A Concise Guide to Opioid Addiction for Counselors

Kevin G. Alderson, PhD, is professor emeritus of counseling psychology from the University of Calgary. He has been a counselor for 40 years and a registered psychologist since 1986. He is serving a 3-year term as president-elect, president, and past president, consecutively, for the College of Alberta Psychologists, the body that regulates psychology in Alberta, Canada. Professor Alderson is a professional member of NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, and holds the highest level of membership (i.e., Drug Demand Reduction Professional Membership) within the International Society of Substance Use Professionals. He currently sits on the editorial board for the Journal of Alcoholism, Drug Abuse & Substance Dependence and the Austin Journal of Drug Abuse and Addiction. He holds membership in the American Counseling Association, the American Psychological Association, the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, and the Canadian Psychological Association. Since 2008, Dr. Alderson has been the editor in chief of the Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy, which is the only national peer-reviewed journal in the counseling and psychotherapy field in Canada. He currently works half-time for Yorkville University as its director for a proposed online doctor of counseling and psychotherapy degree program. 

Samuel T. Gladding, PhD, was a professor in the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University. He was a fellow in the American Counseling Association (ACA) and its former president. He also served as president of the American Association of State Counseling Boards, Chi Sigma Iota (international counseling honor society), and three ACA divisions: the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, the Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW), and the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors. He was an ASGW fellow and the former editor of the Journal for Specialists in Group Work. 

Professor Gladding authored numerous books, scholarly articles, book chapters, teaching videos, and poems. His writings have been translated into half a dozen languages, including Korean, Indonesian, Chinese, Polish, and Russian. He was a mental health first responder to the 9/11 attack in New York and has twice been a Fulbright Specialist (Turkey and China). He is the recipient of ACA’s Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Award for a Humanitarian and Caring Person, the David K. Brooks Jr. Distinguished Mentor Award, and the Arthur A. Hitchcock Distinguished Professional Service Award. The Association for Creativity in Counseling and ACA have each named awards in his honor.  

Professor Gladding received his degrees from Wake Forest University (BA, MA Ed), Yale University (MA), and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (PhD). He is a national certified counselor, a certified clinical mental health counselor, and a licensed clinical mental health counselor (North Carolina). He has taught counseling and worked with counselors and universities throughout North America and in over 30 countries across the globe. Before becoming a professor of counselor educator, he worked full-time as a clinician in a rural mental health center. Before coming to Wake Forest University, he taught at Fairfield University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  

Dr. Gladding passed away in December 2021.