It's been years since I've been on here. I self reported in august of 2013 to HPRP (Michigan), stayed in the program for almost two years. I dropped for financial reasons. I will receive my 5 year sobriety chip this coming August. I also have ovarian cancer and am finishing up chemo. This cancer scare has prompted me to re-evaluate my life and how I want to spend whatever time I have left. So I decided to take the steps to work with addicts, considering I have walked the walk.
Let me clear, I have no desire to return to nursing!
However, every avenue that I consider taking, whether it's getting certified at a peer recovery coach or getting a bachelors in something related, will eventually require that I either get certified or licensed. But my RN license is suspended. How do I navigate through this? Would I have to bring my nursing license back to good before I could get licensed or certed in something else? Because if that's the case, I cannot afford to drop 20k for a licensing lawyer and I might as well forget about having a career at all.
You would think that because I'm trying to stay within the addiction field, that the BON wouldn't care. But I'm pretty sure they do. So who makes the final call about this, the nursing board or the board that I'd get a new cert/license from?
I just need some advice or stories or anything at this point! Thanks in advance!
I am what Arkansas calls a "Substance Abuse Counselor in Training," my credentials being CIT. With that, I can be employed as a treatment counselor in the state of Arkansas, so long as I am working under an "ADC" which is a certified counselor. I could be an ADC as well, once I have completed 6,000 work hours, as well as some continuing education.
I got the CIT while under Voluntary Surrender. They knew the status of my license at the time, and there were no questions asked. The Arkansas Substance Abuse Certification Board is who issues it. Maybe your state has something similar?
Clean&SereneRN
10 Posts
I am what Arkansas calls a "Substance Abuse Counselor in Training," my credentials being CIT. With that, I can be employed as a treatment counselor in the state of Arkansas, so long as I am working under an "ADC" which is a certified counselor. I could be an ADC as well, once I have completed 6,000 work hours, as well as some continuing education.
I got the CIT while under Voluntary Surrender. They knew the status of my license at the time, and there were no questions asked. The Arkansas Substance Abuse Certification Board is who issues it. Maybe your state has something similar?