March 2007

Addiction certification program begins 16th season

The board‑certified Addictionologist program offered by the American College of Addictionology & Compulsive Disorders (ACACD) begins its 16th annual season on May 19, 2007, in Las Vegas.

The ACACD is the only national and international educational initiative to offer board certification in addictions and compulsive disorders to DCs and other health care professions.

The 150‑hour program consists of 10 modules, presented one weekend each month for 10 months. Upon completion, the C.Ad. (Certified Addictionologist) credential is granted.

Since each of the 10 modules is taught by a different faculty member, each module is separate and independent from the others. This allows participants to begin with any module and take the rest in any order they wish. Only nine of the 10 modules are required for completion.

"Dozens of practical opportunities for the DC are taught throughout the program," stated. Jay Holder, DC, founder and past president of the ACACD. "This is not like other certification programs. This certification program is different in that there are numerous services and procedures that DCs can provide once they have their board certification by completing the C.Ad. Program. The C.Ad. is the only board certification available to DCs that is recognized outside of chiropractic by the other disciplines, governmental and private agencies, organizations, etc.," said Holder.

Upon successful completion and certification, DCs will have the knowledge and tools needed to launch their practices into this new and exciting field, Holder explained.

According to the ACACD, insurance reimbursement for certain services offered by the C.Ad. may be available even in cases that would not normally be reimbursable. It may satisfy the requirement for advanced certification for DCs participating in managed care and HMO programs, or enrolling in HMOs and managed care programs when slots for DCs are full.

In his own chiropractic practice, Holder initiated programs that have been included in federal grants and other funded research, has provided treatment to patients sent by drug courts and has provided SAP programs at local private schools.

In addition to tending to the addiction problems of his regular chiropractic patients, Holder receives referrals from addiction treatment programs in his area. "I can only conclude that any DC could do the same if they only knew how," he noted. "Instead of taking accident attorneys to lunch, DCs should be taking criminal defense attorneys to, as courts often send people in drug cases to treatment programs ‑‑ and there is no insurance paperwork involved."

Four hundred drug courts throughout the nation embrace alternative sentencing guidelines (treatment in lieu of incarceration) and are looking to include chiropractic. This is what D.D. and B.J. meant when they said, "Chiropractic will empty the prisons."

Many providers already offer clinical auriculotherapy and wish to add other effective strategies and treatments. Eighteen thousand addiction treatment centers throughout the U.S. are doing the same.

Over the last two decades, thousands of DCs and other health‑care professionals have achieved their board certification from the ACACD. The C.Ad. Program has allowed DCs and other professionals with board certification to serve as primary intervention resources for addictions, our country's leading cause of death and crime.

The disease of addiction affects 50 million Americans, not including compulsive disorders such as ADHD and Tourette's Syndrome. The chiropractor is in the best position to provide care to the addicted population since a drug free approach is mandatory in maintaining recovery and avoiding relapse.

B.J. Palmer spoke and wrote of the effectiveness of chiropractic in aiding the addicted person and created Clearview Sanitarium, a chiropractic hospital at Palmer College for addictions and assorted mental conditions.

Although chiropractic's role in addiction is nothing new, only now is it getting the recognition that it has long deserved. A recent front piece published by Psychology Today hails chiropractic's role in addiction research using Torque Release Technique (TRT) and the success that addicted patients achieve from this subluxation‑based model.

The first positive documentary on chiropractic aired by a major network worldwide was produced by the Discovery Channel and focused on chiropractic's success with addictions using TRT.

Groundbreaking chiropractic research with TRT on addictions is now published by the most prestigious scientific and medical peer‑reviewed journals to date, such as Molecular Psychiatry published by Nature and The Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.

A key to understanding how chiropractic works with addiction patients is "The Brain Reward Cascade" process. Research has proven that only vertebrates can manifest a "state of well‑being, yet subluxations separate us from wholeness," Holder explains.

The ACACD Board Certification Program is approved/certified in the U.S. and foreign countries by member boards of the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (ICRC) and the State of Nevada Board of Examiners for Alcohol, Drug and Gambling Counselors, and others. The ICRC provides license reciprocity services throughout the United States, Canada, six foreign countries and all branches of the U.S. Military, and Indian Health Services.

The C.Ad. Program has been held on campus at several chiropractic colleges and throughout the U.S. as well as England, Australia (under the auspices of the Royal Melbourne Philip & Preston Institutes/RMIT University), Canada, Mexico, and Israel.

The ACACD's team of prestigious co‑sponsors has included several colleges and universities, chiropractic associations, chiropractic colleges, and the World Chiropractic Alliance.

After a century of helping people with their health problems without drugs or surgery, the chiropractic profession now has a program designed to teach themselves and other health‑care professionals how to get addicted persons off their habit and stay off their habit, saving countless lives and families.

For more information, dates or a brochure on this program, call 800‑490‑7714 or 305‑535‑8803, or visit the American College of Addictionology & Compulsive Disorders online at www.acacd.com