January 6, 2009 

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR MAATP BOARD REGISTRATION

* Applicants who meet the requirements of 77 Illinois Administrative Code, Title 77: Public Health, Chapter X, Part 2060, Staff Qualifications, and can provide proof they are in good standing, will not be required to take the written examination.

Work Experience

IAMAAT defines qualified work experience as paid, supervised employment with a MAAT patient caseload/assignment of at least 50%.  Additionally, at least 50% of the applicant's time devoted to MAAT patients must be spent providing direct service in individual and/or group settings with MAAT patients and/or their families/significant others. By definition, volunteer work and personal life experiences do not meet this requirement.

Applicants who are current supervisors of direct service MAATPs and have been for more than four years, may use their time prior to four years to substantiate direct service qualified paid work experience.

• A Bachelor’s degree or higher in human services or behavioral sciences, with at least 9 semester hours of alcohol and other drug training will substitute for 500 hours of work experience.

Supervision

Supervised practical experience must cover the MAAT Core Functions.  Supervision hours are not the hours that an individual spends providing MAAT services but instead are the hours the individual spends being observed, either directly or indirectly (audio/video tapes, chart review, etc.) performing these services and the time spent in staff meetings or with a designated supervisor discussing the professional’s work performance.

Applicants must receive supervision while in a position held for at least one year and used to meet work experience requirements for registration.  Supervisors are not required to be certified or board registered.

Realizing that supervision may take place in a variety of settings and have many faces, IAMAAT determined not to place limiting criteria on qualifications of a supervisor.  Rather, it was determined that supervision should be as broadly defined as in the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment/Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Technical Assistance Publication Number 21.  TAP 21 defines supervision/clinical supervision as: the administrative, clinical, and evaluative process of monitoring, assessing and enhancing counselor performance.

Education

• High School Diploma or GED
• Documentation that applicant has obtained a diploma, degree or certificate of completion from an institution that is accredited by the US Department of Education’s Office of Post Secondary Education.
• 190 clock hours of education
  • 80 clock hours of education must be alcohol and other drug specific
  • 8 clock hours of professional ethics
  • 56 clock hours of education must be MAAT specific
  • 46 clock hours of education related to general knowledge/skills (for example, human development, case management, research methods, health and safety, crisis intervention).
• Sources of education include college courses, seminars, conferences, in-services, lectures. etc.
  • 1 college semester hour = 15 clock hours, 1 college quarter hour = 10 clock hours, 1 college trimester hour = 12 clock hours

Next: Core Functions and Skills