substance misuse worker
Substance misuse workers provide assistance and counselling to people with substance abuse problems. They monitor their progress, advocate for them, and performe crisis interventions and group therapy. They also assist patients dealing with the consequences of tobacco, alcohol or recreational drugs abuse, which can be problematics as unemployment, physical or mental disorders and poverty.
substance misuse worker substance misuse workers provide assistance and counselling to people with substance abuse problems. They monitor their progress, advocate for them, and performe crisis interventions and group therapy. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include social work theory, legal requirements in the social sector, social sciences, illegal substances, adolescent psychological development.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £44,550 a year for Social workers (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £39,517 to £49,959 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 2461). ONS rates this estimate precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only substance misuse worker, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Frequently asked questions
What does substance misuse worker do?
Substance misuse workers provide assistance and counselling to people with substance abuse problems. They monitor their progress, advocate for them, and performe crisis interventions and group therapy. They also assist patients dealing with the consequences of tobacco, alcohol or recreational drugs abuse, which can be problematics as unemployment, physical or mental disorders and poverty.
What skills does substance misuse worker need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include social work theory, legal requirements in the social sector, social sciences, illegal substances, adolescent psychological development, social justice. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace substance misuse worker?
Our AI-durability model gives substance misuse worker a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.