What Can I Do with a Bachelor’s in Counseling Degree?

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• A coun­sel­ing degree opens up var­i­ous career oppor­tu­ni­ties, includ­ing men­tal health coun­selor, mar­riage or fam­i­ly coun­selor, school coun­selor, and gen­er­al coun­selor roles in set­tings like men­tal health agen­cies, hos­pi­tals, rehab facil­i­ties, and schools.
• Choos­ing a pro­gram accred­it­ed by bod­ies like the Coun­cil for Accred­i­ta­tion of Coun­sel­ing & Relat­ed Edu­ca­tion­al Pro­grams (CACREP) ensures bet­ter edu­ca­tion­al qual­i­ty and high­er chances of pass­ing licen­sure exams.
• To prac­tice legal­ly, grad­u­ates need to pass com­pre­hen­sive state licens­ing exams, typ­i­cal­ly requir­ing a degree from a region­al­ly accred­it­ed institution.

Accord­ing to the Amer­i­can Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion, pro­fes­sion­al coun­selors pro­vide guid­ance that helps oth­ers over­come life chal­lenges. This broad state­ment reveals just how pro­lif­ic and valu­able coun­sel­ing has become in mod­ern society.

Coun­sel­ing pro­duces impres­sive results if the process allows for the coun­selor and the client to work in uni­son – as a team. A coun­selor is trained to help clients rec­og­nize their goals and to for­mu­late viable step-by-step solu­tions. This includes not only iden­ti­fy­ing inner emo­tion­al may­hem, but also the pro­vi­sion of tech­niques to help a client attain a more bal­anced approach to life. Prac­ti­cal meth­ods used include cop­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills that pro­mote behav­ioral change.

How to Become a Counselor: Finding Your Path

Coun­selors impact patients’ lives in many influ­en­tial ways. Pro­fes­sion­al coun­selors work in a vari­ety of work­place set­tings because their coun­sel­ing skills meet the needs of diverse age groups, occu­pa­tions, back­grounds, and fam­i­ly sit­u­a­tions. As you step for­ward and learn how to become a coun­selor, begin to refine your think­ing and con­sid­er which coun­sel­ing spe­cial­ty you pre­fer. Ask your­self, is there a spe­cial­ized patient pop­u­la­tion you’d pre­fer to coun­sel? While you need not pin­point your exact career choice this ear­ly in the process, it is pru­dent to choose a broad­er cat­e­go­ry in which your career goals fall.

The real­i­ty is that your career objec­tives will ulti­mate­ly deter­mine the edu­ca­tion and expe­ri­ence you will need to be prop­er­ly pre­pared to be suc­cess­ful in accor­dance with your cho­sen career goals. Coun­sel­ing with a bach­e­lor’s degree is possible!

Relat­ed:

Best Online Coun­sel­ing Degree Pro­grams
Top Psy­chol­o­gy Degree Pro­grams
Cheap­est Psy­chol­o­gy Degree Pro­grams
Fastest Online Psy­chol­o­gy Degrees Programs

If you are ready to step upon the path that shows you how to become a coun­selor with bach­e­lor degree, begin by search­ing for schools that have under­grad­u­ate coun­sel­ing pro­grams that pro­vide the edu­ca­tion and train­ing you will need to be a suc­cess­ful coun­selor in the field of your choice. Course­work for those seek­ing to know how to become a ther­a­pist or coun­selor starts with basic lib­er­al arts class­es, includ­ing coun­sel­ing and psy­chol­o­gy cours­es. As you progress through your stud­ies, class­es become more spe­cial­ized in the major of your choice.

What Can I Do with a Degree in Counseling?

When one con­sid­ers the innu­mer­able caus­es of stress in mod­ern life, it is easy to see how the future of coun­sel­ing job prospects can only be described as aus­pi­cious. Over­all, includ­ing all the var­ied careers avail­able to those who have earned their bachelor’s in coun­sel­ing, the job mar­ket is antic­i­pat­ed to grow in line with sim­i­lar occu­pa­tions through 2026. These specifics are dis­cussed in detail later.

