OLYMPIA, Wash., March 26 -- The Washington state Department of Social and Health Services issued the following news release:

David A. Dickinson, the director of Addiction and Prevention Services in Kansas, has been named to head the Washington state government office that supervises the delivery of chemical dependency treatment and recovery services in Washington.

Dickinson will head the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse in the Department of Social and Health Services, effective April 8. The appointment was announced by Doug Porter, DSHS assistant secretary with the Health and Recovery Services Administration in DSHS.

"David brings a broad range of experience with addiction and delivery of substance-abuse treatment," Porter said. "He is hands-on manager with a strong clinician's background-and he fits well with a substance abuse program that is a national leader in evidence-based treatment, prevention philosophy and an emphasis on recovery.

"Over a 25-year career in addiction services, he has compiled an impressive record in four states, and over the last several years he has headed an operation in Kansas that compares well to the initiative Washington state has shown in areas like co-occurring disorders and an integrated approach to addictions."

Porter noted that Dickinson's Kansas operation was housed within a larger Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, much like DSHS in Washington and its Health and Recovery Services Administration, which includes state medical assistance programs, mental health services and chemical dependency treatment.

Dickinson, who headed up Kansas' development of a problem gambling program, will be on familiar turf in Washington, where gambling addictions and their treatment also fall under the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse.

Dickinson's early career focused on clinical services. He served in a number of counseling positions in California, Oregon and Colorado before he was named outpatient services director at the Drug Abuse Alternatives Center in Santa Rosa, Calif., where he also worked as outpatient youth services coordinator. He was named to the Kansas job in 2006.

He earned his B.A. in political science at Baker University in Kansas, and took graduate studies in psychology at Naropa University in Boulder, Colo., before transferring to John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, Calif., where he completed his M.A. in counseling psychology.