The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Counseling program is an academic program originally housed in the Adult Division of The New School (as of 2024, called the Schools of Public Engagement; the university eliminated the division in 2025), and later in the Psychology Department of The New School for Social Research.

The program, at first called the “Alcoholism Counseling Program,” was first offered in the Fall semester of 1986. The program was designed to meet the New York State Division of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse’s then-new requirements for the credentialing of alcoholism counselors, which required (among other requirements, such as supervised work, not met by the program) that counselors had undertaken 150 hours of alcohol-specific academic training. Beginning the following year, in the Fall 1987 semester, the program began to offer a second certificate in substance abuse counseling, and became the “Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counseling Program.” Jerome “Jerry” Levin, a psychoanalyst and rehabilitation counselor, served as the first director of the program.

In the Fall 1994 semester, the certificate program in substance abuse counseling was discontinued, although the program retained its name and continued to offer some courses on drug addictions unrelated to alcohol. This was likely to accommodate an expanded set of course offerings in the certified alcoholism counseling program in response to New York State increasing the required training hours from 150 to 250. In Fall 1995, this was further increased to 450 hours, and the program was reverted to its original name only to change back again the following semester.

Further changes came in Fall 1997, when New York State yet again reformed its policy, now certifying Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselors (CASAC) rather than simply Credentialed Alcoholism Counselors. Mirroring this, the New School program was renamed the Alcoholism/Substance Abuse Counseling Program, offering a 360-hour certificate program.

Increasing professionalization of New York State’s CASAC initiative, and of The New School, with its focus shifting away from the Adult Division towards its degree-granting programs, led the Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counseling Program to be rehoused in the graduate-level Psychology Department. Starting in Spring 2000, the university's Graduate Faculty (as of 2025, known as the New School for Social Research) began to offer a Master of Arts (MA) concentration in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Counseling. The Adult Division certificate program was discontinued in Fall 2001, although the program continued to offer courses that semester and the following for students in the MA program prior to these courses being fully absorbed by the graduate Psychology Department, where they remain as of 2024. Since the creation of the CASAC-Trainee certification in 2003, completing the requirements of the MA concentration also qualifies students as a CASAC-Trainee, a provisional certificate issued by the New York Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS, as of 2024 the current name of the former Division of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse).

Sources

New School (1986). New School Bulletin 1986 Fall Vol. 44 No. 1 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1986fa>

New School (1994). New School Bulletin 1994 Fall Vol. 52 No. 1 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1994fa>

New School (1995). New School Bulletin 1995 Fall Vol. 53 No. 1 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1995fa>

New School (1995). New School Bulletin 1996 Spring Vol. 53 No. 4 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschttps://digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1996sp>

New School (1997). New School Bulletin 1997 Fall Vol. 55 No. 1 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1997fa>

New School (2000). Graduate Faculty 2000 -2001 Vol. 58 No. 2 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_gf2000ye>

New School (2001). New School Bulletin 2001 Fall Vol. 59 No. 1 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns2001fa>

New School (2001). New School Bulletin 2002 Spring Vol. 59 No. 3 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns2002sp>

New School (2003). Graduate Faculty 2003 -2004 Vol. 61 No. 2 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_gf2003ye>

Jerome “Jerry” David Levin is a former New School instructor, psychoanalyst and psychotherapist. Receiving his PhD from New York University, Levin was first hired at The New School for the Fall semester of 1982, and taught courses in philosophy and psychology, and especially at the intersection of those disciplines, in the Adult Division of The New School. In Fall 1986, Levin was made director of the Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counseling program, a certificate program designed to meet the New York State Division of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse’s then-new requirements for the credentialing of alcoholism counselors. He remained director of the program for the entirety of its existence, staying until the program was absorbed into the graduate Psychology Department’s program in Mental Health and Substance Abuse in 2003. He was made Fellow of the Wolfson Center for National Affairs at the university that same year, and continued to teach at The New School until 2004.

Outside of his teaching at The New School, Levin also held adjunct teaching positions at New York University, St. Joseph’s University, Marymount Manhattan College and Suffolk County Community College. He was a practicing psychotherapist and a prolific author, particularly on the subject of addiction.

Sources New School (1982). New School Bulletin 1982 Fall Vol. 40 No. 1 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1982fa>

New School (1986). New School Bulletin 1986 Fall Vol. 44 No. 1 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1986fa>

New School (2003). Graduate Faculty 2003 -2004 Vol. 61 No. 2 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_gf2003ye>

New School (2004). New School Bulletin 2004 Spring Vol. 61 No. 3 [course catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns2004sp>