Abstract

In the 1970’s when the substance abuse treatment field was still developing as a discipline, there was a great deal of workers needed to help with the large amount of substance abusers wanting help. And since specific credentials were not yet established for the field of addictions, individuals with sobriety were hired on and given on the job training. The literature has described many barriers that the counselor in recovery has been faced with over the decades. A common theme throughout the literature is that these individuals usually enter the field at an older age and have less formal education than the non-recovering counsellor. The role of the counsellor in recovery is often distorted within the field by the second-class citizen status to which they are sometimes subjected. By writing this paper we hope to resurrect topics that might be perceived as barriers by counsellors in recovery that were briefly discussed in the literature decades ago. To begin this process of reform, this paper reviews the literature in an attempt to examine the perceived barriers associated with the recovering addict working in the addiction field. It also addresses the limitations of the studies conducted to date, provides recommendations for further research and proposes that this topic be explored using a qualitative approach, so that this unique group of counsellors can construct their own narratives.

Keywords: Recovering counsellor, Perceived barriers, Stigma, Addiction field