4. COUNSELOR (COMMUNITY)
JOB DESCRIPTION
Overview
Professional counselors help people
with personal, family, social, and developmental problems or concerns. Counselors work with individuals, couples,
and families; they may also work with people in small groups. The specific counseling techniques they
employ differ according to the nature of their clients’ difficulties.
Counseling is a broad category,
encompassing a range of related job titles.
Community counselors (also called agency or mental health counselors)
typically work in mental health centers, social service agencies, counseling
centers, and private practices, emphasizing the prevention and amelioration of
mental health problems. This category
also includes such specializations as marriage and family counseling, pastoral
counseling, and substance abuse (addictions) counseling. School counselors (see “Counselor, School”
job profile), also called guidance counselors, work with K-12 students in
school systems. Rehabilitation counselors
(see “Rehabilitation Counselor/Psychologist” career profile) are trained to
work with disabled individuals and are often employed by rehabilitation
hospitals or social service agencies.
Counseling requires a master’s
degree. If a counselor pursues graduate
education in counseling beyond the master’s level, the doctoral degree is
earned in a field known as “counseling education and supervision.” This degree is not needed for independent
practice in counseling, but it does allow an individual to teach in the
counseling field at a college or university.
Note that this degree differs from
a doctorate in counseling psychology (see “Clinical and
Counseling Psychologist [Ph.D./Psy.D.]” career profile).
Typical Job Duties
• Counseling (also called
psychotherapy) individuals with personal problems, career concerns, or
psychological disorders
• Counseling distressed couples and
families
• Conducting workshops on
psychoeducational topics, e.g., stress management, assertiveness training,
career development
• Leading therapy groups for
individuals with specific types of problems, e.g., substance abuse, eating
disorders, depression
• Planning and overseeing the
day-to-day schedule at a group home
• Administering a prevention program
for at-risk teens
. • Recruiting, training, and supervising
volunteers to staff a community hotline
• Responding to crises and emergency
situations
Job Outlook
Faster-than-average job growth is
expected due to a greater societal focus on
psychological well-being. In
addition, positions may expand as health insurance and public-sector contracts
continue to increase funding for master’s-level clinicians. However, government jobs are likely to be
limited by budgetary constraints. Counselors
were not among the top 30 fastest growing occupations as ranked by the BLS, and
counseling was in the near balance (supply equals demand) category in the MSU
study.
Potential Earnings
The average starting salary for new
graduates with a master’s degree in community counseling is estimated to range
from $25,000 to $35,000. The median
salary of experienced counselors is estimated to range from $30,000 to
$40,000. A wide range is provided
because of the diversity of work settings in pay scales (i.e., from non-profit
organization work at the low end to private practice at the high end).
TRAINING
Professional Degree Required
A master’s degree in community
counseling is necessary for certification and/or licensure as a professional
counselor. Accredited programs require
approximately 60 semester hours of course and field work and take about two
years of full-time study to complete.
Many, if not most, programs allow students to pursue graduate degrees on
a part-time basis.
How to Find Programs
Counseling programs are accredited by
the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs
(CACREP). CACREP maintains the
following categories of accreditation: community counseling, community
counseling with a specialty in gerontological counseling, school counseling, and
marriage and family counseling and therapy.
Write to CACREP for a list of accredited programs (there are 119
accredited institutions) or visit the CACREP web site (addresses below).
CACREP accreditation is important for
obtaining both national certification as a clinical mental health counselor as
well as state licensure. Currently most
states license counselors; the license is the credential needed for independent
practice. In addition to graduation
from a CACREP program, licensure usually requires a set number of post-degree
hours of supervised clinical experience (e.g., 3000 hours) and passing a
national exam.
When researching programs, pay
attention also to the concentrations offered within community counseling. This will tell you about a program’s
strengths or emphases. For example, if
you have a strong interest in substance abuse counseling, you would want to be
certain that a program offers significant course work in that area. In addition to substance abuse counseling,
other common concentrations include marriage and family counseling, counseling
the aged, and employee assistance.
Entrance Requirements/Admissions
Counseling programs do not specify
particular undergraduate majors required for admission; a psychology major,
especially in the context of a broad liberal arts background, is considered
good preparation. A far more important
consideration is a candidate’s experience in the human services field. The ideal candidate has both volunteer and
paid work experience in diverse settings.
Taking time off to gain both experience and maturity would be viewed
positively by most counseling admission committees.
Counseling programs are moderately, but
increasingly, competitive. Counseling
programs in many states have experienced a rise in applications in recent
years, probably due to the relatively recent phenomenon of licensing for
professional counselors. This change
gives counselors the credentials and status of social workers, who have long
been allowed to practice independently.
The profession might also be viewed as a step ahead of master’s-level
clinical or counseling psychology practitioners, who can only practice
independently in four states (see “Clinical/Counseling Psychology: Master’s
(M.A.) Degree Level” job profile).
Students who primarily wish to practice psychotherapy upon graduation
(as opposed to conducting psychological assessments) and who see themselves
helping people with less severe psychological problems (e.g., problems of
living or developmental crises) may be happier with a master’s degree in
counseling than in clinical psychology.
Some counseling programs request a 3.0
GPA and 1000 GRE combined minimum for application; others provide no data on
minimum requirements. Data on median
GPAs/GREs of entering classes is hard to find.
From observations of students who have applied to counseling programs in
recent years, grades seem more important than test scores, and a strong record
of volunteer and paid work in human services can make up for borderline (those
below the preferred minimums) grades or test scores, although not both.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Print Materials/Organizations
American Counseling
Association (ACA), 5999 Stevenson Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22304. 703/823-9800.
Collison, B. B., & Garfield, N. J.
(1990). Careers in counseling and human development. Alexandria,
VA: American Association for Counseling
and Development. (Chapters 7 & 8:
Careers in private practice; careers in public and private agencies).
Council for Accreditation of Counseling
and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), 5999 Stevenson Avenue, Alexandria,
VA 22304. 703/823-9800. Directory of
accredited counseling programs.
Journal of Counseling and
Development (1995). Special Issue.
Professional counseling: Spotlight on specialties, 74(2). (Issue includes articles on each specialty
area, on credentialing and professionalization of counseling, and on issues
related to specialization.)
Internet Resources
American Counseling Association (ACA)
home page (for graduate school/CACREP information, click on “Students in
Counselor Education” and then “CACREP Directory”):
http://www.counseling.org/
CTOnLine (newsletter for professional
counselors): http:/www.counseling.org/ctonline/
“Cybrary” (a resource bank of links to
hundreds of internet sites related to specializations in counseling):
http://www.ced.appstate.edu/hpc/Cybrary/cyb_sic.htm