Addiction Counselor Continuing Education by Distance Learning

by Guy C. Lamunyon MSN, RN, CARN, CADC, ICADC, NCACII, CAS

Mr. Lamunyon is the nation's foremost authority on continuing education by distance learning for addictions counselors. He is the co-author of the NAADAC Provider Number Program, the author of the NAADAC Audit program and has published an article in The Counselor magazine on continuing education for addictions counselors.

In his home state of California, Mr. Lamunyon founded the California Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (CAADAC) Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement Committee and developed the Audit Program for the Commission on Alcohol Drug Counselor Education Programs (CADCEP). He served CADCEP from 1988 to 2001 in various roles including Treasurer, Vice President, Quality Improvement Chair, Audit Chair and Continuing Education Chair. Prior to his appointment to CADCEP, Mr. Lamunyon had served as Regional Vice President, Treasurer, ByLaws Committee Chair, Quality Assurance Chair and on the Education Committee for CAADAC.

Mr. Lamunyon is recognized in Who's Who in American Nursing as the founder of specialty certification for addictions nurses. Mr. Lamunyon developed the certification procedure for Certified Chemical Dependency Nurse (CCDN) for the California Association of Substance Abuse Nurses, which expanded to become the International Consortium for Substance Abuse Nurses (CANSA International) and has merged with the National Nurses Society on Addictions to become the International Nurses Society on Addictions. The CCDN certification has been subsumed by the CARN credential (Certified Addictions Registered Nurse). Mr. Lamunyon also planned the sponsoring of the National Consortium of Chemical Dependency Nurses.

Mr. Lamunyon has also been recognized in Who's Who in Medicine, Who's Who of Intellectuals and Community Leaders of America. Mr. Lamunyon has degrees in Religion, Psychology, Business Administration and Nursing. He is an Associate Faculty member at Saddleback College and an Adjunct Faculty member at Mount Saint Mary's College. He has instructed addiction studies courses at the California Addictions Counselors Training Institute and the Alcoholism Research Institute. He has presented workshops for NAADAC, CAADAC, NNSA, California Nurses Association, California Association for Alcohol/Drug Educators, California Association of Nurses in Substance Abuse, Saint Joseph Hospital (Orange), Community Psychiatric Centers (Laguna Hills) and the Department of Veteran's Affairs. Mr. Lamunyon has worked with such notables as Dr. Max Schneider, Dr. Joseph Pursch, Dr. Walter Ling and Dr. Andrew Shaner.

His previous research on nurse support groups was published in Professional Counselor Magazine, Nurses Edition. Mr. Lamunyon served as a consultant to the Board of Registered Nurse for the state of California for impaired nurses. Other research includes two previous survey in continuing education by distance learning. The data from these previous surveys was used to develop current guidelines for the development of distance learning courses. Mr Lamunyon and has assisted in the development of many distance learning programs for the addictions field.