Abstract Overwhelming challenges of the 21 st century force many people to use drugs, as they are unable to keep up with the pace of the contemporary life. Many people become addicts and they are unable to handle the issues associated with their addiction. Therefore, counseling is coming to the fore, as counselors are able to assist drug addicts to quit their harmful habit and effectively integrate into the community. This paper dwells upon the internship at Legacy Services (New York). The intern shadowed a substance abuse counselor to gain the necessary experience for practice. It is necessary to note that participation in sessions and multi-disciplinary staff meetings; observation and contribution to development of certain treatments strategies equipped the intern with the necessary skills and knowledge that will help him be an efficient drug abuse counselor. Moreover, strong and weak sides of the Legacy Services are analyzed and conclusions are made. In the end of the work discussion of the main presented ideas is introduced. Recommendations and possible implications of the main ideas of the work are suggested. Introduction Statement of the Problem The issue of substance abuse counseling includes why people use drugs and to understand the effects on their health. It also considers the effects of drugs on one’s health as well as the resulting mental health issues because of substance abuse. Substance abuse has been around for years,and individuals are not aware of how to identify and learn to cope with the challenges of addiction. Additionally, behavioral assessments, intervention, multidisciplinary management, preparation, education, and program development and execution made huge changes in participants’ substance abuse behaviors (Babinski,Pelham, &Waxmonsky, 2013). According to Babinski et al. (2013),counseling for people who depend on chemicals requires some skills for it to be effective. Also, most participants prefer counseling that is done by specialists(Babinski et al., 2013). However, severalprograms of substance abuse were examined; all engaged moralistic group settings on various clinical issues, which showed the programscould affect participants’ treatment(Greenfield &Venner, 2012). The programs should be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to guide the participants to their future endeavors or self-sufficiency(Dufour et al., 2014). Also, counselors’failure to keep up with modern information to encourage the participant’schange of behavior could lead to relapse. Relapsing into drugs or alcohol abuse can occur even after long periods of sobriety (Greenfield &Venner, 2012).Therefore, the reason why it is critical for the counselors in this field to utilize the emerging knowledge to help participants who are drug addicts. Purpose of the Internship The internship period is to gain in-depth knowledge of mental health by acquiring new emerging information from the mentor,concerning people who have health impairments (Greenfield &Venner, 2012). It will enable the intern to learn and take an active role in shaping individuals’ lives and assisting people and their families with mental problems. Emerging information is important in helping participants who have advanced mental problems to improve healt