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

Utah issues four substance use disorder counselor licences — SUDC, ASUDC, Associate MAC, and MAC — all under the Mental Health Professional Practice Act, all administered by DOPL in collaboration with the Substance Use Disorder Counselor board.

The rule also defines CSUDC, CASUDC and intern-level CSUDCI/CASUDCI labels for CE tracking and title restriction, but no Part 5 statute section read assigns those categories a current independent licensing basis, so this page treats them as the rule's own bookkeeping, not a confirmed fifth and sixth rung.

Whether unlicensed practice is barred beyond just using a protected abbreviation is not stated in the sources read; what the rule establishes is narrower — using the ASUDC, CASUDC, CSUDCI, CSUDC or SUDC abbreviation without the licence the rule pairs with each is unprofessional conduct (R156-60d-502(1)).

The SUDC needs certified transcripts on prerequisite courses (human growth and development, general psychology, a 2-hour suicide-prevention course) plus completion of a substance use disorder education program, including at least 200 hours of SUD-related education and a supervised practicum.

The ASUDC needs a bachelor's degree or higher in substance use disorders, addiction or a related counseling subject, or two academic years of a National Addictions Studies Accreditation Commission-approved master's addiction-counseling curriculum and practicum.

The Associate MAC licence itself requires no degree at all: § 506(3) limits its qualifications to the application, fee, suicide-prevention training and background check under §§ 506(1)(a)-(c) and (1)(i).

The MAC's own text lists both a doctoral or master's degree in SUD/addiction counseling (or an approved counseling subject) and, separately, an associate's degree or higher or 18 credit hours in SUD/addiction counseling — the section read does not make clear whether the second item is an alternative floor or an additional one, so both are quoted here rather than resolved.

The statute effective July 1, 2026 requires the ASUDC applicant to document "at least 500 hours of supervised experience while licensed as a substance use disorder counselor."

The MAC applicant needs at least 1,200 direct client care hours obtained after completing the associate's-degree-or-18-credit-hour item in § 506(1)(d)(ii) — not the doctoral/master's-degree item in (1)(d)(i) — including at least 100 clinical supervision hours and 25 observation hours, no more than 25 group-supervision hours; producing that (1)(d)(ii) transcript adds a further 200 hours under § 506(1)(g).

Whether (1)(d)(ii) is an alternative to (1)(d)(i) or an additional floor is left unresolved (see the education section above).

A separate 3,000-hour or two-year supervision requirement applies only if federal CMS rules require it for Medicare eligible-professional status.

Utah Admin.

Code R156-60d-302b, unchanged since January 25, 2024, still states 4,000 hours for the ASUDC and 2,000 for the SUDC, citing subsections since renumbered or removed.

The statute postdates the rule; record both figures and confirm the current one with DOPL.

Utah Admin.

Code R156-60d-302c opens "Under Subsections 58-60-506(1)(d) and 58-60-115(5)(b)" — but current § 506(1)(d) is the MAC applicant's transcript subsection, not a current SUDC or ASUDC provision, so the rule's own citation predates the current numbering of § 506.

Current § 506(6), the SUDC's own qualifications, requires only prerequisite-course transcripts and the 200-hour education program with a practicum; it sets no exam requirement at all. § 506(4)(d)(iii) (ASUDC) and § 506(1)(h) (MAC) each defer instead to "the examination requirement the division makes by rule," but no rule-listed exam specific to the current MAC licence was located — R156-60d-302c's NCAC/MAC/AADC options sit only under its own "advanced substance use disorder counselor" and "substance use disorder counselor" categories.

After one failed attempt, a MAC applicant may instead complete 500 additional direct client care hours (25 supervision, 5 observation) and submit recommendation letters from the applicant's direct clinical supervisor and another licensed mental health therapist who observed the applicant's care and who is not that supervisor.

Confirm current exam requirements with DOPL.

A SUDC's supervisor must be a licensed mental health therapist who is qualified by education or experience to treat substance use disorders, currently working in the field, and who reviews assessment procedures, provides the SUD or other mental health diagnosis, and supervises and approves the treatment plan — capped at six supervisees absent a written board-and-division exception.

