Drug & Alcohol Counselor Certification

COUNSELOR COMPETENCIES:  ARE THEY FOR REAL?

March 5, 2010

March Newsletter
During the first decade of the present century we have seen a major paradigm shift in the way government bureaucratic agencies are beginning to impose more complex and ungodly controls on the people they were intended to serve as public servants. The Bible is clear in its prophecy regarding a coming one world government. Events in this world as well as technological developments have set the stage for it's coming. All aspects of government agencies everywhere are grabbing power wherever and however they can. In California and in our field of Substance Abuse Counseling the power grab was attempted through the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs introduction of Senate Bill SB 707. In this bill the reorganization of the current apparatus for Counselor Certification in California would have meant doing away with the current certification organizations which would have included us, the only organization representing a Biblical Christian Worldview.

God has opened the door for us in this generation. We have seen him protect and vindicate us through many attempts to minimize and destroy any Christian influence in our professional counseling field. The battle is from without, but it is also from within. Some years ago a prophetic voice through a man named David Hunt wrote a book which was a clarion call to God's people warning of the seduction of Christianity. Through his book he explained how ideas that oppose God's truth are creeping into the Church. He spoke of a smorgasbord of pseudo-spiritual choices now being given through the Church. The idea of personal relationship with Jesus Christ as the decisive factor in setting the captive free is being set aside for New Age Therapies and Humanistic Counseling techniques. In today's world we are confronted everywhere with a panorama of theories and practices ranging from the supposedly scientific to the ludicrous. An array of therapists and counselors under the sanction of Technical Assistance Publication 21 promote therapies like: Flower essence therapy, Aura readings, Guided visualization, Guided Meditation, Chemical inductions, Hypnotherapy, Past-life regression, Channeling, Breathwork, Rapid eye technology, Rebirthing, Fighting, Inner-child healing, Past-life journeys, Personal empowerment, Soul integration, Inner-child bonding, Freudian Sexual Repression Release, Self-Actualization Therapy, Drama Therapy, Reshaping, and many more less frivolous sounding but insidiously deceptive psychological theories and techniques.

God's Word is clear and tells us that it contains everything in it that pertains to life and godly living including everything needed to counsel one back from the deepest of life afflictions including substance addiction or any other addiction. It tells us that it is completely sufficient for all counseling that involves the mind, will, emotions, soul and spirit of man. There are over 50,000 life principles and promises of God throughout the Old and New Testaments, Psalms and Proverbs with power to change lives. Why do Christians believe that God’s word is not sufficient? Why do Bible believing Christians turn to Humanistic counseling practices to supply what they are deceived into thinking the Bible lacks? The only reason it can be is because they have not read it and believed it themselves.

The Bible tells us that the world does not understand the things of the spirit. ACADC counselors should understand that the worldly disciplines of psychology, sociology, social work, and anthropology are limited in their understandings of God and God's laws. By their very nature they can only focus on what can be seen, which misses a lot, in fact just about everything that is important in God's ways of transforming lives. “…Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen”. Hebrews 1:11. God is outside the box in which the psychologist and social worker occupies themselves and not perceptible to the eye of the humanist.

To the Christian counselor, the elements that equip one for counseling are not found in intellectual studies that are taken at the University, or what Eugene Peterson, the author of the "Message" paraphrase of the Bible calls "Smart-mouth college", but they are found in the inspired and inerrant Word of God.

What pains us most of all is to live in a culture that crams its pale and superficial messages regarding beliefs as to what counselor competencies should be down our throats and to see Christian men and women buying in to it drawn like lambs to the slaughter.

When the human mind comes up with concepts that attempt to replace what God has done, the resulting philosophies, practices and policies pale with mediocrity and when put to practice are shown to be ineffective. The following excerpts are taken from Technical Publication 21: Addiction Counselor Competencies: The Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes of professional practice:
"TF II. TREATMENT KNOWLEDGE
COMPETENCY 5:
Describe the philosophies, practices, policies, and outcomes of the most generally accepted and scientifically supported models of treatment, recovery, relapse prevention, and continuing care for addiction and other substance-related problems.”
The sad fact is that in this culture in this era of history, the inspired Word of God is no longer generally accepted, while many crazy therapies practiced by licensed psychologists are. The words “generally accepted” cuts out God’s counselor competencies from acceptance in the world of professional addiction counseling. Authentic Christians have throughout history been outcasts because of their unwillingness to conform to ideas that they knew in their hearts to be wrong. Romans 12:2 says, “Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

Competency 5 of TAP 21 goes on to stipulate:

“Generally accepted models, such as
but not limited to:
– pharmacotherapy
– mutual help and self-help
– behavioral self-control training
– mental health
– self-regulating community
– psychotherapeutic
– relapse prevention.
--The philosophy, practices, policies, and
outcomes of the most generally accepted
therapeutic models.
--Alternative therapeutic models that
demonstrate potential.”

