The Association for Addiction Professionals

The Mission of The Association for Addiction Professionals: Guiding mental health professionals to provide superior healthcare services to improve the lives of those suffering from drug and alcohol addiction through intervention and prevention strategies.

NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, represents the professional interests of more than 85,000 addiction counselors, educators and other addiction-focused health care professionals in the United States, Canada and abroad. NAADAC’s members are addiction counselors, educators and other addiction-focused health care professionals, who specialize in addiction prevention, treatment, recovery support and education.

An important part of the healthcare continuum, NAADAC members and its 47 state affiliates work to create healthier individuals, families and communities through prevention, intervention, quality treatment and recovery support. Founded in 1974, as the National Association of Alcoholism Counselors and Trainers (NAACT), the organization's primary objective was to develop a field of professional counselors with professional qualifications and backgrounds.

The organization evolved and became the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC) in 1982, uniting professionals who worked for positive outcomes in alcohol and drug services. NAADAC's new name - NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals - was adopted in 2001 and reflects the increasing variety of addiction services professionals: counselors, administrators, social workers and others, who are active in counseling, prevention, intervention, treatment, education and research. "NAADAC's Mission is to lead, unify and empower addiction focused professionals to achieve excellence through education, advocacy, knowledge, standards of practice, ethics, professional development and research."