Those who earn bac­calau­re­ate degrees in coun­sel­ing have the prop­er train­ing to locate jobs oppor­tu­ni­ties in the fields of edu­ca­tion, men­tal health, and human devel­op­ment. Dif­fer­ent coun­sel­ing work set­tings are plen­ti­ful, as one can choose to work in a men­tal health agency, a hos­pi­tal, a rehab facil­i­ty, a busi­ness or a school.

When you have earned your bachelor’s degree in coun­sel­ing, it acts as a step­ping stone to more advanced, and spe­cial­ized jobs avail­able by those who wish to take the next step to earn their master’s degree.

Now you should have a head start in under­stand­ing how to become a ther­a­pist or coun­selor as you con­sid­er your future career plans.

How to Become a Counselor: Education

Col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties that offer a Bachelor’s Degree in Coun­sel­ing pro­gram are not “required” to be accred­it­ed by a gov­ern­ment-approved accred­i­ta­tion agency. How­ev­er, choos­ing an unac­cred­it­ed coun­sel­ing pro­gram would be unwise, as coun­sel­ing pro­gram accred­i­ta­tion sig­nif­i­cant­ly con­tributes to the school’s sta­tus and rep­u­ta­tion. If you have lofti­er career goals in the field of coun­sel­ing, it is imper­a­tive that you choose a cur­ricu­lum that com­plies with the Coun­cil for Accred­i­ta­tion of Coun­sel­ing & Relat­ed Edu­ca­tion Pro­gram (CACREP) stan­dards. Meet­ing these stan­dards applies to accred­it­ed school coun­sel­ing pro­grams online and on-campus.

Why is CACREP Accreditation Important?

Research shows CACREP stan­dards ensure grad­u­ates are more like­ly to pass the Nation­al Coun­selor Exam­i­na­tion for Licen­sure and Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion (NCE). Pro­grams accred­it­ed by CACREP pre­scribe a cur­ricu­lum that pro­vides direct path­ways that meets most state licens­ing requirements.

CACREP vs APA Accreditation

The Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion (APA) accred­i­ta­tion empha­sizes the val­u­a­tion of equal access to required knowl­edge. It encour­ages schools to autonomous­ly self-define their cur­ricu­lum to meet said goal. On the oth­er hand, CACREP explic­it­ly defines skills and pro­fi­cien­cies a pro­gram of study must pro­vide which allow stu­dents to demon­strate their ability.

National v. Regional Accreditation

The Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion rec­og­nizes region­al accred­i­ta­tion as the high­est stan­dard of achieve­ment for col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties. There are six pri­ma­ry accred­it­ing areas with­in the Unit­ed States. These include:

• MSA – Mid­dle States Association
• NAC – North­west Accred­i­ta­tion Commission
• NCA – North Cen­tral Association
• NEASC – New Eng­land Association
• SACS – South­ern Association
• WASC – West­ern Association

Dif­fer­ing accred­i­ta­tions offer dif­fer­ing ben­e­fits. While a nation­al­ly accred­it­ed school may fare bet­ter with regards to a program’s ease of entrance or, its afford­abil­i­ty, region­al­ly accred­it­ed schools tend to have ele­vat­ed aca­d­e­m­ic rep­u­ta­tions. It’s also impor­tant, as many coun­sel­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tions and licen­sure exams require a degree from a region­al­ly accred­it­ed insti­tu­tion just to apply.

Those hold­ing a coun­sel­ing degree will need to earn the appro­pri­ate state license before being legal­ly allowed to prac­tice the art of coun­sel­ing. A license is typ­i­cal­ly obtained by apply­ing for, and pass­ing a com­pre­hen­sive licens­ing exam issued by each state. Each state-licens­ing exam dif­fers from the oth­ers, but again, most states require at least a degree from a region­al­ly-accred­it­ed school

Types of Counseling Degrees

A coun­sel­ing degree at the bac­calau­re­ate lev­el offer grad­u­ates a pletho­ra of career options. Bachelor’s in coun­sel­ing grad­u­ates find that upon grad­u­a­tion they have the option to select from a vari­ety of career oppor­tu­ni­ties. A coun­sel­ing degree online or an online bachelor’s degree in psy­chol­o­gy pre­pares you for a suc­cess­ful career despite the fact the pro­gram was offered as a dis­tance-learn­ing option.

