Resources

The Behavioral Health Administration of the Colorado Department of Human Services was established by Colorado state law to:
promote healthy, drug-free lifestyles
reduce alcohol and other drug abuse
reduce abuse-associated illnesses and deaths
OBH’s annual budget is approximately $37 million dollars. Close to 70% of that funding comes from the Federal Substance Abuse Block Grant from the Department of Health and Human Services.

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DORA oversees licensing for mental health professionals in the State of Colorado along with license renewals.

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NAADAC is the largest membership organization serving addiction counselors, educators and other addiction-focused health care professionals, who specialize in addiction prevention, treatment, recovery support and education. With 10,000 members and forty-six state affiliates, NAADAC’s network of addiction services professionals spans the United States and the world. NAADAC’s members work to create healthier individuals, families and communities through prevention, intervention quality treatment and recovery support.

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CAAP is an statewide association of professionals in Colorado seeking to improve the quality of addiction counseling and other addiction treatment services through education, training and advocacy.

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The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health, is the primary US agency for conducting and supporting research on the causes, consequences, prevention and treatment of alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and alcohol problems, and then disseminates research findings to general, professional, and academic audiences.

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SAMHSA is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation’s substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health services delivery system.

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Education Equivalency for Addiction Counselor Certification: When an applicant submits college courses on an application to the Center for Credentialing &
Education (CCE) in lieu of one of the required training classes, it is the applicant’s
responsibility to demonstrate how their college course is equivalent to the BHA’s approved
core competencies for that class. They are advised to compare the class syllabus to the core
competency for the CAC required class. Anyone wishing to use college equivalents must
submit the following to CCE (please be advised this process can take 4-6 weeks):

Website: https://www.cce-global.org/businesssupportservices/licensureeducationreviews