Since God’s Word as a therapeutic model doesn’t fit under “generally accepted therapeutic models”, do you think it would fit into “alternative therapeutic models that demonstrate potential.” My heart reaction to this is, “How dare the world treat God and His therapeutic principles so common as to not allow for any category for Him to fit into while at the same time declaring openness to treatments that deny the therapeutic power of God?!

“ATTITUDES
Acceptance of the validity of a variety
of approaches and models.
Openness to new, evidence-based
treatment approaches, including
pharmacological interventions."

What they really mean in the above section on attitudes, is openness to and acceptance of a wide variety of approaches and models, except those advocating God and HIS healing power. Even by secular scientific standards of evidence based treatment, the Biblical model of counseling with its 50,000 plus life principles and promises have, through Christian recovery programs proved to have much higher rates of recovery than popular secular programs. Surely this should rate a mention alongside pharmacotherapy, mutual and self-help, behavioral self-control, psychotherapy and other models mentioned in TAP 21. Yet the world keeps spending billions of federal dollars on research to try to find out what the Bible already tells us and what it keeps a blind eye to. But what’s worse is they tell us to be open to treatment approaches and models that we know don’t do much and in many cases cause harm.

The question needs to be asked, “Why must we accept the validity of a variety of approaches and models, that God, through His Word tells us are not valid and cause harm? If the world tells us that it’s okay for a licensed therapist to use “Past-Life Therapy”, while God says there’s no such thing as past lives in His Word, who do we believe? Will it be the set of secular Counselor Competencies that allows us to receive insurance payments for bad therapy, or will it be the Word of God that no insurance company will recognize?

TAP 21 is the new bible for addiction counselors. Students are required to attend a school that teaches it in order for them to be accepted into the professional arena. At first look, one might not see what is wrong with the words of the above TAP 21 excerpt. But upon closer examination, the undercutting and disagreement of Biblical truth becomes clear in the following ways:
1.   TAP 21 points to counseling theories and models with concepts that the Word of God says is wrong. For instance, a major Psychotherapeutic model, Maslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization, teaches that man can pick himself up by his own bootstraps and leaning on his self-sufficiency can put his life back together. The Bible tells us that reliance upon self-sufficiency will end in failure and that first one must surrender to God and His Spirit will lead those who are surrendered into overcoming power.
2.   The Biblical Counseling Model is never mentioned.
3.   It points to the disease model and humanistic theories and practices that implicitly denies spiritual bondage as the real culprit.
4.   It gets across the false idea that Psychology is a science and requires the study of models that have never been proven to be effective.

I would love to hear from you about your reaction to this newsletter message. If you agree or not, your insightful and thoughtful responses will be appreciated. It's nice to know where our graduates stand on things. In the meantime, I pray blessings upon you and your household and look forward to seeing you at the this years annual counselors conference.

In HIS Matchless Grace,

Michael Belzman, Ph.D., MDAAC, M-RAS
Founder, Association of Christian Alcohol & Drug Counselors

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UPCOMING CEU AND CERTIFICATION SEMINARS OFFERED THROUGH THE ACADC INSTITUTE (CALL FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO TAKE THESE COURSES THROUGH DISTANCE LEARNING):

PARENTING
WEDNESDAY MARCH 10, 9 AM TO 4 PM
6 CEUs OR CERTIFICATION

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PREVENTION INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION WEDNESDAY MARCH 17
6 CEUs OR CERTIFICATION

COUNSELING THEORIES VS. BIBLICAL TRUTH: WHAT MAKES AN EFFECTIVE COUNSELOR
WEDNESDAY MARCH 24, 9 AM TO 4 PM
6 CEUs WITH CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

ADDICTION INTERVENTIONIST CERTIFICATION
WEDNESDAY MARCH 31, 9 AM TO 4 PM
6 CEUs OR CERTIFICATION

For more information on any seminar or workshop call (909) 795-5655 or(877) 478-5756 or (909) 583-7282