Jul 3, 2025 By Garrett Neese 4 min read

Before an audience of local officials, Waynesburg University faculty and mental health professionals, state Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs Secretary Dr. Latika Davis-Jones announced a joint initiative with Waynesburg University to bring more qualified addiction professionals into the state’s behavioral health workforce.

Under the pilot Workforce Development Program, DDAP will provide up to 50 students in Waynesburg University’s addiction counseling master’s degree program with tuition assistance and a stipend during the student’s internship with community-based providers, totaling up to $32,000 per student.

The accelerated program, completed over a 20-month period, will also include additional training through DDAP.

There’s a growing need for addiction counseling; a federal study estimated between 2023 and 2033, the field would need to grow by 19% to meet demand. But that need is running headlong into growing obstacles that make finding a counselor less likely, Davis-Jones said: workforce shortages, counselor burnout and administrative burdens.

“By partnering with higher education institutions that specialize in addiction counseling, I’m confident we will make meaningful strides toward rebuilding and strengthening the Pennsylvania substance use disorder pipeline and workforce, ensuring that we are equipped to meet the present demands of this vital field,” Davis-Jones said.

That increased demand is a combination of more people being diagnosed and greater need among those being treated, said Kelley McNichols, assistant director of the university’s graduate counseling department.

As one of only two universities in the state with an accredited addiction counseling specialty program, Waynesburg University is in a unique position to help address the problem, McNichols said.

New addiction counseling masters students will be able to enter the state pilot program for the next 30 months.

The tuition and stipend aid will offset the cost of living and allow counselors to serve more rural and underserved areas, McNichols said.

After completion, the students are being asked to commit three years of service at a DDAP-licensed facility within Pennsylvania.

“This not only improves the sustainability of the workforce, but it will enhance the clinical care of those in need,” McNichols said. “I have too often heard that you are my fifth, 10th counselor. People have really struggled to share their stories time and time again because of various things that have occurred in the field.”

Despite the graduate program being fully online, McNichols said, students benefit from a sense of community. They will also receive specialized training as an addiction counselor and get immersive learning through internships at licensed drug and alcohol facilities through Pennsylvania.

David Hynes, a second-year master’s student in the addiction counseling program, plans to continue his work at ARC Manor, and become a fully licensed professional counselor to help people in their recovery.

He’d grown up in a situation where substance abuse was so common, it felt more normal than its absence, he said.

He didn’t find his current path immediately, first dreaming of being an artist. Even after deciding on a degree at Waynesburg in the mental health field, he’d planned on a clinical mental health track. It wasn’t until a class with McNichol on substance use disorder that he understood his calling: “to prevent my past from becoming someone’s future.”

He sees the timing of the Workforce Development Program as a sign that he’s on the right path.

“For me, it represents the freedom to heed this calling without feeling like I was putting one new financial burden on my family,” he said. “It’s allowed me to pursue my dream of working to keep other kids from having to grow up in the kind of chaos that I did.”

If all goes well, the state will make the program a permanent fixture. Davis-Jones said the state would be looking at completion rates, job satisfaction and where students went after graduation.

Within Waynesburg’s program, faculty will look at enrollment numbers and whether students are getting the skills and support they need. They’ll also continue to evaluate student learning objectives and make sure students are mastering the basic counseling skills needed to do the job.

“We want to ensure that our students are really the cream of the crop, to be able to get out there and do some wonderful work,” McNichols said.