COUNSELLING RULES URGED

Experts Call For Certification Guidelines

Experts are urging the provincial government to create guidelines that
would stop people who have no training from working as drug
counsellors. Currently, no certification is needed and anyone who
wants to can "put a shingle on their door and start taking clients,"
said Jeff Wilbee, the executive director of the Alcohol and Drug
Recovery Association of Ontario.

"There is no accountability. You wouldn't want a physician (who)
wasn't licensed and you wouldn't want a nurse who wasn't certified.
Here, we have people doing these jobs who have no training at all,"
said Wilbee, who also sits on the Canadian Addiction Counsellors
Certification Board (CACCB).

COCAINE TOPS LIST

Cocaine remains the most common illicit drug for which treatment
clients seek help -- among both Toronto residents and those in the
rest of Ontario. More than one-third (35%) of clients in the past five
years have sought help for cocaine use.

Wilbee said most people without training who become counsellors do so
for the "right reasons" but lack the knowledge to deal with the
increasingly complex problems.

"If you don't get the proper treatment then you probably are facing
what we are worried the most about -- a relapse," Wilbee said. "It's
an issue of quality of care."

Former addict Jerry Frew, 44, told The Toronto Sun he has been
counselling clients for years without any training.

"I have the training of the street; you can't replace that," Frew
said.

Wilbee acknowledged people like Frew have a point.

"You can't replace passion and experience, but does that go far
enough?" Wilbee said. "It's time this work was professionalized."

LAUNCHING A COURSE

Next month, the CACCAB will launch its online training course to help
people in remote spots of Ontario get certified.

To become certified counsellors people will need 6,000 hours of field
experience, specific training in several different addictions, take
written and oral examinations, and finally, sign a code of ethics.

"I think it's a good idea and if it gets more respect and money for
the industry, that is a good thing," Frew said.

Wilbee said training guidelines will cost money. "I know everyone
cries for money but this area of work is grossly underfunded," Wilbee
said.