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

Louisiana is a state-credential state: the Addictive Disorder Regulatory Authority issues every rung — the licensed addiction counselor (LAC) licence, the certified addiction counselor (CAC) state certificate, the registered addiction counselor (RAC) state registration, the counselor-in-training status and the addiction treatment assistant paraprofessional credential — plus the certified clinical supervisor (CCS) and certified compulsive gambling counselor specialty certifications.

The chapter's legal force is title protection: no one may hold themselves out as holding one of these credentials without board recognition, and the board can enjoin violators and impose penalties (37:3390(C)-(D)).

Other licensed professionals are expressly left alone (37:3390.1).

LASACT, a private board, is Louisiana's IC&RC member; its certifications are not ADRA credentials.

The LAC requires a master's degree from an accredited institution in a human services or behavioral science discipline, or another discipline the board deems appropriate; the CAC requires a bachelor's in those fields; the RAC requires no degree at all.

On top of the degree, all three counselor tiers need the same coursework: a minimum of 270 clock hours, at least 180 of them specific to substance abuse with up to 90 in related courses, and at least 6 hours of professional ethics that may not be obtained through in-service training.

The rules let an applicant whose degree is in another discipline apply to ADRA for a waiver.

A counselor-in-training instead documents 180 substance abuse addiction specific educational clock hours (LXXX-707).

ADRA's website adds a practical gate: substance-abuse/addiction-specific hours count only if the course title contains the actual words "substance abuse", "addiction" or "drug abuse"; otherwise the applicant must submit a syllabus showing what portion is addiction-specific.

The LAC takes 2,000 hours (one year) of supervised work experience, the CAC 4,000 hours (two years) and the RAC 6,000 hours (3 years), so the no-degree registration carries the largest hour total on the ladder.

All three also need a minimum 300 performance hours in the KSAs/12 core functions — at least 10 hours in each core function for the LAC and RAC, and at least 20 per function for the CAC as printed in its rule.

Work experience must be paid or voluntary direct counseling services to individuals diagnosed as having one or more addictive disorders, at least one alcohol or substance abuse related; unsupervised work will not be considered.

An associate degree in a human services or behavioral science discipline substitutes for 1,000 hours of the RAC's 6,000.

Each statute tier requires a written examination, and the rules add written and oral examination requirements established by the ADRA — an application is not reviewed for test eligibility until complete, including a case study in the event an oral examination is required.

Which tests satisfy the requirement is ADRA's call, identified on a testing cycle events schedule; the rule names no exam, and the sources read do not name one either.

A candidate who fails the written exam can extend the application period by completing ADRA-approved test preparation training before the next consecutive cycle, and after three written examination failures the ADRA may impose further conditions on training or clinical experience.

Confirm the current cycle's requirements with ADRA before scheduling.

For the LAC, CAC and RAC, the supervised work experience must be provided by a certified clinical supervisor; where no CCS is available, the candidate applies to ADRA for a waiver.

A CAC or RAC must also register their supervisory licensed addiction counselor or qualified mental health professional with the board, and the statute requires that contact be regular and documented (37:3387.1(A)(2); 37:3387.2(A)(2)).

The counselor-in-training route splits the supervision: the work-experience hours — 2,000, 4,000 or 6,000 depending on the credential sought — may be earned under the supervision of any credentialed addiction professional or an agency, while the CCS provides the 300 hours of direct clinical supervision at a minimum of one hour per week, and 37:3387.3(B)(4) requires the CIT to work under the direct supervision of an LAC, CAC or RAC, or a qualified mental health professional when none is available.

A CIT's work experience is capped at 2,000 hours in any calendar year (LXXX-707(C)(6)(b)).

Confirm before a placement who signs each component of your hours.

The LAC alone has a fully independent scope: the statute says it may practice autonomously, independent of any other professional association or supervision.

The CAC may not practice independently except when providing addiction counseling services in a prison or other custodial environment.

The statute says a counselor-in-training may not practice independently (37:3387.3(B)(3)); the rule then draws the working line — no independent work before the 300 hours of direct clinical supervision, then screening, intake, orientation and client education independently while a credentialed addiction professional is in the building or available by phone, the remaining eight core functions under a credentialed addiction professional's direct supervision and only after per-function CCS sign-off, and all 123 TAP 21 competencies signed off before CIT testing (LXXX-707(D)).

CAC and RAC may not render a diagnostic impression; the sources read do not address diagnosis by a CIT or an ATA.

The rule also bars addictive disorder counselors from practicing medicine, social work or psychology or interpreting psychological tests.

Whether the LAC itself may diagnose is not stated in the sources read.

ADRA may grant any credential or status without examination to an applicant holding a valid out-of-state credential it determines is substantially equivalent, and it decides which Louisiana credential and corresponding scope the newcomer receives.

IC&RC reciprocity does not run to ADRA: it works only between IC&RC member boards, and Louisiana's member is LASACT, a private certification body.

An IC&RC transfer therefore produces a LASACT certification, not an ADRA credential — a clinician moving to Louisiana for the state credential applies through 37:3390.2.

NAADAC's national certifications do not reciprocate with IC&RC credentials at all.

The LAC, CAC and RAC renew their credentials every two years on 48 board-approved continuing educational hours.

The counselor-in-training status renews every 12 months on a minimum of 20 board-approved CE hours, or documentation that the holder is actively pursuing a qualifying degree, and the rule caps CIT status at 72 months in the aggregate.

Letting a credential lapse has teeth: an untimely renewed credential is deemed suspended, and a suspended holder is prohibited from exercising that credential's scope of practice until it is renewed or reinstated.

The statutes were last amended by Acts 2020, No. 328, and the LII copies of the counselor rules read for this page show promulgation at LR 31:649 (March 2005), with the CAC and RAC rules amended at LR 40:1005 (May 2014) and the CIT rule at LR 39:2275 (August 2013).

One caveat: ADRA's website — reached when the credential-lookup research captured it, even though the research file for this series recorded the domain as unreachable — links a rules compilation dated January 6, 2026 that this page did not read, so no 2023–2026 rule amendment can be ruled out from here.

The rule leaves each testing cycle's examination requirements to ADRA; treat the ADRA site as the tie-breaker for anything a candidate cannot confirm in the rule text.

Every counselor tier's candidate must be a legal resident of the United States, at least 21 years of age when the application is received, not in violation of the board's ethical standards, and — in the statute's own wording — without substance abuse or compulsive gambling in the previous two years.

A felony conviction or a guilty or nolo contendere plea is disqualifying, but the board may waive it on review of the individual's circumstances.

The lower rungs loosen the age floor: 18 for a counselor-in-training and 16 for an addiction treatment assistant, whose abstinence look-back is the previous six months.

Each candidate signs ADRA's professional and ethical accountability form and provides three letters of recommendation.