As a ther­a­pist major with a Bachelor’s in Coun­sel­ing, you will have lit­tle need to ask your­self – What degree do I need to be a coun­selor? Your coun­sel­ing bach­e­lor degree answers this ques­tion as a coun­sel­ing major offers grad­u­ates a dynam­ic choice of pop­u­lar career options.

Con­sid­er the fol­low­ing dif­fer­ent career paths for the vary­ing types of coun­sel­ing degrees:

Gen­er­al Coun­selor – assists a large array of peo­ple with a vari­ety of issues. Those with a ther­a­pist major focus upon iden­ti­fy­ing the cause of ongo­ing prob­lems that pri­mar­i­ly deals with sub­stance abuse, rela­tion­ship issues, work-relat­ed prob­lems or the treat­ment of men­tal health dis­or­ders. Ulti­mate­ly, the work objec­tives of those who hold a coun­sel­ing bachelor’s degree are to col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly cre­ate treat­ment tech­niques to help their clients at work, in rela­tion­ships, with sub­stance abuse, or with men­tal health dis­or­ders. They devise treat­ment meth­ods designed to help their client cope with or reverse the prob­lems that impact their lives most negatively.

Men­tal Health Coun­selor – works with peo­ple who strug­gle from men­tal health issues that have been either appro­pri­ate­ly diag­nosed or, those issues that remain undi­ag­nosed. Specif­i­cal­ly, these men­tal health con­cerns include obses­sive behav­ior, sub­stance abuse, stress, depres­sion, and anx­i­ety. Men­tal Health Coun­selors also treat the many forms of addic­tion: gam­bling addic­tion, sex addic­tion, video game addic­tion, com­pul­sive overeat­ing, and even shop­ping addic­tion, among oth­ers. Coun­sel­ing degree grad­u­ates work close­ly with the patient (and those peo­ple in the patient’s life) to cre­ate sig­nif­i­cant, effec­tive, long-term treat­ment deci­sions. A men­tal health coun­selor works in out­pa­tient envi­ron­ments as well as inpa­tient facil­i­ties. If you have grad­u­at­ed from one of the best men­tal health coun­sel­ing pro­grams, get ready to take advan­tage of the many coun­sel­ing posi­tions available.

If you have earned an online psy­chol­o­gy coun­sel­ing degree, you pos­sess the skills and tools to work in many dif­fer­ent men­tal health capac­i­ties. A bach­e­lors of sci­ence in psy­chol­o­gy online also pre­pares grad­u­ates to work with clients chal­lenged by men­tal illness.

Mar­riage or Fam­i­ly Coun­selor – help their clients address a wide range of per­son­al issues and psy­cho­log­i­cal prob­lems. How­ev­er, those who have earned a mar­riage and fam­i­ly ther­a­pist degree focus and inter­per­son­al dynam­ics between fam­i­ly mem­bers and/or mar­ried cou­ples. Their goal is to restore har­mo­ny to the fam­i­ly unit while help­ing each mem­ber deal with the issues that com­pro­mise their rela­tion­ships with the peo­ple clos­est to them.

Schools offer­ing a mar­riage and fam­i­ly ther­a­pist degree pro­gram will like­ly have pro­ce­dures in place for stu­dents who want to earn addi­tion­al accred­i­ta­tion through the com­ple­tion of oth­er fam­i­ly coun­sel­ing cer­tifi­cate programs.

School Coun­selor – works with school-age chil­dren that range from small chil­dren to young adults, specif­i­cal­ly in some form of a school set­ting. They are tasked with the respon­si­bil­i­ty of facil­i­tat­ing and inte­grat­ing each student’s per­son­al, social and aca­d­e­m­ic worlds to pro­mote devel­op­ment and growth. The school-coun­sel­ing field is some­what unique, as it requires a coun­sel­ing prac­ti­tion­er to min­i­mize psy­choso­cial devel­op­ment issues, while attempt­ing to max­i­mize career development.

Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Coun­selor – works with peo­ple who have phys­i­cal dis­abil­i­ties by intro­duc­ing cop­ing skills to man­age the impact of emo­tion­al and phys­i­cal impacts of the dis­abil­i­ty. How­ev­er, a reha­bil­i­ta­tion coun­selor focus­es on the many logis­ti­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal effects of the dis­abil­i­ty. Phys­i­cal ther­a­pists are trained spe­cial­ists that help with mobil­i­ty issues.

