Whether you are a practicing professional, seeking a career change, or following a dream or passion, our mission is to provide all of the information you need to pursue a career as a professional counselor, no matter where you live.
Determining your counseling preference and specialty before application helps to best prepare you for your future career in this rewarding profession. Learn more about online master's in counseling programs. In order to obtain licensure or certification, counselors are required to participate for a minimum number of documented hours in supervised clinical fieldwork.
These hours may be counted toward your state requirement, but depending on your state, you will likely need to complete additional fieldwork hours to become a licensed or certified counselor. This is also dependent upon your concentration.
Learn more about the counseling internship experience. Without a license or certificate, most states will not allow you to practice or accept health insurance from clients.
Bachelor's holders can prepare to become a licensed professional counselor online. With no GRE scores required to apply, the 27 month online MA in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine allows you to advance your career and be a catalyst of change. Learn more about counseling licensure in your state. Continue to visit this website for guidance and as a resource as you work toward your educational and career goals. Learn more about different counseling careers.
A successful counselor stays ahead of the curve and continues to expand their knowledge as their career progresses. The counseling field is always growing with research and new findings. There may be a new way to apply a counseling technique to a mental health concern that was previously unexplored. As a professional counselor, in any specialty and field, it can even be required by licensure and certification to engage in continuing education credits and research.
You may also wish to explore additional professional certifications and doctoral programs for counselors. A counselor or therapist can hold certification from a variety of international, national, and state boards, depending on their specialty.
Laws for licensure vary from state to state, but certification standards depend on the organization. Aspiring professionals who want to fast track their entry into the field can pursue jobs as nonprofit program managers or entry-level, direct-service social workers.
Other professionals in mental health fields, however, can get started in entry-level roles with an appropriate undergraduate degree. Consider the options listed below:.
Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists. Probation officers provide rehabilitation services to people serving sentences on probation or parole. These professionals create and monitor treatment plans for people once they leave jail or prison. Social and Community Service Managers. Social and community service managers coordinate and manage programs that promote public welfare.
In this role, professionals may identify the need for new programs, improve existing services in a neighborhood, or collect data to assess the effectiveness of current initiatives. Social workers help people solve everyday problems such as finding food or shelter, accessing healthcare, or dealing with an emergency.
These professionals may work for a school, hospital, or public agency. Addiction Counselors. Addiction counselors specialize in helping people who are dealing with alcoholism or substance abuse. This profession continues to grow rapidly as more people seek help for addiction and more judges weigh counseling over jail time as a solution for addiction. Becoming an addiction counselor usually requires a graduate or undergraduate counseling degree.
Recreational Therapists. Recreational therapists direct recreational programs for people with disabilities or those recovering from injuries. Recreational therapists often need to hold a certified therapeutic recreation specialist credential.
This degree offers a combination of learning and hands-on experience in classroom settings. This online, accredited private school is based in Arizona. Some states and programs will also require a written exam. Check the requirements for the state you plan to attend school in. For instance, you may choose to further your career after a few years of working in the field. Some doctoral degrees you can earn in counseling include:.
All counselors must be licensed to practice in the United States. Following is information on the median salaries, projected growth through , and required education and training for several related occupations:. In addition to counseling, there are other occupations that draw more heavily on one skill or another, and some individuals may choose a related career that focuses more on teaching, or perhaps emphasizes psychology.
The following table shows how the salary of a school counselor compares to that of similar occupations:. Use the search tool below to sift through the numerous counseling degrees currently offered by colleges and universities across the nation.
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Counseling Career Basics. Counseling In-Depth. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming. Step 1. The key as an undergraduate is to study areas across various disciplines that may have useful applications in the realm of school counseling, such as developmental psychology and the history and sociology of education. Step 2. School counseling is a multi-disciplinary pursuit, and requires a facility and comfort level with a number of targeted skills and methodologies.
Coursework in school counseling typically includes classes in counseling techniques, academic development and social and behavioral issues, as well as the laws and ethics of counseling. Students pursuing employment as a college counselor will also complete courses in career guidance counseling, crisis intervention and trauma counseling. Step 3. A school counselor interacts with students, parents, teachers and other staff on a daily basis.
Each day brings new challenges—and sometimes crises. As such, preparing to be an effective counselor requires more than just classroom learning. This usually involves up to hours of supervised fieldwork in schools and other professional settings. Licensure or certification is often contingent on completing an internship or practicum.
Step 4. The day-to-day challenges and overall experience of being a counselor can vary greatly depending on the size, location and type of school.
Some counselors are assigned to a single school, while others may coordinate counseling activities in two or more locations. Even more crucial is the age of the students, and prospective counselors should give this important consideration.
For example, counselors at the elementary level must understand the dynamics and goals of early childhood development, while at the middle-school level they will need to work with children who wrestle with new social pressures and academic challenges.
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