addiction Counselor Training (PACT) program. For this project Mr. Scheel designed a 270 hour curriculum for beginning counselors, delivering over 45,000 hours of classroom training to 415 minority students. As a result of his efforts, 268 of these students have gone on to obtain their credentials to practice chemical dependency counseling in Texas.

Kevin also served in the position as Coordinator for the Texas Addiction Training Center (currently the Texas Addition Technology Transfer Center), a federally funded project from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment in Washington, D.C. The goal of this project has been to increase the level of addiction education to the various disciplines offering counseling services to drug and alcohol affected clients. In Texas this project worked with 8 major colleges and universities.

Kevin is one of the co-founders of the DLCAS.  He continues to be active as a writer/author of materials for this training service.