It is impor­tant to note that the term “coun­selor” and a “ther­a­pist” are often used inter­change­ably because the def­i­n­i­tions over­lap quite a bit. In gen­er­al terms, the train­ing and edu­ca­tion need­ed to become a coun­selor online is less than is required to earn a ther­a­pist degree.

For stu­dents con­sid­er­ing a coun­sel­ing degree online, know that there are many online school coun­sel­ing degrees and col­leges for coun­sel­ing degrees. Some uni­ver­si­ties and col­leges even offer free online coun­sel­ing class­es, how­ev­er, the com­ple­tion of these class­es do not typ­i­cal­ly pro­vide semes­ter cred­it hours. Remem­ber, that while your ini­tial search might include bach­e­lor of coun­sel­ing degrees from online school coun­sel­ing degrees, it is also crit­i­cal to review the coun­sel­ing major require­ments as well as the school’s accreditation.

Types of Counseling Certifications

Obtain­ing a coun­selor cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is a smart way to enhance your pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment and career prospects. One such exam­ple of a spe­cial­ized cer­tifi­cate is the Nation­al Cer­ti­fied School Coun­selor, a sub­set of the more gen­er­al­ized coun­sel­ing industry.

Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is the process in which a pro­fes­sion­al demon­strate their abil­i­ties, usu­al­ly through offer­ing proof of their accom­plish­ments and pass­ing an exam­i­na­tion. A Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is also the writ­ten ver­i­fi­ca­tion that offi­cial­ly rep­re­sents a professional’s qual­i­fi­ca­tions and sta­tus. Cer­tifi­cates can be earned through con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion that meets the ther­a­pist edu­ca­tion need­ed. But, any­way you slice it, a cer­tifi­cate hold­er shows a professional’s com­mit­ment to the profession.

Cer­tain types of coun­sel­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tions are often includ­ed as a part of the ther­a­pist require­ments includ­ed in a coun­sel­ing degree program’s cur­ricu­lum. Your ini­tial research for poten­tial schools is often a smart way to learn how to earn a coun­sel­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. A coun­selor cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is also a legit­i­mate mar­ket­ing tool because, giv­en a choice, and with all else remain­ing equal, those seek­ing coun­sel­ing would like­ly select the nation­al­ly cer­ti­fied coun­selor instead of one with­out. Meet­ing the ther­a­pist require­ments delin­eat­ed by a coun­selor cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram can pro­vide finan­cial ben­e­fits too!

For instance, earn­ing a cer­tifi­cate from the Nation­al Board for Cer­ti­fied Coun­selors (NBCC) is like­ly to open doors to job oppor­tu­ni­ties that were pre­vi­ous­ly unavail­able. When apply­ing for a job, an earned cer­ti­fi­ca­tion may be the tiebreak­er between two equal­ly tal­ent­ed job prospects. This is because hold­ing that cer­ti­fi­ca­tion reveals a com­mit­ment and exper­tise in a spe­cif­ic area of counseling.

How to Get a Counselor Certification

When you have grad­u­at­ed from a bachelor’s in a coun­sel­ing pro­gram that has met CACREP stan­dards, degree hold­ers now have an oppor­tu­ni­ty to apply to the Nation­al Board for Cer­ti­fied Coun­selors (NBCC) – the pro­fes­sion­al agency that awards the Nation­al Cer­ti­fied Counselor(NCC) cer­tifi­cate. While this cer­ti­fi­ca­tion offers a vari­ety of pro­fes­sion­al ben­e­fits, it does not elim­i­nate the need for you to obtain a state license. One of the ben­e­fits of this cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is that some states offer a fast track regard­ing the licens­ing pro­ce­dures for Nation­al Cer­ti­fied Coun­selor cer­tifi­cate holders.

