Phil - Race

Some of the areas you will cover in the beginning of your counseling education are mental health counseling, school counseling, community counseling, rehabilitation counseling, substance abuse counseling, vocational counseling and guidance counseling. Your counseling education will help choose which area you want to get your counseling degree in. Your counseling degree can only be in one area of specialty so it is important to take the opportunities your counseling education offers you to learn more about each field that interests you.

During your counseling education you will learn the difference between a counselor and a psychologist. Your counseling education will teach you that both psychologists and counselors help people cope with emotional stress, but licensed clinical, counseling, or educational psychologists must have a doctorate in psychology. This requires 5-to-7 years of postgraduate work. This is a considerably larger amount of schooling compared to other degrees. If this is not what you want to do then it is recommended you do not begin to work toward a counseling degree because your counseling education will be long road.

You can complete your counseling education and earn your counseling degree by going to one of many colleges that specializes in counseling and psychology, such as Argosy University, or complete your counseling education online. There are hundreds of online counseling education programs. What is good about these online counseling education programs is that you can work towards your counseling degree at your own pace. Your counseling education will most likely end in a counseling degree that is either a masters or a doctorate. However there are some counseling programs that only require you to have an associates counseling degree. These programs are most often in the alcohol drug abuse fields. Please note this is not the case for every alcohol and drug abuse counseling program.

After you have completed your counseling education and earned your counseling degree you will have to get your counseling license. The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) grants a general practice credential, National Certified Counselor (NCC), to counselors who have passed their examination, have completed a graduate counseling degree and have 2 years of fieldwork. Other mental health counselor certification boards grant such titles as Certified Mental Health Counselor (CMHC), Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor (NACCMHC), Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), and Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC). Once you have earned your counseling degree and become a licensed counselor you can begin your work. It is estimated that median counselor salary ranges from $25,660- $58,400, depending on your specialty.