- January 1979 – IDSA staff recommended to the Commission on Substance Abuse that a certification process be developed by practitioners in the state with the assistance of IDSA staff.
- March 1979 – A Counselor Certification Committee of the Commission was formed: Marilyn Murphy, Chair and Joe Mackrill.
- May 1979 – The first draft of the Task Force’s certification document was prepared and a progress report was made to the commission. The SAAI membership agreed to restructure in order to become the certifying body.
- September 1979 – The first draft of the Task Force’s certification document was prepared and a progress report was made to the commission. The SAAI membership agreed to restructure in order to become the certifying body.
- December 1979 – Progress of counselor certification was reported to the Commission by a representative of the Task Force.
- January 1980 – The second draft of the certification document was mailed by IDSA to every practitioner in the state with a request for feedback.
- February 1980 – A letter was sent to every substance abuse practitioner requesting feedback on the Task Force’s document by phone, letter or attendance at a Colfax meeting scheduled for the end of the month.
- March 1980 – A letter was sent to all substance abuse practitioners with changes made to the draft of the document and an invitation to attend an April meeting in Colfax to review the document page by page, and provide additional input.
- April 1980 – The Task Force met with interested counselors to review the final draft of the certification document, accept feedback and make additional revisions to the document.
- June 1980 – The final draft of the Task Force on Substance Abuse Counselor Credentialing was sent to all counselors in the state.
- July 1980 – An invitation was sent to substance abuse practitioners in the state to nominate one representative from each public and private agency to form a body to select 10 of the 15 member of the Committee on Certification.
- August 1980 – Representatives of each public and private agency in Iowa met to determine selection process, criteria, and application procedures (35 representatives were present).
- Fall 1980 – The selection body of representatives solicited applications for membership on the Committee on Certification and met to review applicants.
- December 1980 – Ten members of the Committee on Certification were selected.
- February 1981 – Four Special Interest Group and one “at-large” members of the Committee on Certification were selected.
July 1981 – Joann Potts, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Alcoholism and Drug Counselor Certification Board, consulted for 2 days with the Committee on Certification and SAAI. - September 1981 – Maureen Sullivan on NIAA consulted with the Committee on Certification.
- December 1981 – The Committee on Certification held regional meetings to explain the process and answer questions. Meetings were held in Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Ft. Dodge, Mason City, Ottumwa, Sioux City and Waterloo.
- January 1982 – Representatives of the Committee on Certification requested the Commission’s formal endorsement of the current voluntary, competency-based process.
- September 1982 – The Commission on Substance Abuse reaffirmed its endorsement of the current voluntary and competency-based certification process.
- June 1984 – A proposal was submitted to transfer the certification process from DSA and SAAI to an independently incorporated non- profit entity whose sole purpose and responsibility would be to govern the certification process. The newly created entity would be known as Substance Abuse Certification Board of Iowa (SACB). DSA and SAAI agreed to do so. It was proposed that SAAI be represented on SACB as well as other groups.
- May 1985 – The Iowa Board of Substance Abuse Certification (IBSAC) was formed to take over the Certification process.
- May 1986 – IBSAC joined the Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (CRC), now called the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC)
- June 1988 – IBSAC began offering the Prevention Specialist certification.
- January 2006 – After numerous meetings with professionals from the gambling counseling field as well as the State, IBSAC began offering the Certified Gambling Treatment Professional (CGTC) certification, reciprocal with Nebraska.
- July 2006 – To better reflect the many credentials that IBSAC offered, the Board of Directors voted to change the organization’s name to the Iowa Board of Certification (IBC)
- August 2006 – After numerous meetings with Department of Corrections personnel from around the State for collaboration on a credential, IBSAC began offering the Certified Criminal Justice Professional (CCJP) certification, which is reciprocal with other IC&RC boards.
- January 2007 – IBC began offering the Certified Co-Occurring Disorders Professional (CCDP) certification for Iowa professionals.
- April 2008 – The CCDP certification became reciprocal with other IC&RC boards
- October 2009 – IBC was approved by IC&RC to offer the AADC (Advanced Alcohol & Drug Counselor), CCDP-D (Certified Co-Occurring Disorders Professional-Diplomate) and CCS (Certified Clinical Supervisor) credentials, which are reciprocal with other IC&RC boards.
- May 2011 – IBC began offering the Certified Treatment Assistant (CTA) credential for those individuals who provide support services within a licensed substance abuse treatment provider agency/organization.
- January 2013 – IBC began offering the Certified Mental Health Peer Support Specialist (CMHPSS) credential for those individuals with mental illness in recovery and who are trained to provide support for those with mental illness.
- September 2015 – IBC began offering the Advanced Certified Prevention Specialist (ACPS) credential, a credential for Iowa prevention specialists, non-reciprocal with IC&RC (though obtaining the ACPS credential and passing the IC&RC exam for CPS will allow reciprocity to other boards with the CPS credential).
- November 2015 – IBC began offering a Temporary Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselor (tCADC) credential for substance abuse counselors who have met all the education requirements for CADC but do not yet have enough experience or supervision to qualify for CADC. This credential is not reciprocal with IC&RC and may only be held for two years, after which time the tCADC must upgrade to either a CADC or IADC credential.
- December 2015 – IBC began offering the Peer Recovery Specialist (PRS) credential for mental health and substance abuse peers, which is reciprocal with IC&RC.
- December 2018 – IBC began offering the Family Peer Support Specialist (FPSS) credential.