Once licensed, coun­selors have a vari­ety of cre­den­tials and train­ing options per­tain­ing to spe­cial­ty patient pop­u­la­tions, treat­ment method­olo­gies, and clin­i­cal envi­ron­ments. These advanced cre­den­tials include some, but not all avail­able certificates:

• CCMHC – Cer­ti­fied Clin­i­cal Men­tal Health Counselor
• CFT – Cer­ti­fied Fam­i­ly Therapist
• FHE – Foren­sic Health Evaluators
• GCDF – Glob­al Career Devel­op­ment Facilitator
• MAC – Mas­ter Addic­tions Counselor

As in most fields, there are var­i­ous types of coun­sel­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tions, which are not always required to secure, a well-pay­ing coun­sel­ing posi­tion will enhance your employ­a­bil­i­ty. How­ev­er, it is impor­tant to know that the best degree for coun­sel­ing is the one that meets your per­son­al career goals. You have learned how to get a coun­sel­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion; the next step is your actu­al career.

Careers in Counseling

As you ready your­self for your next career move, have you con­sid­ered how to become a men­tal health coun­selor or what types of ther­a­py careers are avail­able? If you have asked your­self how to become a coun­selor with­out a degree, it is best to focus most­ly on entry-lev­el coun­sel­ing positions.

The many types of jobs in coun­sel­ing with a bach­e­lor’s degree are avail­able in a vari­ety of dif­fer­ent indus­tries. While many coun­selors have a career objec­tive to open their own pri­vate prac­tices, still oth­ers pre­fer not. For those who do not wish to become a men­tal health coun­selor work­ing in pri­vate prac­tice, there are many indus­tries to select from. The fol­low­ing is a par­tial list of pub­lic sec­tor jobs a coun­selor can work:

• Deten­tion Facility
• School
• Uni­ver­si­ty
• Hos­pi­tal
• Gov­ern­ment Agency
• Nurs­ing Facility
• Pub­lic Or Pri­vate Clinic
• Social Ser­vices Agency
• Human ser­vices
• Social work
• Fam­i­ly Therapy
• Addic­tion counseling
• Case man­age­ment
• Pro­fes­sion­al counseling
• Career coun­sel­ing
• Behav­ioral health
• Group coun­sel­ing

A men­tal health ther­a­pist job descrip­tion for those work­ing in the pri­vate sec­tor would focus upon those busi­ness and orga­ni­za­tions where people’s (cus­tomers and staff) behav­ior sig­nif­i­cant­ly impact a busi­ness’ operation.

Your work expe­ri­ence, under­grad­u­ate degree, spe­cial­iza­tion, and many oth­er fac­tors impact your career oppor­tu­ni­ties. A doc­tor­al degree or oth­er grad­u­ate degree offers more than a bach­e­lor of arts or sci­ence. If you want to become a sub­stance abuse coun­selor or licensed coun­selor, online pro­grams are read­i­ly avail­able. Social work­ers are in a relat­ed field that is also in high demand.

The Outlook for Different Types of Therapy Careers

The Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics (BLS) is a fed­er­al agency that projects future job mar­ket con­di­tions based on a sta­tis­ti­cal analy­sis that uses vol­umes and vol­umes of fed­er­al gov­ern­ment data. Because of the many and var­ied spe­cial­ties with­in the coun­sel­ing pro­fes­sion, the BLS has spe­cif­ic sta­tis­ti­cal results for each indi­vid­ual spe­cial­ty. With­in these detailed pages dis­closed by the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, you find out how to become a fam­i­ly coun­selor, and learn of abnor­mal psy­chol­o­gy jobs as well as non-licensed coun­sel­ing jobs.

Learn­ing how to become a men­tal health coun­selor is the first step to reach­ing for your career objec­tives. The next step is to decide among the many types of ther­a­py careers avail­able. For those who want to learn how to become a coun­selor with­out a degree, you might want to re-con­sid­er that an online coun­sel­ing degree path will pro­pel you to lofti­er objec­tives. For instance, con­sid­er that a Recre­ation Coun­selor, which requires only a high school diplo­ma to be employed, has a ther­a­pist salary per hour of $11.80. Coun­sel­ing jobs with a bachelor’s degree may pay less than a high­er degree, however.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics pre­dicts that the future demand for all coun­selors remains strong, how­ev­er, dif­fer­ences exist among the spe­cial­ties and cer­tain areas that do not match nation­al averages.

