How to Become an Addiction Counselor in California

California does not license SUD counselors directly. Oversight sits with the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), which approves three private certifying organizations — CCAPP, CADTP, and CAADE — to issue and discipline the credentials. Each organization issues its own credential family with its own tier names.

Credential tiers

• RADT — entry registration required before beginning supervised counselor work in a DHCS-licensed program. Issued by CCAPP, CADTP, or CAADE.
• CADC-I / II / III (or CATC tiers at CAADE) — certifying-organization-approved education, supervised hours in a DHCS-licensed setting, and written exam.
• LAADC — CCAPP's master's-level advanced tier. Despite the name, LAADC is a certification, not a state license.

Categories of requirement at each tier

• Education — approved coursework and total hours defined by the issuing body.
• Supervised experience — total hours, eligible settings, and supervisor qualifications.
• Examination — the written exam accepted at that tier.
• Renewal — continuing education and renewal cycle.

Adjacent licenses

Master's-level clinical licenses in California — LMFT, LCSW, and LPCC — are issued by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS), a different agency with a different pathway. They are not part of the DHCS SUD-counselor certification framework.

What this page is not

A structural reference. Not career advice. Not a substitute for the exact hour totals and application forms published by DHCS and the certifying body of record.