California has made specific changes in regards to the services of counseling requirements that have to do with drug and alcohol programs. On April 1st of 2005 the specific title 9 of division 4 pertaining to chapter 8 and having to do with the counselor certification regulations was altered. Regulations have been changed in order to assure the complete and correct knowledge of all aspects of the Alcohol and Other Drugs programs to all eligible counselors. Any and all programs that offer said counseling services having to do with any and all Alcohol and Other Drug programs otherwise known as AOD that are licensed and or certified by California's Department of Alcohol and Drug branches now have specified regulations for the counselors.

According to this change, a counselor that is providing counseling services in any Alcohol and Other Drugs program and is not licensed or certified must be registered to receive the specific certification that is needed to continue practicing as a counselor. These registration requirements must be done within the timeline of no longer than six months after the hiring date of the drug and alcohol counselor. All certification must be obtained through a certifying organization that is approved which can be found in section . Once an Alcohol and Other Drugs counselor is registered without a certification, that registrant has exactly five years from the actual date of registration to obtain the certification to be noticed as a counselor in the drug and alcohol rehabilitation settings. Counselors that have been certified must provide documentation of the minimum requirement of forty hours or more of continuing education. In addition, a certified Alcohol and Other Drugs counselor must pay a fee of renewal to the certifying organization. This fee will renew the certification of the counselor every two years and needs to be kept current in order to be recognized as a certified Alcohol and Other Drugs counselor. Lists of all certifying organizations are available within the certification requirements documentation of by request.

All of the requirements that must be met in order to obtain the California certification for an Alcohol and Other Drugs counselor can be found in the California Code of Regulations. In this code of regulations all of the requirements are seen step by step with the adequate time lines that must be set and followed in order to obtain the proper certification to continue as a recognized counselor in any and all drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities.