February 2008

ACACD announces new Diplomate programs

The first 300‑hour Diplomate program in Addictions and Compulsive Disorders begins March 1, 2008 in Orlando, Fla. The 20 modules, presented by a faculty of 18 experts, will be held one weekend per month for 20 months. Upon completion, graduates are granted a DACACD Diplomate.

The American College of Addictionology and Compulsive Disorders (ACACD) is the only national and international educational initiative recognized to offer Diplomate Board Certification in addictions and compulsive disorders to DCs and other health care professionals. This Diplomate credential meets Florida and other state board requirements for DCs to use and place after their names.

Another offering, the 150‑hour Certified Addictionologist Program (C.Ad.), now in its 17th year, continues with its 37th program in two locations: April 12 in Las Vegas and March 1 in Orlando. Each consists of ten modules, one weekend a month for 10 months. Upon completion, the C.Ad., Board certification credential is granted.

According to ACACD President Carmine Pecoraro, PsyD, "Modules taken in either location count for both programs and since each of the 10 and 20 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 number and take the rest in any order they wish, mixing both locations as well."

"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. These certification programs are different in that there are numerous services and procedures that D.C.s can provide once they have their board certification. The ACACD is the only approved provider of board certification in addictions and compulsive disorders available to D.C.s that is recognized outside of chiropractic by the other disciplines, governmental and private agencies, organizations, etc.," said Holder.

According to the ACACD, insurance reimbursement for certain services offered by the board certified professional 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.

The ACACD is co‑sponsored by Life University, American Psychotherapy Association, American College of Forensic Examiners International, St. Martin's College, Milwaukee, AAOM, ODOC and the Israel Certification Board of Addiction Professionals, and is approved by numerous state board groups in several disciplines around the country.

Most of these state boards are Member Boards of the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (ICRC). The ICRC provides reciprocity services to over 45 states, Canada and seven foreign countries; all branches of the U.S. Military and Indian Health Services. In addition to being approved to provide CE hours, the ACACD is also an Accredited Educational Provider (AEP) for those not yet licensed, such as a DC's spouse or CA and other career oriented individuals seeking to achieve licensure as an Addiction Professional in many states and foreign countries.

Further, ACACD transcripts have afforded advanced standing of up to one‑third of a Master's degree requirement at regionally accredited colleges and universities. ACACD students have received financial aide from the Veterans Affairs, Indian Affairs, NFL and other federal government agencies.

In another offering, the world's first Diplomate in Clinical Research Program will be open for placement and matriculation starting next month. Upon successful completion the DACCR credential is granted.

Until now, there has not been a dedicated educational process to allow a professional to achieve Board Certification or other letters in research other than the Ph.D. degree process since letters establishing an educational level of expertise in research were left to the Ph.D. degree process.

This new avenue of achieving a dedicated "Credential in Research" is now available and can be completed in less than 18 months with the training performed in the candidate's office. Comprehensive training is both on‑site in the candidate's office and web‑based.

The American College of Addictionology and Compulsive Disorders (ACACD) in aegis with several agencies and institutions, now offer the Diplomate in Clinical Research Program to chiropractors in addition to other professionals.

This program will teach candidates in an easy and practical "how to" method that will allow candidates to perform on their own in all aspects of any field of research successfully. This training program provides both direct and specific training in all practical aspects necessary to navigate these waters: research design, regulatory and compliance issues, regulatory agencies, data analysis, scientific writing, publication training, preparation of clinical case reports, nested case, case‑control design, quality of life assessments, National Institutes of Health (NIH) on‑line programming, scientific databases along with search engines and data repositories training in the practical aspects of research, research implementation, research case studies, research outcome assessments, research clinical trials, research randomization, research laws and rules (federal and state), confidentiality and ethics.

"Become an IRB‑approved clinical investigator, pass the NIH exam, and rub shoulders with some of the most renowned researchers in the world," Pecoraro encouraged.

In addition to the new Diplomate in Clinical Research Program, the ACACD continues to offer the Clinical Residency Diplomate Program to those who wish to enter a hospital‑based addiction treatment residency program consisting of three weeks with hospital apartment residence provided. Openings begin Feb. 4, 2008.

According to the ACACD, all the new Diplomate programs are designed to comply with state boards that restrict DCs from using credentials that are not recognized or less than 300 hours.

In his own chiropractic practice, Holder initiated programs that have been included in federal grants and other funded research and has provided SAP programs to local private schools and EAP programs to major corporations and businesses.

In addition to tending to the addiction problems of his regular chiropractic patients, Holder receives referrals from drug courts, attorneys and other sources in his area.

"I can only conclude that all DCs 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 lunch, as courts send people in drug cases to treatment programs in lieu of incarceration ‑‑ and there is no insurance paperwork involved. Our programs teach DCs how to implement these and other useful methods in a practical way as opposed to other programs that just provide a 'piled higher and deeper, bust your chops' educational format. Upon successful program completion and certification, DCs will have the knowledge and tools needed to launch their practices into this new and exciting field," Holder explained.

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" Holder noted.

Over the last two decades, thousands of DCs and other health‑care professionals have achieved their board certification from the ACACD. The ACACD has trained and provided 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 leading pediatric complaint in the U.S. 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.

Many addiction programs already offer modalities such as clinical auriculotherapy and wish to add chiropractic care, neutraceutical management and other effective strategies to their milieu. Eighteen thousand addiction treatment programs throughout the U.S. are looking for such services.

BJ 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 report published by Psychology Today hailed 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 focuses on chiropractic's success with addictions using TRT. Groundbreaking chiropractic research with TRT on addictions has been 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 provides board certification programs in England, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and Israel, as well as the US.

Matthew McCoy, DC, DACACD, director of Research and Scholarly Activity at Life University says, "It is imperative for every DC to step forward and get this training. I can't think of a better way to give something back to chiropractic and support our profession. 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 these programs, call 800‑490‑7714 or 305‑535‑8803 or visit the American College of Addictionology & Compulsive Disorders online at www.ACACD.com