NJ Civil Service Navigator

Substance Abuse Counselor Family

Career series with 6 positions across 2 levels

In New Jersey civil service, Substance Abuse Counselor names a 2-level progression covering 6 distinct titles.

Entry is typically through Substance Abuse Counselor 1, advancing through the ladder toward Substance Abuse Counselor 2 and, from there, into supervisory roles. Pay across the family spans $58,222 to $122,832, around the 48th percentile of all civil service job families by top pay. State payroll records show 116 people across the family's titles, most concentrated at Health and Senior Services.

Substance Abuse Counselor is closely related to Counselor and Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor.

6
Positions
2
Career Levels
2
Specializations
Salary Range: $58,222 - $122,832/year

Specializations

Mental Health / Alcoholism Service Mental Health / Alcoholism Services

Positions in This Family

What the Substance Abuse Counselor family covers

Substance Abuse Counselor is a graded series in the New Jersey civil service classification plan, running 6 title codes across 2 levels. The family straddles jurisdictions: 4 both state and local and 2 state, so parts of it are hired by state departments and parts by local civil service employers.

The state is a direct care employer at scale, running psychiatric hospitals, developmental centers and veterans homes around the clock. That shapes the classifications: shift work, unusual work weeks and institution-specific variants are normal here rather than exceptional, and the same clinical title can exist several times over for different facilities. Professional licensure carries the qualification weight, so movement between the public and private sector is easier in this group than almost anywhere else in civil service. Counties run their own health departments and hire parallel titles under local jurisdiction.

The ladder, ordered by pay

Ordered by what they actually pay rather than by the number in the title, the Substance Abuse Counselor rungs look like this. Here the numbering happens to agree with the pay order, which is not guaranteed elsewhere in New Jersey's plan.

The distance from the bottom of Substance Abuse Counselor 1 to the top of Supervising Substance Abuse Counselor is $64,610, an increase of about 111% over the entry minimum.

What each title does

Each title in the family carries its own published definition. These are the opening lines of each one, which is usually where the difference between two neighboring rungs is actually stated.

What it takes to qualify

None of the specifications in this family names a degree requirement, which places these titles among the New Jersey positions open to applicants without formal higher education. Stated experience runs from 1 year at the lowest rung to 3 at the highest, which is the main thing separating one level from the next.

1 of the 6 titles carry a license or certification requirement. On how the jobs are filled: 3 are competitive, filled from an eligible list after an open competitive or promotional examination and 3 are non-competitive, appointed on proof of the stated qualifications rather than by examination. 4 titles in this family are covered by the compendium's special incentive program, which lets an appointing authority hire a qualified candidate above the bottom step instead of starting them at step one. See the full list of incentive titles.

Who actually employs these titles

116 people appear on the state payroll under 5 of these titles, at 3 agencies. Health and Senior Services alone accounts for about 66% of them.

  • Health and Senior Services — 76 employees
  • Juvenile Justice Commission — 38 employees
  • Military and Veterans Affairs — 2 employees

Median actual pay varies across the family, from $74,204 for Substance Abuse Counselor 1 up to $107,301 for Supervising Substance Abuse Counselor. Those are medians of what people are really paid, not schedule minimums and maximums.

State payroll only, deduplicated by payroll title; local employers file separately, so a family with local codes looks smaller here than it is. How this is counted.

How the pay is set

Titles in this family are paid on the A-P-R-S salary schedule. See every step in that schedule. Bargaining is handled by CWA. Union contracts and rights are collected here.

Where these jobs exist

Because the family mixes jurisdictions, the answer to "who hires this" depends on the specific code. State codes run through the Civil Service Commission's announcement and eligible list process; local codes are hired by the counties, municipalities and authorities that adopted civil service under Title 11A. Check an employer's status before assuming a title is available where you live.

Related titles elsewhere in the plan

These titles sit elsewhere in the classification plan but share vocabulary with Substance Abuse Counselor, which usually means overlapping duties or a related eligible list.

Families next to this one

New Jersey's classification plan links families by shared terminology and by the routes people actually take between them. These sit closest to Substance Abuse Counselor.

Common questions about Substance Abuse Counselor jobs

How many separate Substance Abuse Counselor classifications does New Jersey have?

The Substance Abuse Counselor family holds 6 title codes arranged across 2 levels. Each code is a separate classification with its own published specification, requirements and salary treatment.

How much is a Substance Abuse Counselor paid?

Published salary data for this family runs from $58,222 at the bottom of Substance Abuse Counselor 1 to $122,832 at the top of Supervising Substance Abuse Counselor. Those are schedule figures. Where the title appears on the state payroll, actual median pay is listed on the page above.

Is there a civil service test for Substance Abuse Counselor?

Yes for most of the family. 3 of the 6 titles are in the competitive division, which means appointment comes from an eligible list built by an open competitive or promotional examination.

What are the requirements to become a Substance Abuse Counselor?

No degree requirement is parsed from the specifications in this family, which puts these titles among the New Jersey civil service jobs reachable without formal higher education. Experience of 1 to 3 years is named where a requirement is stated. 1 of the titles require a license or certification.

Which agencies employ Substance Abuse Counselor staff?

State payroll records show 116 people in this family across 3 agencies, with Health and Senior Services the largest at 76. Local government employers are not covered by that extract.