The fol­low­ing details the antic­i­pat­ed job growth of a vari­ety of coun­sel­ing spe­cial­ties – through the year 2026. The per­cent­ages not­ed for each coun­sel­ing area denotes the government’s expect­ed indus­try growth.

• Mar­riage & Fam­i­ly Coun­selors– 20% (much faster than aver­age of all careers)
• Men­tal Health Coun­selors- 20% (much faster than aver­age of all careers)
• Sub­stance Abuse/Behavioral Dis­or­der Coun­selors- 20% (much faster than aver­age of all careers)
• School & Career Coun­selors- 11% (in line with the aver­age of all careers)
• Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Coun­selors– 10% (in line with the aver­age of all careers)

As is obvi­ous, the BLS expects job growth in coun­sel­ing and ther­a­py to not only be steady, but in many cas­es extreme­ly pro­lif­ic. Choos­ing coun­sel­ing is clear­ly a career path that will offer job oppor­tu­ni­ty. But is there mon­ey to be made?

How Much Money Does a Therapist Make? Salary Expectations

Let’s begin with the burn­ing ques­tion: How much mon­ey does a ther­a­pist make?

When con­sid­er­ing the coun­sel­ing spe­cial­ty you are inter­est­ed in, the first ques­tions you will ask your­self many finan­cial and salary ques­tions. These inquiries take the form of: How much do ther­a­pists make an hour? How much do ther­a­pists make an hour? How do they com­pare to a pri­vate prac­tice clin­i­cal ther­a­pist salary?

As not­ed below, a ther­a­pist salary falls with­in a large range of poten­tial salaries. Clear­ly, a psy­cho­log­i­cal ther­a­pist salary per year will dif­fer from a gen­er­al ther­a­pist salary per year or a pri­vate prac­tice clin­i­cal ther­a­pist salary. How much do mar­riage coun­selors make an hour? School counselors?

Accord­ing to BLS, here are the lat­est ther­a­pist salary statistics:

School Coun­selor Salary & Out­look – The 2017 medi­an pay for school and career coun­selors is $26.64/ hour. The antic­i­pat­ed job growth (over the next decade) of 13% is con­sid­ered faster than aver­age. A psy­cho­log­i­cal ther­a­pist salary is con­sid­ered to be on the upper range of a ther­a­pist salary.

Fam­i­ly Ther­a­pist Salary & Out­look – How much do mar­riage coun­selors make an hour? The 2017 licensed mar­riage or fam­i­ly ther­a­pist salary per hour is $23.45. The antic­i­pat­ed job growth of 23% (over the next decade), is con­sid­ered much faster than average.

Men­tal Ther­a­pist Salary & Out­look – The 2017 men­tal ther­a­pist salary (which includes sub­stance abuse, and behav­ioral dis­or­der coun­selors) is $20.82. This should answer the ques­tion as to how much do men­tal health ther­a­pists make per hour. The antic­i­pat­ed job growth for a men­tal ther­a­pist of 23% (over the next decade) is con­sid­ered much faster than average.

Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Coun­selor Salary & Out­look – The 2017 reha­bil­i­ta­tion cer­ti­fied coun­selor salary is $16.76/ hour. The antic­i­pat­ed job growth (over the next decade), of 13% is con­sid­ered faster than average.

The poten­tial for a men­tal health salary or a fam­i­ly ther­a­pist salary(or any oth­er coun­sel­ing posi­tion) is con­tin­gent upon the degree earned, pro­fes­sion­al expe­ri­ence, and the attain­ment of one or more cer­ti­fi­ca­tion lev­els. Over­all, and in accor­dance with the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, coun­selors work­ing for state or local gov­ern­ment agen­cies typ­i­cal­ly receive the most lucra­tive offers. The next high­est ther­a­pist salary is for those work­ing in hos­pi­tals and then, those work­ing for res­i­den­tial care facil­i­ties. A pri­vate prac­tice clin­i­cal ther­a­pist salary or a psy­cho­log­i­cal ther­a­pist salary both reach greater annu­al earnings.

