Substance Use Counselor Jobs in Riverside, CA (NOW HIRING)

Salary : $53,643.20 - $73,798.40 Annually
Location : Throughout San Bernardino County, CA
Job Type: Full-time
Job Number: 26-01217-01
Department: Department of Behavioral Health
Opening Date: 02/28/2026
Closing Date: Continuous
The Job
Be an agent of change and make a difference in delivering health and wellness to millions of residents.
Join a team that is passionate about the services they provide and is committed to making a difference throughout San Bernardino County.
The San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health invites qualified professionals to apply for the position of Alcohol and Drug Counselor. Alcohol and Drug Counselor provide screening, counseling, referrals, and outreach services to individuals experiencing substance use disorders. Duties include short-term crisis intervention; planning and implementing supportive and educational counseling; assisting adolescents, adults, and families in recognizing and addressing social and cultural patterns, family problems, and personal dysfunctional behaviors that contribute to alcoholism and drug abuse; making presentations to schools and community groups; and monitoring compliance with grants and contracts.
For additional details, please refer to the Alcohol and Drug Counselor job description.
The Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) is responsible for providing mental health and substance use disorder services to county residents who are experiencing major mental illness or substance abuse related issues. DBH provides mental health and substance use disorder prevention and treatment services to all age groups, with a primary emphasis on treating children/youth who may be seriously emotionally disturbed, adults who are experiencing a serious and persistent mental illness, and individuals who are experiencing substance use disorders. DBH also provides an array of outreach/engagement, prevention, and early intervention services. DBH's core values are service, integrity, accountability, and trust.
DBH is a unique County Department comprised of eight (8) direct service areas: Community Outpatient and Transitional Age Youth Services; Youth Collaborative and Justice Involved Services; Substance Use Disorder and Recovery Services; 24 Hour and Specialty Services; Adult Justice Involved and Diversion Services; Medical Services; Community Engagement and Equity Services; Office of Patients' Rights and five (5) indirect service areas: Administrative and Fiscal Services; Public Relations and Outreach Services; Program Support Services; Disaster and Safety Unit; and the Office of Compliance. The Department currently has a workforce in excess of 1500 positions and an approximate $800 million-dollar annual budget.
Follow this linkto learn more about the Department of Behavioral Health
Follow this link to learn more about San Bernardino County
The list established from this recruitment may be used to fill current and future vacancies as they occur throughout the Department.
EXCELLENT BENEFITS!
To review job-specific benefits, please refer to:
Summary of Benefits
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
Pre-Employment Process: Prior to appointment, applicants must pass a background investigation, which includes fingerprinting and medical exam, which may include drug and/or TB testing. Applicants must be a U.S. Citizen or a permanent U.S. resident.
Travel: Travel throughout the County is required. Employees will be required to make provision for transportation and maintain a valid California driver license and proof of automobile liability insurance for the individual providing the transportation.
Hours: Some evening and weekend work may be required.
RBEST/TEST Positions: Positions within the Recovery Based Engagement Teams (RBEST) and Triage Engagement and Support Teams (TEST) are field based and require working outside of the office frequently. TEST teams work within law enforcement departments, Probation office sites and ER hospital sites. Indicate your availability for these positions on the supplemental questionnaire.
Sponsorship: Please note that San Bernardino County is not able to consider candidates who will require visa sponsorship at the time of application or in the future.
Minimum Requirements
Certification: Certification as an Alcohol or Other Drug (AOD) counselor by a National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) accredited organization.
--AND--
Experience: One (1) year of full time equivalent experience in a Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program performing counseling, crisis intervention, and community resource referrals.
Desired Qualifications
Bilingual Positions: Applicants fluent in American Sign Language, Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Tagalog, and/or Vietnamese are strongly encouraged to apply. Additional compensation is associated with positions requiring the use of bilingual skills. Applicants must pass written and oral language competency tests in order to be considered for bilingual vacancies.
The ideal candidate will be a certified AOD counselor and have exceptional communication skills with the ability to clearly convey information and ideas both orally and in writing, a customer service background, and presentation skills. For positions assigned to treatment programs working with the adult forensic population, it is highly desirable for candidates to have experience in behavioral health programs with individuals who have co-occurring disorders.
Selection Process
Application Procedure: There will be a competitive evaluation of qualifications based on the information provided in the Application and the Supplemental Questionnaire. You are encouraged to include detailed descriptions of your qualifying experience, as only the most highly qualified applicants will be referred to the Department. Please ensure all relevant experience is indicated in the Application and responses to the Supplemental Questionnaire, as resumes and other attachments will not be reviewed for the competitive evaluation.
Completing your application with statements such as "see/refer to resume" or "see attached" rather than completing your work history may affect your eligibility or competitive evaluation score. Be sure to clearly describe your experience in meeting the minimum requirements.
Technical Assistance: If you require technical assistance, follow this link to or contact their Toll-Free Applicant Support line at (855) 524-5627. Please note that Human Resources is not responsible for any issues or delays caused by your internet connection, computer, or browser when submitting an application.
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) / Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): San Bernardino County is an and Americans with DisabilitiesAct (ADA) compliant employer, dedicated to ensuring equal employment opportunities for allemployees and applicants.
ADA Accommodation: If you have a disability and need accommodations during the testing process, please submit the within one week of the recruitmentfiling deadline.
Veterans' Preference: Eligible veterans and their spouses or widows/widowers who are not current County employees may receive additional Veterans' Preference points. For details and instructions on how to request these points, please refer to the
For more important details,
Administrative Services Unit
San Bernardino County offers a range of benefit programs for employees and their eligible dependents. These include health, dental, vision, and life insurance, as well as a variety of other voluntary benefits. Programs and benefit amounts vary and are based on bargaining unit, family size, hire date, plan selection, and number of hours worked.
Please review the appropriate * for more information
Refer to the appropriate MOU, contact the County's Employee Benefits and Services Division at (909) 387-5787 or visit the for more detailed information.
*Retirement benefits subject to change.
01
Certification/Registration:

