What Qualifications do you need to Become a Counselor?

Counselling is a profession that seems to be very interesting for students as they are the person who helps to solve personal problems and psychological issues. A person who is interested in helping people can look forward to this field as a career. A counselor needs to work with many people but different people have different problems which do make it an interesting job. But the main doubt for you may be what qualifications you will need to become a counsellor.

Quick Takeaways

• The qualifications that you need to become a counsellor are Psychology combined with counselling and criminology. 
• To become a counsellor you will need to be a member of the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy (BACP), the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), or the National Counseling Society (NCS). 
• As a counselor, you will need to create a relationship with the client and earn respect

Further, we have discussed the qualifications that are needed to become a counselor in detail.

What Qualifications do you need to Become a Counselor?

For every profession, being a professor or midwife, you will need to have different qualifications. Further, we have discussed some of the qualifications that you need to become a counsellor-

During the university

The student needs to be a member of a professional body like the British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy (BACP), the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), or the National Counseling Society (NCS). The courses that you should be studied throughout the university are psychology and combined degrees are as:

• Psychology with Counseling.
• Criminology and Psychology. 

There are some more requirements for being a counselor like having clinical/professional qualifications, occupational therapist, etc. As you will be studying the same content as psychologists study, you do not need to go to medical school.

During college studies

During the college period, you have many courses that make them learn essential skills based on counseling. For making counseling easy to achieve, the student can approach a three-stage in which the student gets familiar with the term counseling and builds the skills. These stages are discussed below-

Stage-1:Introduction to counseling

In the introduction stage, you will be able to get a good idea about what counseling entails as a career. Hence you get clear information about what you are doing to study in their further course and work in their further life. So here the student can also decide whether this course is fit for them or not. It teaches the student basic counseling skills.

Stage 2: Diploma/Certificate in Counseling:

The second stage involves the studies of recognized or certificate counseling. Here you will get deeper knowledge and information related to counseling theories, ethics, and self-awareness. At this stage, the student has to learn about the course such as:

• Mental health and counseling
• Level 3 Diploma

Stage 3: Core practitioner training

The last stage is the core practitioner which is conducted for at least a level 4 diploma study in which the counselor is given in-depth professional practitioner training to level up their proficiency in being a counselor, It provides the training of being reflective, competent, and having an international standard in quality. The course is being conducted for 1 year.

What are the responsibilities of a counselor?

The following are some responsibilities of a counselor:

• They need to build a relationship with the client and earn respect.
• You need to agree to a contract that will show all the sessions going to be conducted or already covered.
• They should build a relationship with the client by which they will feel free to express the issues that they are not able to share with others.
• Do make sure that you listen to the client’s concerns and be with them in their position.

• If the client raises any issue in the process, listen to it carefully and try to change yourself.
• The counselor should help the clients by supporting them in making decisions.
• You should help the client who needs any sort of other sources of help.

What is the salary of a counselor?

In case the salary of a counselor varies depending on the counselor for whom they are working, the location, the private counselor, and also the experience of the counselor these all play a big role in earning a good salary. Starting salary of a Counselor is where it is but it may be around 20000 to 26000 euros.

If the Counselor has experience in the field of counseling that may be between 30000 and 40000 euros. And if the counselor is giving private counseling for them there is no standard scale of the fee but approximately it may charge between 40 and 80 Euro for 50 minutes of the session.

What are the working hours of a counselor?

The counselor has a working hours from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It is also not fixed they may also be required to work in the evening or on weekends if there is any problem with the client.

Conclusion

For being a concealer the student should have basic counseling skills so that The Counselor would be able to listen to the problems of the client and get a solution to their problem as soon as possible. Counseling can be provided to the client through face-to-face counseling, and telephone counseling, and they can also give online counseling. The average rate of the counseling session is over 6 to 12 which is for around 50 minutes.

FAQ