CDAAC Training

What "CDAAC Training" Actually Means

In this context, CDAAC stands for Christian Drug, Alcohol & Addictions Counselor, a credential tied to the Association of Christian Alcohol and Drug Counselors (ACADC). If you are new to the term, our explainers on what CDAAC is and what CDAAC stands for cover the basics before you dive into preparation.

CDAAC training is not a single course with a lecture schedule. It is a reading-and-assignment curriculum published on the issuer's core curriculum page, organized into numbered "Domain" lines. Each line pairs a topic with specific source material: chapters from clinical textbooks, entries from a biblical-counseling handbook, numbered Life Principles from the Life Principles Bible edited by Dr. Charles Stanley, and in some cases essays, interviews or inventories.

The curriculum page used for this article carries the revision marker Rev. 06/16, which tells you something important: parts of the material are dated, and the page reflects the issuer's framing rather than a modern, consensus-driven clinical blueprint. Treat it as the issuer's preparation path, and verify current details with ACADC before you commit time or money.

How the ACADC Curriculum Is Organized

The curriculum runs from Domain 1 (Introduction to Drug, Alcohol and Addiction Counseling) through Domain 52 (Professional and Spiritual Growth). A full topic-by-topic walkthrough lives in our CDAAC exam domains guide; here we group the modules by the kind of work they ask of you.

The Clinical Core: Domains 1-4 and 9-10

The modules most recognizable to anyone with addiction-counseling exposure are the clinical ones. These lean heavily on Robert R. Perkinson's Chemical Dependency Counseling (4th Edition).

Domains 4 (Addiction Intervention), 9 (Group Skills) and 10 (Co-Occurring Disorders) round out the clinical core. Domain 10 draws on Perkinson chapter 11 (pages 157-195), one of the longer single assignments, so plan accordingly.

The Faith-Integrated Counseling Modules

What distinguishes this pathway from secular addiction credentials is that nearly every module routes through Scripture and the Life Principles Bible. Even clinical topics carry a Life Principle assignment. Domain 7 (Counseling Theories and Practice), for example, pairs Perkinson's chapter 6 with Anderson and Zhelke's Christ Centered Therapy and Hunt's chapter on giving biblical hope with practical help.

Several modules are explicitly spiritual in scope:

• Domain 22 (12 Step / 8 Beatitude Therapy): Dick B.'s chapter 5 (pages 131-175) alongside Perkinson chapter 9 on twelve-step facilitation
• Domain 23 (Discerning Spiritual Conditions and Spiritual Intervention): Bob DeWaay's material on discerning of spirits, an essay on guidelines for spiritual discernment, and Neil Anderson's The Bondage Breaker
• Domain 47 (Dangerous Belief Systems and Practices): Anderson's The Steps to Freedom in Christ

Family, Relationship and Life-Issue Domains

A large share of the 52 modules are not addiction-specific at all. They cover the surrounding life territory a Christian counselor may encounter:

• Family and relationship: Family Systems (6), Codependency (16), Bonding, Relationships and Intimacy (27), Premarital Counseling (28), Divorce & Separation (29), Marriage & Family Counseling (35), Parenting (31)
• Emotional and identity themes: Breaking the Power of Shame (5), Rejection and the Wounded Heart (19), Inferiority and Self-worth (33), Overcoming Attachment Disorders (34), Mid-Life Crises (37)
• Special populations: Counseling Seniors (11), Counseling with Prisoners & Parolees (15), Multicultural Counseling (39), Gender Differences (32)
• Crisis work: Domestic Violence (12), Crisis, Trauma and PTSD Counseling (20), Suicide Intervention (25)

Because June Hunt's Counseling Through Your Bible Handbook supplies chapters for so many modules, it is worth owning rather than borrowing. You will return to it repeatedly.

Law, Ethics and Regulation Modules

Three modules deal with the rules of the profession, and they are where candidates most often need to slow down:

• Domain 17 (Law, Ethics, and Morality): the ACADC Code of Conduct, Collins' chapter 6, and Perkinson chapter 16 plus Appendix 67 (page 807)
• Domain 26 (Operating Recovery Programs): California Code of Regulations Title 9, Division 4, Chapter 8, referenced through Breining, plus Life Principle 4
• Domain 40 (Regulations governing the practice of Substance Abuse Counseling): the same California regulations plus HIPAA health information protection rules

Domain 13 (God & Government) also touches law, using Charles Colson, David Barton and ACLJ resources on church-state questions and court decisions. Because court decisions change, treat the case-law component as something to refresh against current sources.

Written Assignments and Applied Components

Not every module is "read and recall." Several ask you to produce something:

• Domain 21: complete a spiritual gifts inventory alongside David Hocking's Spiritual Gifts
• Domain 46: interview a recovery professional about current moral, social or legal issues and write a report on significant addiction counseling issues
• Domain 50: a theme paper on "The Failure of Modern Psychology," with Richard Ganz's PsychoBabble
• Domain 51: a theme paper titled "When Sin is Called Sickness," with Deceptive Diagnosis
• Domain 52: an essay on whether the Bible and psychology mix

Start the interview in Domain 46 early. Scheduling a conversation with a working recovery professional is the one task that depends on someone else's calendar.

The Education-Hours Question

One of the most common questions about CDAAC training is how many education hours are required. The honest answer is that the issuer's public pages disagree. The requirements information lists 315 hours, while the tuition information states 155 hours. No reconciliation of these figures is asserted here, and we are not going to guess which is current.

Reading the Curriculum Critically

A good counselor-in-training should know what kind of document they are studying. Two cautions apply to this curriculum:

1. Historical clinical references. Some modules cite older frameworks. Domain 43 references DSM-IV and TAP 21, for instance, and the page revision date is 06/16. Where the curriculum cites a superseded manual, learn it as the issuer presents it, then separately learn what current practice uses.
2. Issuer theological views. Modules on topics such as alternative lifestyles (Domain 41), gender differences (32), submission (36), and the critiques of modern psychology (50, 51) reflect the issuer's theological positions. They should not be represented as contemporary clinical consensus, in conversations with clients, employers or licensing bodies.

This is not a reason to avoid the program. It is a reason to be precise about what the credential represents: training in a faith-based approach to addiction counseling, delivered through the issuer's chosen texts.

Sequencing Your Training Around the Exam

The pathway requires passing the CDAAC examination, but the supplied source does not establish a question count, timer, passing score, module percentages or fee data. Because of that, build your sequence around curriculum coverage rather than guessed exam weights. For what is and is not known about scoring, see our passing score article and the difficulty guide.

For a fuller approach to retention and review, see the CDAAC study guide, and keep the CDAAC cheat sheet handy for last-pass review. When you want to test recall rather than just reread, try the CDAAC practice tests.

After Training: Where the Credential Fits

Completing the curriculum and passing the examination earns the CDAAC pathway outcome, but what that credential means to an employer depends on the setting. Faith-based recovery programs, church ministries and Christian treatment organizations are the most natural fit, given the curriculum's design. Whether a secular employer or a state licensing authority recognizes the credential is a separate question you should verify before relying on it. Our guides on CDAAC jobs and the value of the certification walk through those considerations, and the salary guide addresses earnings without inventing numbers.

If you want a quick check on your readiness before the exam itself, our main practice test is a good place to find the gaps your reading has left.

Frequently Asked Questions