• I am certified as an Alcohol or Other Drug Counselor (AOD) in the State of California and have indicated such in the Certificates and Licenses section of the application.
• I am registered as a Registered Alcohol and Drug Technician (RADT) in the State of California.
• I am NOT certified as an Alcohol or Other Drug Counselor (AOD) or registered as a Registered Alcohol and Drug Technician (RADT) in the State of California.

02
AOD Certification: If you indicated that you possess AOD certification in the question above, list the certification number, the issuing agency, AND the expiration date.If no certification, indicate, "N/A".
03
Experience: Do you possess one (1) year of full time equivalent experience in a Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program performing counseling, crisis intervention, and community resource referrals.

• Yes
• No

04
Correctional Health Care/Forensics Populations: Some positions may require working in locked detention facilities, with probationers, or offenders recently released from a correctional setting. Indicate your willingness to work with these populations and/or within this environment. (Select all that apply.)

• Juvenile Justice - Youths recently released from incarceration in a Juvenile Detention setting
• Adult Forensics - Adults under Probation supervision -OR- Adults with extensive forensic background. (You must be willing to work in a Probation setting for positions working with the Adult Forensic population.)
• Adult Correctional Health Care - Adults currently incarcerated in a jail setting
• Youth Correctional Health Care - Youths currently incarcerated in a Juvenile Detention setting
• RBEST/TEST - Positions within the Recovery Based Engagement Teams (RBEST) and Triage Engagement and Support Teams (TEST) are field based and require working outside of the office frequently. TEST teams work within law enforcement departments, Probation office sites and ER hospital sites.
• None - I am not willing to work with any of these populations. Checking this option WILL NOT preclude you from being considered for other programs that do not work with correctional health care/forensics populations.

05
Background Check/Polygraph Testing: An extensive background check and polygraph testing is required for positions working with the Juvenile Justice and Correctional Health Care populations as described in the above question. To learn more information about this process, please visit the
Are you willing to participate in the background check process and submit to polygraph (lie detector) testing?

• Yes, I am willing to participate in the background check process and submit to polygraph (lie detector) testing.
• No, I am not willing to participate in the background check process and submit to polygraph (lie detector) testing.

06
Availability: Indicate if you'd be willing to be referred to the following departments. (Select all that apply.)

• Probation Department
• Sheriff's Department
• None of these departments

07
Applicant Acknowledgement - Notification via email: As part of our efforts to increase efficiency and promote conservation of resources, human resources uses email to communicate with applicants. Therefore, all future communications regarding this recruitment, including applicant status and testing notifications, will be made via email. Each applicant needs their own email address. We strongly encourage you, as an applicant, to ensure that the email address you have provided us with your application is current, secure, confidential, and readily accessible to you. Adjust Spam and/or other filters so that our emails are accepted. Please carefully read any notices that we send you and follow any instructions provided in a timely manner. We will not be responsible in any way if you do not receive our emails (i.e., for the non-delivery of our emails or if you fail to check your e-mail on a timely basis).

• I acknowledge that I have read, understood, and agree to the above.

08
**ATTENTION GMAIL USERS**
We have become aware of an increase in Gmail's spam filter sensitivity. Due to this change, it is possible that emails coming from San Bernardino County Human Resources may be marked as spam and will not make it into your Gmail inbox.
For your convenience, a step-by-step guide to create and apply filters within Gmail is available in the attached PDF. Once downloaded, follow the instructions so that you will receive future emails from San Bernardino County Human Resources.
Note: If you apply the filters and still do not receive emails from San Bernardino County Human Resources you can check your (Neogov) account inbox. All notifications will appear there.

• I understand

09
Applicant Acknowledgement - Application Complete: Thank you for taking the time to complete this application and supplemental questionnaire. Please be sure to review all information provided prior to submitting it as you cannot update or revise it once submitted. Your submitted application will be reviewed and evaluated as is. Please do not refer to a resume or other documentation in lieu of completing the employment history section or responding to the supplemental questions; they will not be reviewed or considered.
Once your application has been successfully submitted, you will receive an onscreen confirmation and an email confirmation will be sent to the email address listed on your application. We recommend that you save and/or print these for your records. Please note: if you do not receive an onscreen confir