March/April 2007 President's Report

Greetings all! I am well into my eighth week as your President and, although it is a lot of work, I couldn’t be happier to be serving you at this level. I take your trust in me very seriously and am doing my very best to represent you well in every area possible. 

 

As you are probably aware, Assemblyman Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) introduced our licensure bill, Assembly Bill 1367, and we also have four co-sponsors! Although the bill will likely change as we negotiate to secure support, some of the particulars of the bill as written are as follows: it is mandatory for private practitioners who work outside of state licensed facilities; it is voluntary for counselors who work within state licensed facilities; a bachelor’s degree was written into the bill; counselors with CAADAC’s level of education and experience will be grand-parented in; and licensure will be housed in the BBSE – the same board which licenses MFT’s and LCSW’s. We are currently gathering support for the bill and addressing the issues its opponents have brought forth.

 

After presenting our bill to the California Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM) at their Legislative Day in Sacramento, which was co-sponsored by CAADAC, I had the pleasure of introducing Assemblyman DeSaulnier who let attendees know how important the bill was to him personally. He disclosed that the disease of alcoholism has affected his family and that his father was the first alcohol and drug counselor in pro football when he was hired by the Boston Patriots to address such problems with the team. He appeared genuinely thrilled to be carrying our bill.

 

 

We have also been meeting with the leadership of the California Association of Alcohol and Drug Educators (CAADE) led by their President, Dr. Lori Phelps, and President-Elect, Fr. Jack Kearney, to bring our organizations closer together and to partner with them in fighting for high standards and credibility in our profession. These meetings have been very productive and I am grateful to be working with such a dedicated and determined group of people. I look forward to great things happening in the future as a result of our collaboration!

 

I next want to congratulate our membership for stepping up to the plate by participating in our test run of CapWiz – our legislative alert system. In previous letter writing campaigns, we have received only a handful of letters for our past licensure bills. During our first test-run, we sent out a legislative alert calling for letters of support for the Drug MediCal Bill. I’m amazed that we actually had 798 members respond with letters! That is absolutely awesome! We are now in the middle of a similar campaign for our own licensure bill. Unfortunately, these letters are coming in at a much slower pace. If you have not already responded to the latest legislative alert, please do so ASAP. You can either respond to the alert that was sent out to you, or go directly to the website to participate. This is an essential part of our effort to prove that we, as an organization, are united in this effort and to let our elected officials know that we mean business.

 

Turning to the certification regulations, the deadline is quickly approaching for certification bodies in our state to become NOCA accredited.  CCBADC (CAADAC’s certification board) is one of only two organizations that have already met this requirement. We have written and submitted a press release entitled “No Counselor Left Behind” in which we vow to honor the certification of counselors whose certifying organization does not meet the deadline and can no longer do certification. We will place them at the appropriate level on our career ladder and mentor them into working toward CCBADC/CAADAC certification. 

On another note, per our membership’s vote to remain affiliated with NAADAC, I am happy to report that we are on the verge of having the first signed CAADAC/NAADAC contract in three years! We first had our attorney rewrite the contract to provide legal protection for our organization.   I then asked Past President, Tim Sinnott, to join me in a meeting with NAADAC’s Executive Director, Cynthia Moreno Touhy, and their current President, Dr. Sharon Morgillo Freeman, to work out some of our remaining differences. We had an excellent meeting while coming to an agreement on the content of the contract. Our attorney has updated the contract accordingly and sent it to NAADAC for their signature. There is a lot of excitement in both organizations regarding our renewed motivation and energy to work together and toward our mutual goals for the industry!

 

I am also pleased to announce that our Registered Recovery Worker (RRW) and Registered Student (RS) credential are now available for only $40 – a savings of $15. This is due to the fact that the Board of Directors voted to endorse the fact that our registry categories are actually certification products and, therefore, not subject to NAADAC membership dues. CAADAC’s and CCBADC’s mutual Boards also passed resolutions to re-apportion dues which will reduce membership dues $25 annually, and correspondingly raise re-certification dues $50 every 2 years. It was agreed that this re-apportionment of dues would better reflect the value and cost of certification vs. membership. (The new rate is effective April 1^st, 2007.)

 

Finally, I want to share briefly about a 501c3 corporation called the California Foundation for the Advancement of Addiction Professionals (CFAAP), which is the brainstorm of your Immediate Past President, Warren Daniels, and was introduced to the Board of Directors in January. The board approved an initial start-up loan for the corporation and we have hired an attorney to begin writing the articles of incorporation and bylaws. This new corporation will allow CAADAC to write grants for such purposes as research and education – including funding for our annual conference, which should result in being able to offer conference registration at a rate that will allow most members to afford it. I have a dream of a mega-conference in 2008 in Ontario where we would have unprecedented numbers in attendance. I have challenged Warren to make my dream come true! 

 

Thank you, again, for trusting me with such an important responsibility and I appreciate all that you do individually to promote our profession and to ensure that those who suffer from addiction get quality help from highly trained professionals. Keep up the great work!

 

Bob Tyler, CAADAC President