As an addiction specialist, your duties are to help provide mental health diagnoses and treatment to patients with substance abuse and related mental health issues. Your primary responsibilities are to assist with intervention efforts and address the short- and long-term needs of each patient. This may include prescribing detox medicine, referring patients to addiction or substance abuse counselors, or performing therapy and counseling work yourself. You also work with other physicians and mental health professionals to research and develop new tools and methods to promote substance abuse prevention and education.