CASAC Fact Sheet

The Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor (CASAC) is the only New York State credential to require the specialized addiction training needed to fully understand and treat the complexities of addiction.

There are approximately 6,035 CASACs in NYS.

• 80% of CASACs have an academic degree and 47% have a Master’s Degree.
• 28% of CASACs also hold a Medical, Nursing, Social Work or Mental Health Counselor License from the New York State Education Department.
• CASACs are protected by NYS law and OASAS regulation to perform clinical services as part of a multi-disciplinary team in OASAS certified treatment settings.
• CASACs, CASAC-Trainees and CASAC-Provisionals are permanently exempt from the Social Work and Mental Health practitioners restricted scopes of practice.

Current CASAC Education Data 

• Be at least 18 years of age.
• Earned a minimum of a High School Diploma or High School Equivalency(HSE).
• Document completion of education and training consisting of a minimum of 350 clock hours and mandatory one-time requirements.
• 6000 hours of work experience or college/university degree substitution for work experience and balance of work experience hours.
• Two completed Evaluations of Competency and Ethical Conduct Forms
• Successful completion of the IC&RC AOD examination, which is based on a legally defensible job task analysis which defines the competencies of an addiction counselor.

The International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) is a membership organization consisting of over 75 certification authorities. The IC&RC promotes uniform professional standards with the commitment to providing high quality services for clients. The IC&RC promotes public protection by offering internationally-recognized credentials through testing and credentialing of addiction professionals.

IC&RC is the only addiction-specific national/international credentialing process with a legally defensible and standardized examination process, which offers reciprocity to 75-member certification and licensing boards across 50 U.S. states and territories, three Native American regions, branches of the U.S. military and 11 international regions.

Not all credentials/licenses offered in a state that has an IC&RC board are issued by that board. Additionally, not all levels of a credential/license offered by an IC&RC board are recognized by other boards. Reciprocity only applies between IC&RC boards and for the levels identified by those boards.