A licensed ASUDC with at least two years of experience, currently working in the SUD field, may also supervise a SUDC, under the same six-person cap.

"Direct supervision" itself means at least one hour of supervision for every 40 hours of client care, face-to-face unless the division approves otherwise; "general supervision" is left to a division rule not located in the sections read.

By definition, an SUDC works only as an agency employee under a therapist's general supervision, and SUDC practice "does not include" diagnosing mental illness — including substance use disorders — mental health therapy, or psychological testing.

The ASUDC's definition (§ 502(6)(a)) incorporates that same SUDC service list, then adds co-occurring assessment, treatment planning, and supervising a SUDC; manualized interventions still need a therapist's supervision, diagnosis and plan.

The sources don't otherwise address independent ASUDC practice.

Associate MAC practice is confined, only "to the extent" education requirements are met, to employment with a public agency or private clinic under a qualified therapist, and may not be unsupervised (§ 512(2)-(3)); that role can include mental health therapy, since it's MAC practice under a clinical supervisor (§§ 502(8), 512(2)).

Only the MAC may practice "without supervision, in private and independent practice," limited only by education, training and competence (§ 512(1)) — but § 502(7)(b), part of § 502 as amended in 2026, still describes MAC practice itself as under an ASUDC's or SUDC's supervision.

The sources don't reconcile that conflict; confirm with DOPL.

A MAC applicant may substitute current certification in good standing as a master addiction counselor from the National Certification Commission for Addiction Professionals or the National Board for Certified Counselors — or an equivalent certification the division recognizes by rule — for the degree, hours and exam route (§ 506(2)).

An ASUDC applicant may substitute current NCAC II certification (NCC AP) or Advanced Alcohol & Drug Counselor certification (IC&RC) — or a certification of "substantive equivalence" to either, as the division determines by rule — for the § 506(4)(d) education, the 500 hours and the exam (§ 506(5)).

Both are statutory certification-in-lieu-of routes into the state licence, not IC&RC-to-DOPL reciprocity: DOPL itself is not an IC&RC member board.

AUSAP, a separate private organization, holds Utah's IC&RC membership, so a counselor moving to Utah on an IC&RC transfer alone gets an AUSAP certification, not a DOPL licence.

Every Part 5 licence renews on a two-year cycle whose date is set in R156-1-308a, not among the sources read (R156-60d-303(1)); CE is tracked over a separate cycle beginning October 1 of each even-numbered year (R156-60d-304(1)).

Per CE cycle, the rule requires 20 hours of continuing education for CSUDC, 40 hours for SUDC, 20 hours for CASUDC, or 40 hours for ASUDC, including six hours in ethics, law or technology and two hours in suicide prevention.

Excess hours carry over to the next cycle — up to five for CSUDC/CASUDC, ten for SUDC/ASUDC.

The rule sets no CE figure for MAC or Associate MAC; it was last changed before those licences existed.

The 2024 General Session, chapter 420, created the Master Addiction Counselor and Associate Master Addiction Counselor licences and the § 512 scope-of-practice section, effective May 1, 2024.

The 2026 General Session, chapter 64, effective July 1, 2026, rewrote §§ 502, 506 and 508, including the ASUDC's current 500-hour supervised-experience figure.

Section 509's confidentiality exemptions were separately amended in 2023 (chapter 329).

DOPL's rule, R156-60d, was last changed January 25, 2024 — before the 2026 amendments — so its § 302b hour figures and its CE table predate the newest statute language; whether DOPL has amended the rule since is not stated in the sources read.

Two gaps are worth naming directly.

Whether Utah exempts other licensed mental health professionals — physicians, psychologists, LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCs — from SUD-counselor licensure would be addressed in § 58-60-107, a Part 1 section outside the sources read, so it is not stated here.

And the rule's CSUDC, CASUDC, CSUDCI and CASUDCI labels appear in R156-60d's CE table and its title-restriction list, but no Part 5 statute section read gives them a current licensing basis alongside the four § 58-60-504 classes; treat them as the rule's own category, not a confirmed additional rung, until DOPL's current statutory basis for them is located.