Press enter or click to view image in full size Why being a Substance Use Disorder counselor is meaningful. Why being a Substance Use Disorder counselor is meaningful. Recently, I was hired to work as an addiction counselor for substance use disorders. The official title is Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor (CADC) intern, or a Substance Use Disorder counselor (SUD). I wanted to explain why this is a meaningful field to work in. When looking at the statistics for substance abuse in the U.S., the numbers are significant, yet they don’t or can’t tell the entire story. These stats are gathered mostly from the self-disclosure of people being surveyed or screened/treated for substance abuse; this means the stats exclude people not screened or treated, and include people being dishonest about their answers. A few interesting stats ( U.S. population: 347 million ): 29.8 million individuals have an Alcohol Use Disorder in the U.S (NCDAS, 2023). 134.3 million individuals have used alcohol wit...