About the Association of Christian Alcohol & Drug Counselors

The Association of Christian Alcohol & Drug Counselors was established as a 501C3 non-profit corporation in 2002 with the purpose of training and certifying Drug, Alcohol & Addictions Counselors in accordance with biblical Christian principles.  In 2003, ACADC became authorized by the California Department of Licensed Vocational Nurses and Psychiatric Technicians to provide continuing education for all California LVN's and Psych Techs.  In 2004, ACADC was approved by the Department of Alcohol & Drug Programs as a certification organization and given authority written in to the California Code of Regulations to grant AOD Counselor Certifications. In April 2006 ACADC became a member of the National Organization of Competency Assurance and in 2007 was awarded national accreditation by the Nation Commission for Certifying Agencies.

ACADC has its roots in a Non-denominational Christian counseling and education ministry outreach that began in 1995 founded by Dr. Michael Belzman.  Dr. Belzman, an Assemblies of God, International ordained minister, began his counseling career as an Army Drug & Alcohol Counselor in 1974, received his Doctorate in Christian Alcohol & Drug Counseling from Trinity Faith Based University, his Masters Degree in Counseling from Boston University, and his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Texas. His education also included taking many courses in the emerging professional Chemical Dependency college programs and received his professional RAS certification from the Breining Institute.

In contrast to all the above mentioned education, Dr. Belzman learned after years of Bible study through seminary, in his local church and most importantly through his personal daily Bible reading and devotion, that all that is good and effective that he had studied in his secular education was also found in Scripture, while all that is harmful or ineffective was warned against in scripture.  From this understanding, Dr. Belzman made a commitment that the ACADC Institute will train counselors and equip them to be effective by not including in our teaching curriculum anything that contradicts the life principles and promises of God contained in Scripture which are the true tools of the Christian Professional Alcohol, Drug and Addiction Counselor.  The ACADC Board of Directors has also made a commitment to honor Jesus Christ by faithfully believing in the sufficiency of Scripture while committing itself to teaching TAP 21 principles that do not conflict with Scripture in order to assure the professional status of the CDAAC Counselor.

ACADC’s original mission which began in 1995 was to provide effective biblical counseling to adult men and women desiring to come out of bondage to drugs, alcohol and other addictions.  We still provide effective counseling to this day. But we have found that many of our counselees have previously had counseling through centers where their counselors used secular counseling models. At some point during the course of counseling they inevitably tell us that their secular counselors were not able to help them while their ACADC Certified Counselors were.

As of 2002, the mission has expanded to include the training and equipping of effective, cutting edge counselors filled with the Holy Spirit and Bible Wisdom sufficient to speak to any condition pertaining to the human soul, which includes the mind, will, and emotions and encompasses all counselor competencies that drug, alcohol and addiction counselors should know.
 

ACADC Institute Certification Programs include the following:

CSAC I - Entry level substance abuse counselor certification

CSAC II - Advanced level substance abuse counselor certification

CDAAC-P  - Professional level Drug, Alcohol & Addiction Counselor Certification

CDAAC-S - Professional level Drug, Alcohol & Addiction Counselor Certification with State Certification

CDAAC-M - Masters Level Professional Drug, Alcohol & Addiction Counselor Certification with State Certification

Anger Management Certification

Domestic Violence Provention Certification

Crisis, Trauma and PTSD Counselor Certification

Addiction Interventionist Certification

Suicide Interventionist Certification

Family Crisis Interventionist Certification

Continuing Education for Professional Addiction Counselors

In 2006, the Bureau of Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education qualified ACADC pursuant to California Education Code (CEC) Section 94739 (b) (6) and granted authorization  to offer the following Degree Programs to the public:

Association of Christian Alcohol and Drug Counselor Institute Degree Programs

Associate of Ministry in Drug, Alcohol and Addiction Studies

Bachelor of Ministry in Drug, Alcohol and Addiction Studies

Master of Ministry in Drug, Alcohol and Addiction Studies

Doctor of Ministry in Drug, Alcohol and Addiction Studies

Master of Divinity - Option 1: Recovery Pastor Ordination - Option 2: Pastoral Counselor Ordination

Approved by the Bureau of Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education as a College, the ACADC Institute Degree Programs are also listed as approved degree programs for the public on the California Department of Consumer Affairs website. 

In 2006, ACADC has for the first time offered a dual certification program in which anyone holding a CDAAC Certification (Certified Drug, Alcohol & Addiction Counselor), can also test out for the secular RAS (Registered Addiction Specialist). ACADC also began providing a large array of state wide and nation wide Continuing Education training which the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs (ADP) Counselor Certification Regulations state must be accepted by all certifying organizations.