Terrence D. Walton, MSW

Terrence Walton is an addiction professional and the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals. For more than 50 years, NAADAC has represented addiction professionals and supported them in their life-saving work. 

Before joining NAADAC, Walton spent ten years as Chief Operating Officer for All Rise (founded as the National Association of Drug Court Professionals), where he led national and international initiatives to support addiction treatment and justice system professionals who work with individuals and families impacted by addiction and involved in the legal system. 

Previously, Walton was Director of Treatment for the Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia (PSA). During his 15 years at this Federal law enforcement and community supervision agency, he directed the departments that provided substance use disorder and mental health assessment, treatment, drug treatment courts, and other alternatives to incarceration and conviction programs. Additionally, he previously served as the director of what was then Washington, D.C.’s leading adolescent outpatient substance use disorder treatment center, Sasha Bruce Youthworks’ Necessary Interventions for Adolescents (NIA). 

Walton holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a Master of Social Work degree with specializations in program administration and substance use disorder from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. He is an active member of the International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP), focusing on developing the global addiction and prevention workforce. He was a certified drug and alcohol counselor for more than twenty years and has devoted his entire professional life to helping individuals, families, and communities impacted by addiction recover and thrive.