For Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselors in Texas
LCDCs belong in the directory. Get listed free.
The big insurance platforms are built around LPCs, LCSWs and LMFTs. Headway's list of the Texas licenses it accepts doesn't include the LCDC, so the counselors people with a drinking or drug problem most need are the hardest ones to find. Find Care lists LCDCs as what they are, free, with free online booking.
- Free to list, for good
- Free online booking
- Found in addiction counselor searches
What your listing does
Found by the people looking for you
Once a city has enough of them, addiction counselors get their own page there, like "addiction counselors in San Antonio", plus pages by insurance and focus, built for search engines.
Clients book a real time
Someone ready to stop drinking at 11 at night can pick an open time on your calendar right then, instead of leaving a voicemail and losing their nerve by morning.
Your fees, up front
Put your assessment and session fees and your sliding scale on your profile, with any plans you're in network with, so the people who call already know they can afford you.
Your license, shown
We check your LCDC on HHSC's lookup before you go live and show it on your profile with the date we checked.
Free paperwork tools
Make a Good Faith Estimate for self-pay clients or a superbill in a few minutes, free, with nothing to sign up for.
No fee per client, ever
A basic listing is free for good. We never charge per referral, booking or client, and never take a share of your sessions.
Starting out on your own? You don't need a website.
Your Find Care profile works as one: your own page with your license, what you help with, your fees and a button to book. Pick a short link for it when you claim (gocimahealth.com/yourname), and use it as the website on a free Google Business Profile, in your social bios and email signature, and send it to the counselors and programs who refer to you. Each profile also comes with a printable flyer, with a QR code to your page and tear-off tabs with your number, for doctors' offices, clinics and community boards. If you do build a site later, the badge sends visitors straight to your booking.
How LCDCs get paid in Texas
An LCDC can run a private practice in Texas, but who pays for the work depends on where you see clients. These are the four routes most LCDCs use, often more than one at once.
1. Self-pay clients
The simplest way to run a practice as an LCDC. Set a fee for an assessment and for a session, offer a sliding scale if you can, and put both on your listing so people know before they call. Under the federal No Surprises Act you have to give self-pay and uninsured clients a written Good Faith Estimate of what their care will cost. Our free Good Faith Estimate maker builds one in a few minutes.
2. Texas Medicaid, through a licensed facility
Texas Medicaid pays for outpatient substance use treatment only when it's given in a chemical dependency treatment facility licensed by HHSC. Those claims are billed as H0004 (individual counseling) or H0005 (group counseling). So an LCDC in solo practice can't bill Medicaid alone. The ways in are to work for or contract with a licensed facility, or to open one yourself: a facility licensed by HHSC can enroll in Texas Medicaid and then contract with the Medicaid health plans in its area. Cima Consulting's guides to getting a Texas CDTF license and starting an IOP or PHP walk through it.
3. Commercial insurance
Some plans contract with LCDCs directly. Many only pay for substance use counseling from a licensed facility, or from a clinician who also holds an LPC, LCSW or LMFT. Call each plan's provider relations line, ask whether it credentials LCDCs for outpatient counseling, and get the answer in writing; LCDC credentialing in Texas lists the questions to ask. If you'd rather not chase the applications yourself, Cima Consulting's credentialing does it at a flat price per plan.
4. A second license
If you're also an LPC, LCSW or LMFT, list both credentials ("LPC, LCDC"). Clients searching for an addiction counselor still find you, and you can bill the plans that take your other license for the work it covers.
Keep your listing inside your license
Texas rules (26 TAC chapter 562, where the LCDC rules have lived since January 2025) limit an LCDC's practice to substance use: an LCDC isn't qualified to treat a mental health condition that doesn't involve substance use. Write your listing around substance use and what comes with it, like cravings, relapse, strain at home or trouble at work. We read every listing before it goes up, and we'll ask you to change anything outside your license.
Questions
Is the listing really free for an LCDC?
Yes. A basic listing is free for good, with free online booking, the same as for every other provider. We make money from labeled Featured spots, which are optional, and from Cima EHR, our practice software, which is also optional.
I'm a Counselor Intern. Can I list?
Not on your own yet. A Counselor Intern works under a clinical supervisor, so the program you work for can list itself and you with it. Claim your own profile the day HHSC issues your LCDC.
Do I need an NPI?
Yes, for LCDCs. It's free from CMS's NPPES website and takes about ten minutes. Choose the provider type "Counselor, Addiction (Substance Use Disorder)". With your NPI, our claim form fills in your name, license and office for you.
Can a treatment program pay me for sending it clients?
No. Paying or taking money for patient referrals is illegal under the Texas Patient Solicitation Act. When the referral is to a treatment program, recovery home or lab, it can also be a federal crime under the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA), whoever pays for the care. Being paid a salary or an hourly rate for the counseling you actually do is different. Find Care itself is never paid per referral.
I work at a program. Can I still list myself?
Yes, for clients you see on your own. The program can have its own listing too. Say on your listing where and how you see clients, so nobody books the wrong one.
General information, not legal or billing advice. Rules change; check the current rules before you plan around them.
Sources
- Headway: Accepted licenses by state (checked October 2026)
- TMHP: Texas Medicaid Provider Procedures Manual, Behavioral Health and Case Management Services Handbook
- Texas HHSC: LCDC license registration
- CMS: No Surprises Act and Good Faith Estimates
- Texas Occupations Code chapter 102: Solicitation of Patients
- 18 U.S.C. § 220: Illegal remunerations for referrals (EKRA)
- CMS NPPES: apply for an NPI
Put your practice where people are looking.
Claim your profile with your NPI. We check your license, set up your free booking page, and send you the listing to approve, usually within two business days.