Ive have worked with two since my husband started rehab; but never used one before this. The first was a psychiatrist that was assigned to me from his rehab. She was also a specialist in addiction medicine, but she worked mostly with family members at the rehab because she said it was an area that was not given enough focus. She helped me find another Dr close to where we lived after he came home & she too is a psychiatrist who specializes in addiction medicine. I still feel more comfortable with the Dr from the rehab though & I know that I can still talk with her if I need to. She was amazing.
I dont know if there is a big difference in psychiatrist vs psychologist except their schooling, and licensing with ability to prescribe meds. Some have different views based on their background. Someone with experience in addiction is what I would recommend. It was helpful to me because she was able to explain everything on the medical side, how the drugs affect the body, etc. All about drug treatments for addiction, and then she also knew about all the things family go through - enabling, codependency, all the feelings that go along, what it takes to work on restoring your relationship when someone is recovering, etc. Broad scope I guess is what I mean.