By Brian Gehring
The Bismarck Tribune
BISMARCK, N.D. — While exact figures aren’t available, it appears North Dakota has a tight market for addiction counselors.
Part of it stems from the state’s stringent standards for licensing counselors. Recent population growth also creates more demand.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of jobs in the field of substance abuse and behavioral disorder counseling nationally is expected to increase by 27 percent between 2010 to 2020.
There are more than 100 licensed addiction treatment programs in North Dakota, according to the North Dakota Department of Human Services website, and 426 licensed addiction counselors in the state, according to the North Dakota Board of Addiction Counseling Examiners.
Those numbers may not accurately reflect the services and counselors available, however. Some of the programs listed serve multiple communities and not all of the licensed counselors directly treat people.
How current numbers compare to 10 or 20 years ago is unknown. Nikki Owings, executive secretary for Board of Addiction Counseling Examiners, said records tracking the number addiction counselors over the years aren’t available.
But with the state’s growing population, more people seeking treatment for their addictions and courts increasingly including treatment as part of sentences, some feel more addiction counselor are need.
North Dakota requires all DUI offenders to undergo an addiction evaluation.
“Are there enough addiction counselors in North Dakota? My perspective is no,” said Dr. Emmet Kenney of St. Sophies of ND.
Kenney founded St. Sophie’s, the state’s largest private psychiatric and addiction center in North Dakota, with offices in Fargo and Bismarck.
He said because of the state’s stringent standards for licensing addiction counselors, it’s difficult to recruit them to North Dakota from outside the state.
While most states require a bachelor’s degree, North Dakota requires counselors to have a bachelor’s degree in addiction studies or a related field, with a minimum of 32 hours of credit in addition to a nine-month internship.
Because of that, Kenney said not many professionals look to North Dakota for jobs in the field. He said most of those entering the job market are “home-grown.”
It wasn’t until 1987 that the state Legislature established the state Board of Addiction Counseling and it was 1992 before that board earned national accreditation.
Joanne Hoesel, director of the division of mental health and substance abuse at the North Dakota Department of Health, said it wasn’t until the late 1980s that addiction counseling became a more focused part of mental health treatment.
She said many who began working in the field two and half decades ago are retiring, and the number of new counselors coming into field seems to just be keeping pace with the number of those retiring.
Sharold Oster of Hazen, at 72, is still working two days a week at the Coal Country Community Health Center in Mercer County, as is his wife, Darlene, who is 68.
Sharold Oster said he continues to work one night a week in a group setting, plus eight hours a week counseling people one-on-one.
Oster said he and his wife both worked at the State Hospital in Jamestown before retiring and moving back to the Hazen area.
Working in the field of helping people for 26 years isn’t something he can easily quit -- it’s a calling, he said.
“We moved back to Hazen in 2006 and offered our services. ... One thing led to another and we had to turn down work,” Oster said.
Tim Tausend of the North Dakota Department of Corrections said the department employs 11 addiction counselors, which includes some still in training.
He said it’s been about five years since the department has added to its staff and it has been difficult finding qualified counselors’
“There aren’t a lot out there,” Tausend said. One of the biggest obstacles is the requirement for counselors to complete a nine-month internship, one that is often unpaid, he said.
Tausend said his department has a greater need for those who counsel adults, simply because there are more adult inmates.
For now, the system seems to be keeping up with the demand. South Central District Judge Bruce Haskell said he has not had a case where someone sentenced to addiction counseling has returned to him unable to find a program.
But others said the need for additional addiction counselors is real, and growing.
“We could expand our program in a minute,” Oster said.