Substance Abuse Counselor Requirements in Kentucky: Credentials, Hours and Exams

The Kentucky Board of Alcohol and Drug Counselors issues seven counselor credentials: three certificates (associate alcohol and drug counselor I and II, certified alcohol and drug counselor), three licences (licensed alcohol and drug counselor, licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor associate, licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor), and the certified clinical supervisor credential.

The board also registers alcohol and drug peer support specialists under KRS 309.0831 — a separate peer role, noted only to mark it off from the counselor ladder.

Because KBADC is itself the IC&RC member board, the state credential and the IC&RC reciprocal credential come from the same regulator.

One gap matters before you rely on any page about Kentucky: the statutes the research retrieved set the credential requirements, but the section that protects the title or the practice was not among them, so the sources read do not state whether Kentucky practice is legally restricted to credential holders.

The entry certificate starts at a high school diploma or high school equivalency diploma plus forty (40) classroom hours of board-approved curriculum, with at least thirty (30) more in the first twelve months (KRS 309.0841).

The AADC II adds seventy (70) approved classroom hours beyond the AADC I set (KRS 309.0842).

The CADC requires a baccalaureate unless the applicant is certified as an AADC II, plus the IC&RC ADC education requirements and six (6) hours of ethics training, three (3) hours of domestic violence training, and two (2) hours of HIV training (KRS 309.083).

The LADC sets a thirty (30) hour master's degree in a human services field with clinical application (KRS 309.0830).

The clinical licence steps higher: a sixty (60) hour master's, a thirty (30) hour advanced placement master's, or a doctoral degree, each in a behavioral science with clinical application (KRS 309.0832).

The CADC, LADC and LCADC statutes require applicants to live or work at least a majority of the time in Kentucky (KRS 309.083(9); .0830(8); .0832(8)); the LCADCA inherits it via 309.0833(1)(b).

The AADC II needs at least eight (8) months as an AADC I and four hundred (400) hours of documented chemical dependency counseling-related compensated work or supervised internship, of which a minimum of eighty (80) hours are in chemical dependency counseling, all under a qualified supervisor (KRS 309.0842).

Above that rung Kentucky does not write its own hour totals: KRS 309.083(3) imports the IC&RC ADC work-experience standard, 6,000 hours with a high school diploma, 5,000 with an associate degree, 4,000 with a bachelor's, and 2,000 with a master's or higher.

The clinical licence is different: KRS 309.0832(3) imports only the IC&RC AADC education and supervision requirements, 180 education hours and 100 supervision hours, and prints no work-experience total, so the sources read set no LCADC work-hour floor.

The board's rule sets the clinical supervision inside those hours: 300 for a high school diploma, 250 for an associate degree, 200 for a bachelor's, and 100 for a master's or higher, at least ten (10) hours in each of four domains (201 KAR 35:070 §1(3)).

The CADC requires a written examination for alcohol and drug counselors approved by the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (KRS 309.083(5)), and the LADC statute likewise requires a written examination approved by the IC&RC (KRS 309.0830(4)).

The clinical licence differs: KRS 309.0832(4) requires a written examination as specified by the board in administrative regulation, and the sources read do not name which exam the board's regulation specifies — check KBADC's current application materials before scheduling.

The associate certificates (AADC I and II) carry no exam requirement in the statutes read.

For a CADC applicant, KRS 309.083(3) requires supervised hours under a certified alcohol and drug counselor with at least two (2) years of post-certification experience plus the board-sponsored supervision training, or an LCADC with at least twelve (12) months of post-licensure experience or that training.

For an LADC applicant, KRS 309.0830(3) keeps the LCADC option but requires its two-year supervisor to be a licensed alcohol and drug counselor with at least two (2) years of post-licensure experience plus the training.

The rule's supervisor-approval path is where reciprocity enters: a certified or licensed alcohol and drug counselor needs two (2) years of post-certification experience, including Alcohol and Drug Counselor credentials transferred through reciprocity, plus the training (201 KAR 35:070 §4(1)(a)2).

The frequency floor: supervision must consist of not less than two (2) hours, two (2) times a month, met with face-to-face individual or group weekly contact except as the rule provides (§3(1)).

A supervisor of record who is a certified alcohol and drug counselor or licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor is capped at twenty-five (25) supervisees (§4(3)).

The statutory definition draws the scope line for every credential on this page: the practice of alcohol and drug counseling means the assessment and counseling of an individual, family, or group dealing with an alcohol or drug problem or addiction.

No credential in the statutes read — the clinical LCADC included — adds diagnostic authority on top of it.

What the sources read cannot tell you is the enforcement side: the section that protects the title or the practice, and the exemption section for other licensees, were not among the statutes retrieved, so whether Kentucky practice is legally restricted to credential holders, and which other licensees may counsel outside these credentials, is not stated in the sources read.

Reciprocity runs through the regulator: a holder of one member board's credential may be eligible for reciprocity into another, not all certifications and licences are eligible, and member boards have the authority to set reciprocity requirements.

The directory row maps the CADC/LADC to ADC, the LCADC to AADC, and the CCS to CS.

KRS 309.088(1) lets the board grant a reciprocal credential to out-of-state holders of the CCS, LADC, LCADC, CADC, AADC II, AADC I, or the alcohol and drug peer support specialist when three conditions hold: the other jurisdiction grants the same privileges, the requirements are substantially similar, and the applicant states they have studied, are familiar with, and will abide by KRS 309.080 to 309.089.

KRS 309.088(2) adds a catch-up: where Kentucky asks for more than the other jurisdiction does, the applicant must meet those additional requirements.

For the CADC, LADC and LCADC, one such requirement is residency (KRS 309.083(9); 309.0830(8); 309.0832(8)).

The LCADCA is not on the reciprocity list; it applies directly under 309.0833(1)(b), which carries the same condition.

Continuing education differs by credential.

The CADC and LADC each accrue sixty (60) continuing education hours during the three (3) year certification period for renewal, with at least three (3) hours in ethics, and the LCADC carries the same 60-hour, three-year, three-ethics requirement over its licensure period.

The associate certificates accrue thirty (30) hours each year including at least six (6) in ethics; the LCADCA accrues twenty (20) hours each year, with three ethics hours during the renewal cycle; and the certified clinical supervisor accrues nine (9) hours per three years, at least three of them the board-sponsored clinical supervision training.

Every credential holder also completes six (6) hours in suicide assessment, treatment, and management under KRS 210.366, and at least fifty (50) percent of required hours must be earned through live synchronous or face-to-face presentations.

One labeling quirk: the CE rule names the associate tiers 'certified alcohol and drug counselor associate I or II,' while the statute calls them associate alcohol and drug counselors.

Three waves shaped the current ladder.

The associate certificates were created by 2020 Ky.

Acts ch. 99, effective March 1, 2021.

The LADC tier was created by 2021 Ky.

Acts ch. 107, effective March 24, 2021, and ch. 107 amended the clinical licence statutes the same day.

Then 2024 Ky.

Acts ch. 89, effective July 15, 2024, amended the definitions, the CADC statute, both associate statutes, and the reciprocity statute.

One warning follows from that 2021 rewrite: guides that print hour figures attributed to KRS 309.0832 — classroom hours or experience hours for the clinical licence — are repeating the pre-2021 text.

The current statute contains no hour figures; it incorporates the IC&RC AADC education and supervision requirements instead, so treat any specific KRS 309.0832 hour total in an older guide as outdated.