Alcohol and Drug Counselor

Salary : $49,566.40 - $68,203.20 Annually

Location : Throughout San Bernardino County, CA

Job Type : Full-time

Job Number : 25-01217-01

Department : Department of Behavioral Health

Opening Date : 01 / 08 / 2024

Closing Date : Continuous

The Job

Be an agent of change and make a difference in delivering health and wellness to millions of residents.

Join a team that is passionate about the services they provide and is committed to making a difference throughout San Bernardino County.

The San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health invites qualified professionals to apply for the position of Alcohol and Drug Counselor. Alcohol and Drug Counselor provide screening, counseling, referrals, and outreach services to individuals experiencing substance use disorders. Duties include short-term crisis intervention; planning and implementing supportive and educational counseling; assisting adolescents, adults, and families in recognizing and addressing social and cultural patterns, family problems, and personal dysfunctional behaviors that contribute to alcoholism and drug abuse; making presentations to schools and community groups; and monitoring compliance with grants and contracts.

For additional details, please refer to the Alcohol and Drug Counselor job description.

The Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) is responsible for providing mental health and substance use disorder services to county residents who are experiencing major mental illness or substance abuse related issues. DBH provides mental health and substance use disorder prevention and treatment services to all age groups, with a primary emphasis on treating children / youth who may be seriously emotionally disturbed, adults who are experiencing a serious and persistent mental illness, and individuals who are experiencing substance use disorders. DBH also provides an array of outreach / engagement, prevention, and early intervention services. DBH's core values are service , integrity , accountability , and trust .

DBH is a unique County Department comprised of eight (8) direct service areas : Community Outpatient and Transitional Age Youth Services; Youth Collaborative and Justice Involved Services; Substance Use Disorder and Recovery Services; 24 Hour and Specialty Services; Adult Justice Involved and Diversion Services; Medical Services; Community Engagement and Equity Services; Office of Patients' Rights and five (5) indirect service areas : Administrative and Fiscal Services; Public Relations and Outreach Services; Program Support Services; Disaster and Safety Unit; and the Office of Compliance. The Department currently has a workforce in excess of 1000 positions and an approximate $700 million-dollar annual budget.

Click HERE to learn more about the Department of Behavioral Health

Click HERE to learn more about San Bernardino County

The list established from this recruitment may be used to fill current and future vacancies as they occur throughout the Department.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Travel : Travel throughout the County is required. Employees will be required to make provision for transportation and maintain a valid California driver license and proof of automobile liability insurance for the individual providing the transportation.

Hours : Some evening and weekend work may be required.

RBEST / TEST Positions : Positions within the Recovery Based Engagement Teams (RBEST) and Triage Engagement and Support Teams (TEST) are field based and require working outside of the office frequently. TEST teams work within law enforcement departments, Probation office sites and ER hospital sites. Indicate your availability for these positions on the supplemental questionnaire.

Sponsorship : Please note that San Bernardino County is not able to consider candidates who will require visa sponsorship at the time of application or in the future.

Minimum Requirements

Certification / Education : Certification as an Alcohol or Other Drug (AOD) counselor by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA).

Experience : One (1) year of full time equivalent experience in a Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program performing counseling, crisis intervention, and community resource referrals.

Desired Qualifications

Bilingual Positions : Applicants fluent in American Sign Language, Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish and / or Vietnamese are strongly encouraged to apply. Additional compensation is associated with positions requiring the use of bilingual skills. Applicants must pass written and oral language competency tests in order to be considered for bilingual vacancies.

The ideal candidate will be a certified AOD counselor and have exceptional communication skills with the ability to clearly convey information and ideas both orally and in writing, a customer service background, and presentation skills. For positions assigned to treatment programs working with the adult forensic population, it is highly desirable for candidates to have experience in behavioral health programs with individuals who have co-occurring disorders.

Selection Process

Application Procedure : There will be a competitive evaluation of qualifications based on the information provided in the Application and the Supplemental Questionnaire. You are encouraged to include detailed descriptions of your qualifying experience , as only the most highly qualified applicants will be referred to the Department. Please ensure all relevant experience is indicated in the Application and responses to the Supplemental Questionnaire, as resumes and other attachments will not be reviewed for the competitive evaluation.

