Knowing those who help others: Characteristics of substance abuse counselors across the United States

Substance abuse counselors help people in crisis regain healthier lives, but little is known about counselors' lives and needs. Substance abuse counselors have high burnout/turnover rates, and investigating their lives is a vital step toward improving counselor support systems and resources. This study reports demographic, workplace, and health characteristics of 1054 substance abuse counselors across the United States. Counselors were randomly selected from the SAMHSA database and completed an extensive online survey. Most were female (69.5%) and non-Hispanic (91.7%). Most identified as White (73.3%) or Black/African American (15.2). The average counselor had 8.29 years of counseling practice (sd = 7.37 years, range <1 - 32 years) and carried a caseload of 23.32 patients. Nearly three-quarters had a bachelors degree or higher, 12.7% had an associates, and 14.0% had no college degree. Less than half were in recovery from substance abuse themselves. Counselors slept on average less than seven hours per night, 80.5% rated sleep quality as fairly/very good, but one-third had trouble at least once a month staying awake while driving, eating, or socializing. Counselors listed headache (mean of 2.21 times/week) and backache (2.32 times/week) as their most frequent negative physical health symptoms. Counselors engaged in bouts of moderate exercise 2.12 times and mild exercise 2.82 times per week. More than half never engaged in strenuous exercise (51.1%) and 31.8% never engaged in moderate exercise. This comprehensive lifestyle information is vital as we improve support systems for counselors.