As current leaders near retirement, there will be opportunities for emerging leaders to develop skills for future leadership roles.
Are you a future or emerging leader? Consider the following set of questions:
- Is your life’s destiny to serve in the addictions field?
- Are there better ways to respond to the needs of the new generation of clients entering addiction treatment?
- Are you willing to commit to the future of the field at a level which transcends a particular job role or organizational affiliation?9
If you answered yes to the above, then it is time for you to begin your journey to becoming a future addictions leader!
Resources for Emerging Leaders
Developing a Personal Leadership Vision and Plan
Finding A Mentor
Continuing Education and Professional Development
Resources for Students
PFR/ATTC Leadership Institute
Developing a Personal Leadership Vision
To identify your personal vision, contemplate the following questions:12
- What core values and service technologies of the addictions treatment field need to be protected from future dilution, corruption, or abandonment?
- What unmet needs must the field address in the future?
- What unique assets do I possess which can nurture the field’s future development?
- What issues and activities energize me at the highest level?
- What major contributions or lasting legacy would I like to leave in the field?
Developing a Personal Leadership Plan
A personal leadership plan is important to create when identifying needs and serves as your development guide.
The first step in constructing a personal leadership plan is to identify a personal leadership vision. This action will assist you in identifying what motivates you professionally and what you want to accomplish.
A personal leadership plan should answer two basic questions:
- What type of role do I want to serve within the field five years from now?
- What are the steps I need to take to reach this goal?10
Once you have answered these questions, you can confer with your supervisor or mentor and begin developing your leadership plan.
An effective plan should:
- Address the leadership skills you identified as needing improvement. There are many assessment tools available to clarify these development areas.
- Specify strategies for meeting your leadership development and career path objectives.
- Determine any additional training/continuing education needed to meet your goals.
- Include a timeline for completion.11
Sample Individual Leadership Development Plan (.pdf)
Individual Leadership Development Plan Tool (Word document)
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Finding a Mentor
As an emerging or future addictions leader, you will need guidance throughout your journey. A mentor can teach, guide, coach, and nurture you while traveling down your career path.
Seven Tips to Finding a Mentor Who is Right for You13
- Know yourself: Consciously think about where you are in your career and where you want it headed. Honestly assess your personality type and which other personality types complement your style. Consider your strengths and weaknesses and define how a mentor might guide you through your growth.
- Be proactive: In some cases, mentoring relationships form naturally, but don’t count on it happening that way. Develop a deliberate course of action to find a mentor and a course which can include all of the ensuing tips.
- Ask for referrals: As with any search process, tap into your friend and colleague networks to expand your reach. When requesting referrals, be clear about what you are looking for and why.
- Keep an open mind regarding who this person might be: A mentor is someone who will help you grow in the area(s) most important to you. This person is not necessarily your supervisor, anyone with a high-ranking title or even in the same business. Look for someone who exemplifies the traits and skills that you want to adopt.
- Identify where you may find a suitable mentor: Good sources of mentors include your management team, industry associations, online communities, your clergy and/or congregation and professors. (Note: Some personal coaches advise against choosing your supervisor as a mentor because of a possible conflict of interest.)
- Know what you want to achieve from the relationship: A clear understanding of your purpose and desired result will ensure you finding a suitable mentor, and that both of you find value in the relationship. This clarity also eliminates any future confusion regarding roles and expectations.
- Think about people who have been your mentors in the past: Whether deliberately or not, each of us has had mentors in our lives. Think about the people who have mentored you and the qualities you appreciated most about them. Use these traits as barometers to finding a new mentor.
Learn more about protégé responsibilities and building a mentor relationship
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Continuing Education and Professional Development
An element of many emerging leaders’ personal leadership development plans involves continuing education. Participating in distance education, certification, or other professional development courses can go a long way in developing an emerging leader’s skills, as well as reaching his/her personal leadership development plan goals.
Licensing and certification regulations vary state by state. You can find basic information on a variety of state, national, and some international bodies offering licensing & credentialing for drug and alcohol counselors in the Certification Info section of the ATTC National Office Web site.
AddictionEd.org is an international reference catalogue of distance education opportunities relating to addiction. Courses are available on numerous topics, and new courses are continuously being added. The institutions listing their courses on AddictionEd.org have been approved by the ATTC Network to be professional, reputable distance education providers. Each sponsoring organization must meet specific guidelines before being permitted to post a course on this site.
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Resources for Students
As an emerging leader and student, obtaining a degree in addiction studies can advance the knowledge and expertise required to address the clinical needs of individuals in addiction treatment, along with building the necessary skills for leadership.
The education level of the current addictions treatment workforce varies widely . . .
Addictions Field Education Level:
- At least 80% have bachelor’s degrees
- There are 53% who have master’s degrees
- Treatment staff has degrees in many areas, but few have academic courses or degrees specifically related to substance use disorders14
To locate addiction studies programs near you, check out the Directory of Addiction Study Programs (DASP). This is a comprehensive list of institutions offering a certificate, associate, bachelor, master and/or doctoral program in substance use disorders. Also included in this directory are institutions offering a concentration, specialty and/or minor in the field of addictions.
Looking for Internship Opportunities? Here are Some Helpful Tips:15
- Network. Talk to family and friends and see if they, or anyone they know, might be able to help you find an internship in your desired field.
- Surf the Web. The Internet is a great source for finding internships and information about various careers. There are a lot of helpful sights geared for students discussing internship postings, as well as how to update résumés and prepare for interviews.
- Take advantage of your school's resources. Ask your school’s career center counselor for advice on how and where to look for an internship. Also, attend career fairs held at your school and ask attending employers about their internship programs.
- Don't be afraid to approach a company. If there's a company you really want to work for, approach them and ask about getting an internship. Even if they don't have an internship program, you can offer to work there for free (most internships are unpaid anyways) for a couple days a week. The main objective is to gain experience and references for future career interviews.
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