Completing your application with statements such as "see / refer to resume" or "see attached" rather than completing your work history may affect your eligibility or competitive evaluation score. Be sure to clearly describe your experience in meeting the minimum requirements.

If you require technical assistance, please click HERE to review the Government Jobs online application guide, or contact their Toll-Free Applicant Support line at (855) 524-5627. Please note that Human Resources is not responsible for any issues or delays caused by computer or browser used to submit the application.

EEO / ADA : San Bernardino County is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant employer, committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants. ADA Accommodation : If you have a disability and require accommodations in the testing process, submit theSpecial Testing Accommodations Request Form within one week of a recruitment filing deadline.

Veterans' Preference : Eligible veterans and their spouse or widow(er) who are not current County employees may be awarded additional Veterans' Preference points. Click HERE for information and instructions to request Veteran's Preference points.

Please click HERE for important Applicant Information and the County Employment Process .

Administrative Services Unit

The County of San Bernardino offers a range of benefit programs for employees and their eligible dependents. These include health, dental, vision, and life insurance, as well as a variety of voluntary benefits. Programs and benefit amounts vary and are based on bargaining unit, family size, hire date, plan selection, and number of hours worked.

For a summary of benefits, please click

Refer to the appropriate MOU, contact the County's Employee Benefits and Services Division at (909) 387-5787 or visit the Benefits website for more detailed information at

Certification / Registration :

• I am certified as an Alcohol or Other Drug Counselor (AOD) in the State of California and have indicated such in the Certificates and Licenses section of the application.
• I AM NOT certified as an Alcohol or Other Drug Counselor (AOD) in the State of California.

AOD Certification : If you indicated that you possess AOD certification in the question above, list the certification number, the issuing agency, and the expiration date.

Experience : Do you possess one (1) year of full time equivalent experience in a Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program performing counseling, crisis intervention, and community resource referrals.

Correctional Health Care / Forensics Populations : Some positions may require working in locked detention facilities, with probationers, or offenders recently released from a correctional setting. Indicate your willingness to work with these populations and / or within this environment. (Select all that apply.)

Background Check / Polygraph Testing : An extensive background check and polygraph testing is required for positions working with the Juvenile Justice and Correctional Health Care populations as described in the above question. To learn more information about this process, please visit the

Are you willing to participate in the background check process and submit to polygraph (lie detector) testing?

Availability : Indicate if you'd be willing to be referred to the following departments. (Select all that apply.)

Applicant Acknowledgement - Notification via email : As part of our efforts to increase efficiency and promote conservation of resources, human resources uses email to communicate with applicants. Therefore, all future communications regarding this recruitment, including applicant status and testing notifications, will be made via email. Each applicant needs their own email address. We strongly encourage you, as an applicant, to ensure that the email address you have provided us with your application is current, secure, confidential, and readily accessible to you. Adjust Spam and / or other filters so that our emails are accepted. Please carefully read any notices that we send you and follow any instructions provided in a timely manner. We will not be responsible in any way if you do not receive our emails (i.e., for the non-delivery of our emails or if you fail to check your e-mail on a timely basis).

We have become aware of an increase in Gmail's spam filter sensitivity. Due to this change, it is possible that emails coming from San Bernardino County Human Resources may be marked as spam and will not make it into your Gmail inbox.

For your convenience, the attached PDF document contains a step-by-step guide to create and apply filters within Gmail. Click this link to Once downloaded, follow the instructions so that you will receive future emails from San Bernardino County Human Resources.

Note : If you apply the filters and still do not receive emails from San Bernardino County Human Resources you can check your (Neogov) account inbox. All notifications will appear there.

Applicant Acknowledgement - Application Complete : Thank you for taking the time to complete this application and supplemental questionnaire. Please be sure to review all information provided prior to submitting it as you cannot update or revise it once submitted. Your submitted application will be reviewed and evaluated as is. Please do not refer to a resume or other documentation in lieu of completing the employment history section or responding to the supplemental questions; they will not be reviewed or considered.

Once your application has been successfully submitted, you will receive an onscreen confirmation and an email confirmation will be sent to the email address listed on your application. We recommend that you save and / or print these for your records. Please note : if you do not receive an onscreen confirmation and an email acknowledging our receipt of your application, we have not received your application.

Required Question

Salary : $49,566 - $68,203