Job prospects and salary are depen­dent on the coun­sel­ing type, as well as degree and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion lev­el. Typ­i­cal­ly, coun­selors who work at local or state gov­ern­ment agen­cies are paid the high­est coun­selor salary, accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics (BLS), fol­lowed by hos­pi­tals and then res­i­den­tial care facil­i­ties. Coun­selors who have estab­lished pri­vate prac­tices, as well as coun­selors employed in a group prac­tice, had the high­est coun­sel­ing psy­chol­o­gy salary of all oth­er indus­tries that employed a counselor’s services.

Professional Counselor Organizations

Pro­fes­sion­al Orga­ni­za­tions and coun­selor orga­ni­za­tions pos­sess great val­ue for those in the field or spe­cial­ty they over­see and man­age. Pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions are a smart way to stay on top of cur­rent issues, or for those who are look­ing for employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties. Join­ing a pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion is also a great way to give back to oth­er pro­fes­sion­als work­ing in the same capac­i­ty. These pro­fes­sion­al affil­i­a­tions can be nation­al orga­ni­za­tions like the Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion. How­ev­er, there are spe­cial­ty orga­ni­za­tions like Amer­i­can Men­tal Health Coun­selors Association(AMHCA) who has defined and now enforces the AMHCA Code of Ethics.

The fol­low­ing list of pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions offers great insight into how valu­able your mem­ber­ship may be in terms of edu­ca­tion, licens­ing options and, steps towards career advancement.

Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion for Mar­riage and Fam­i­ly Ther­a­pists (AAMFT)
Amer­i­can Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion Mem­ber­ship (ACA)
Amer­i­can Men­tal Health Coun­selors Asso­ci­a­tion (AMHCA)
Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion (APA)
Amer­i­can School Coun­selor Asso­ci­a­tion (ASCA)
Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Mar­riage and Fam­i­ly Coun­selors (IAMFC)
Nation­al Board for Cer­ti­fied Coun­selors (NBCC)
Nation­al Career Devel­op­ment Asso­ci­a­tion (NCDA)

There are coun­selor orga­ni­za­tions that tar­get spe­cif­ic kinds of coun­sel­ing prac­tices. Many coun­selors fol­low the AMHCA Code of Ethics or join a nation­al pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion, like the Amer­i­can Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion. Simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, coun­selors find it ben­e­fi­cial by join­ing small­er pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions as follows:

Amer­i­can Col­lege Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion (ACCA)
Amer­i­can Men­tal Health Coun­selors Asso­ci­a­tion (AMHCA)
Amer­i­can Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion (ARCA)
Amer­i­can School Coun­selor Asso­ci­a­tion (ASCA)
Asso­ci­a­tion for Adult Devel­op­ment and Aging (AADA)
Asso­ci­a­tion for Assess­ment in Coun­sel­ing and Edu­ca­tion (AAC)International Asso­ci­a­tion of Addic­tion and Offend­er Coun­selors (IAAOC)
Asso­ci­a­tion for Coun­selor Edu­ca­tion and Super­vi­sion (ACES)
Asso­ci­a­tion for Coun­selors and Edu­ca­tors in Gov­ern­ment (ACEG)
Asso­ci­a­tion for Cre­ativ­i­ty in Coun­sel­ing (ACC)
Asso­ci­a­tion for Les­bian, Gay, Bisex­u­al, & Trans­gen­der Issues in Coun­sel­ing (ALGBTIC)
Asso­ci­a­tion for Mul­ti­cul­tur­al Coun­sel­ing and Devel­op­ment (AMCD)
Asso­ci­a­tion for Spe­cial­ists in Group Work (ASGW)
Asso­ci­a­tion for Spir­i­tu­al, Eth­i­cal, and Reli­gious Val­ues in Coun­sel­ing (ASERVIC)
Asso­ci­a­tion of Guid­ance Coun­selors
Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion for Human­is­tic Edu­ca­tion and Devel­op­ment (C‑AHEAD)
Coun­selors for Social Jus­tice
Inter­na­tion­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Mar­riage and Fam­i­ly Coun­selors (IAMFC)
Nation­al Career Devel­op­ment Asso­ci­a­tion (NCDA)
Nation­al Employ­ment Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion (NECA)
School Psy­chol­o­gist Asso­ci­a­tion
The Asso­ci­a­tion for Human­is­tic Coun­sel­ing (AHC)