Medicine Hat College offers Diploma in Addictions Counselling, a diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy programme in Medicine Hat, Canada. The programme runs for 2 years. Tuition for international students is CAD 15,918 per year (CAD 4,974 per year for local students).
This diploma program at Medicine Hat College trains students to work with individuals experiencing addiction, covering assessment, treatment, prevention, and relapse management across diverse client populations and settings. Coursework includes neurobiological aspects of addiction, counselling theories and approaches, mental health and suicide prevention, pharmacology of addictions, and culturally informed practices such as Indigenous ways of healing. The two-year program runs over five semesters with a fall intake at the Medicine Hat campus and includes a required 240-hour practicum in an addiction services agency, where students develop practical counselling skills. Prospective students must have at least one year of full recovery from substance use disorder and maintain that recovery throughout the program. Graduates are prepared for roles in community-based organizations, schools, addiction services, residential settings, senior care facilities, and government organizations, and can pursue Certified Addictions Counselling Certification.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: Applicants need credit in English 30-1 or a minimum of 65% in English 30-2, or a GED with a standard score of 520 in Language Arts: Reading and Writing. The programme page sets no minimum admission average and no programme-specific language-test scores; Medicine Hat College's general international-admission standard applies, requiring IELTS Academic 6.0 with no band below 6.0, TOEFL iBT 79, PTE Academic 54, Duolingo English Test 105, or CAEL 60 with no component below 50. Applicants must be at least one year free from substance use disorder (in full recovery) to enrol and must maintain that recovery throughout the programme; a Police Information Check and an Alberta Children's Services Intervention Record Check may be required for practicum placements, and applicants unable to produce clear checks may be prevented from completing programme requirements. Fall intake only.
Application Details
Start Date:Fall
Application Deadline:Domestic applicants to Medicine Hat College apply through ApplyAlberta: for the Fall 2026 intake (September) applications opened October 1, 2025 and the domestic deadline was September 2, 2026; Winter 2026 (January) closed December 19, 2025, and Spring 2026 (May/June) closed May 1, 2026. International applicants face earlier fixed deadlines for the same intakes: June 1, 2026 for Fall 2026, October 1, 2025 for Winter 2026, and February 2, 2026 for Spring 2026. Several competitive programs, including the Paramedic degree and Social Work diploma, close ahead of the general deadline. MHC had not yet published Winter, Spring, or Fall 2027 dates as of this check; admission is not described as rolling. These are institution-wide dates; this programme publishes no deadline of its own.
