Working in drug/addiction rehab centers?

Question by Ruby Alice Love: Working in drug/addiction rehab centers?
I’m currently a human development and family studies major but I have an undecided minor. I personally would like to be the one who’s in direct contact with patients during their withdrawal phases and being able to monitor them. I’m pretty sure that’s vague, but what job title is that specifically? In order to pursue this career would a biology minor benefit me more, would I need to go to medical school, what about grad school?

If it means anything I go to school in Nevada and I’d greatly appreciate some input and opinions.

Best answer:

Answer by drslowpoke
Actually, your question has a few answers and is more complex than you might have thought.

If you want close patient contact with a few patients, then you might consider nursing. In some cases, EMT’s are hired to monitor patients during withdrawal or recovery. This is a rather unglamorous job, and is on the low end of the scale. It can also be the most physically demanding. There are several levels here. The lowest is doing just patient contact. Higher levels will supervise the contact and intervene with their skills on an as needed basis (such as administering prescribed medications).

If you would like to work with a lot of patients, but on a more limited basis for each one, then working as a drug counselor, therapist, or something like a social worker would be the ticket. This is easier physically, but you end up with more responsibility overall.

If you want to work with even more patients, but only on a very limited basis for each one, then you might consider being a physician with an emphasis on drug treatments. Again, this can be physically demanding, but you also get paid better.

The upshot of all this is that you have quite a range of positions to choose from. Your current coursework puts you squarely in the middle of the positions for now.

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