BETTY BREEN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION

At LASACT ’99 in Shreveport, the Betty Breen Memorial Tuition Foundation was established by the family of Betty Breen and Don Hidalgo. Betty, a charter member of LASACT, was instrumental in the passage of legislation to establish the State Board for the Certification of Substance Abuse Counselors. She served as an officer of both LASACT and SACO, District II. Her commitment to chemically dependent clients, and particularly to their families, is evidenced by 15 years of experience as a family counselor.

Betty began her counseling career after raising seven children. She was motivated out of her personal journey to find help for herself, her children, and her spouse to recover from alcoholism. She was married to Don Hidalgo, another charter member of LASACT and long time contributor in many areas in our field. Of their seven children, Lisa Schuster and Leslie Sheets are also counselors and have both been very active in LASACT and the profession.

When Betty died in February 1999, her family decided to establish the Betty Breen Memorial tuition Foundation in her honor. The purpose of the Foundation is to help ease the financial barriers people face as they attempt to gain the education and experience necessary to become certified in the field of Substance Abuse Counseling.

LASACT is extremely honored that the Hidalgo family chose us to be the administrative agency for the Foundation.

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The standards and criteria for applying for financial assistance are as follows:

1. The application form must be completed in a manner that reflects the applicant’s ability to write appropriately and effectively. Applications that do not meet this standard will be returned.
2. The applicant must be registered as a Counselor in Training (CIT) i.e., not certified.
3. All college credits, seminars, and educational programs must be specific to chemical dependency. Programs must be DSM based and exclude such items as codependency.
4. All material must meet the approval requirements of the Addictive Disorders Regulatory Authority (ADRA).
5. Applicants must submit requests to LASACT at least two weeks prior to the date of the educational program for which funds are being requested.
6. The maximum amount that any applicant may receive in one year is $300.00.
7. Assistance shall be available to any qualified applicant, regardless of race, creed, or gender.

Applicants can call, fax, e-mail, or write LASACT to request an application form. A form may also be downloaded from this web site. A committee will review the applications and select recipients. LASACT will handle payments as directed by the committee. Completed applications must be returned to LASACT at the address shown below.

Betty Breen Application Form

Betty Breen Flyer

Donate to The Betty Breen Foundation at Our Fees Web Page!

Contact us for more information!