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As communities across Tennessee and the country continue to face the effects of substance use disorders, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has launched its Clinical Addiction Studies Certificate, a fully online program designed to prepare more professionals to work with people affected by addiction.
UTC’s Clinical Addiction Studies Certificate aligns with Tennessee educational requirements for Licensed Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors, or LADACs. Faculty and staff behind the program say it was created to address a shortage of addiction-trained professionals while also providing UTC students and community members with a more direct path into the profession.
“The ratio of people who are impacted by addiction to addiction counselors, or people who have specialized training in addictions, is just not what it needs to be,” said Jami Hargrove, assistant director for health education and wellness promotion in UTC’s Center for Wellbeing. “So we definitely have a shortage of not just specific addiction counselors, but even counselors who have any sort of training in addictions.”
According to the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis’ 2025 State of the Behavioral Health Workforce, a shortage of over 123,000 addiction counselors is projected in 2038.
Hamilton County awarded UTC $114,344 in January 2024 through its Innovative Response to Opioids Grant program to support development of the new certificate. Program leaders said that funding enabled them to build the curriculum, move the program through approval processes and prepare it for launch.
Dr. Tyler Oberheim, clinical addiction studies program coordinator at UTC, said the certificate was designed to meet a need on several levels—and that the program’s largely online format was intentional.
“This program is helping to boost the workforce of addiction professionals,” he said. “We’re trying to extend the reach of this program to cover all of Tennessee, not just Chattanooga residents and Chattanooga professionals.”
That wider reach matters because local options have been limited, according to Megan McKnight, adjunct faculty for the Clinical Addiction Studies Certificate.
“There have not been as many places they could go to get just those educational hours in Chattanooga,” McKnight said. “So we’re trying to grow the workforce here and make it easier for folks in our community who are looking to pursue that. They may not be interested in another full degree, but could do this work through the certificate program.”
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Click here to learn more about the Clinical Addiction Studies Certificate program. Prospective students can contact Clinical Addiction Studies Program Coordinator Tyler Oberheim at [email protected].
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Program leaders said the certificate requires 18 credit hours and is meant to serve more than one type of student. It gives UTC students in areas such as counseling, social work, and nursing access to specialized coursework that did not previously exist in this format on campus.
It also creates an option for community members and working professionals who want to pursue LADAC-related educational requirements without stepping away from their jobs.
Coursework covers introduction to clinical addiction studies; addiction counseling; addicted family systems; assessment; diagnosis and treatment of substance use disorders and addiction; psychopharmacology; and addiction, culture and society. Applications will be accepted year-round.
“Most of the courses, if not all of them, are going to be asynchronous online,” Hargrove said. “If there are any synchronous, they would be in the evening, so it is geared toward people who are working.”
Faculty said that flexibility matters because many prospective students already work in helping professions and want to build expertise in addiction while continuing to work.
The curriculum was developed to align with Tennessee’s LADAC standards.
“We literally mapped those onto a curriculum map,” Oberheim said. “Then we started designing classes that made sure that all eight of those educational domains were encompassed.”
He said the result is a certificate that provides the educational component aligned with LADAC preparation in Tennessee. Completing the certificate alone does not guarantee licensure; students must still complete additional supervised clinical hours outside the program to meet full licensing requirements.
Even with that caveat, faculty say the certificate removes a significant barrier. Before the program existed, students and professionals often had to piece together the required educational hours through separate training or by traveling elsewhere for coursework.
McKnight said the value extends beyond future addiction counselors.
“You’re not doing addictions work every day, but how would additional knowledge about those impacts still help you better serve those clients?” she said, referring to professionals in fields such as nursing, physical therapy and other areas where substance use may affect patient care.
“That kind of training can help professionals better support clients, reduce stigma and connect people with appropriate resources,” McKnight added.
While the number of formally admitted certificate students remains relatively small, Oberheim said interest in the coursework has been strong. Many more students have taken the classes as electives, with total course enrollment already reaching into the hundreds.
The certificate is intended to support Hamilton County’s broader efforts around substance use disorder treatment. In UTC’s grant proposal, the University outlined three expected outcomes: increasing the number of addiction professionals in the Hamilton County area; increasing the foundational knowledge of professionals serving residents seeking substance use disorder treatment; and decreasing barriers to care related to a lack of trained providers.
Hamilton County funding also included support for 10 scholarships for the inaugural cohort. Preference will be given to applicants from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, rural communities, underrepresented groups in counseling fields and those with lived recovery experience.
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Clinical Addiction Studies Certificate
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