Career as Counsellor

Counsellors are trained to assist people in working through their personal and emotional issues. They provide a safe and confidential environment in which clients can learn to work through their issues and develop strategies to address and resolve problems on their own.  Counsellors generally assist clients in coping with issues on a conscious level which are more easily resolved through short term treatment. They can assist clients working through powerful emotional processes such as anger and grief, dealing with difficult life decisions or working through conflicts in their relationships.

Work on mental health

The role of a professional counselor involves working with individuals, groups, families, and communities to improve mental health. They encourage their clients to share their feelings and emotions. They also address issues related to depression, anger, relationships, abuse, bullying, stress, and more. They sometimes refer the clients to psychiatrists if required.

Address issues

Counselors ask their clients to talk about their emotions, how they exactly feel. They examine issues such as abuse, aging, bullying, anger management, careers, depression, relationships, self-image, LGBTQ issues, stress, and suicide. They also address people with problems such as conflicts or choices in their lives. Counselors also conduct therapy sessions for people. They gave directions to their clients about goals.

Educator: School counselors assist students at all levels, from elementary school to college. Listen to students' concerns about academic, emotional, or social problems. Help students process their problems and plan goals and actions. Mediate conflict between students and teachers. One could work in schools, colleges, and universities, helping to support students with study and personal issues. 

Healthcare professional: Hospital counselors work in different hospital settings and are an important part of a patient's treatment team. Therefore the counselor's primary role is case management, meaning to help the family find important resources the patient needs after they are discharged. They could find work in hospitals, GP surgeries, community, and occupational healthcare teams helping clients with a range of problems. The voluntary sector also provides an array of job options.

Social Worker:  Another option is to use your knowledge and counselling skills to move into settings such as teaching and social work. In the role of counselor, the social worker helps client systems articulate their needs, clarify their problems, explore resolution strategies, and applies intervention strategies to develop and expand the capacities of client systems to deal with their problems more effectively.

Clinical psychologist: A clinical worker or therapist would benefit from clinical supervision in order to monitor their work with clients and also to guarantee the best possible way forward to their professional and personal development. The key to great supervision is a collaborative and interactive process that monitors the quality of client care, improves clinical skills, and facilitates personal and professional growth.

Work with designated personnel as a thinking partner, a revealing mirror, and a pacesetter among others. Help employees increase their self-awareness so as to make them more effective as an individual and in turn, effective in their job.A counselor can play the role of a business partner to manage behavioral problems brought about by organisational changes.

Does Counsellor require travelling?

Likely

No, Employers often only require travel counselor applicants to have the equivalent of a high school diploma, though some prefer to hire travel agents who have more industry-specific training.

Employment Shifts

Full Time, Part Time

As far as the shift is concerned, most of the counsellors work on a regular shift from 9 am to 5 pm. However, if someone has his or her own practice then working hours might increase or decrease according to the number of daily visitors.

Employment Nature

Permanent, Contractual

Most of the counsellors work fulltime, however, some of them work on a contractual basis as well. For example a school counselor usually works on contractual basis, but over the past few years, majority of the schools, especially residential are opting for a full-time consellor.

Work Place

Office

Employers often only require travel counselor applicants to have the equivalent of a high school diploma, though some prefer to hire travel agents who have more industry-specific training.

Presence in Geographical Area

Rural, Urban

Contrast that with the environment encountered by counselors who work in rural areas, where the phrase “everybody knows your name” is oftentimes a truism, not just a homey slogan. This life-in-a fishbowl aspect of rural counseling offers unique challenges that encompass ethical decision making, boundary issues and counselor self-care.

Time Pressure

They work on weekends as well as in the evening hours. A lot of counselors also do part-time work. Most counselors operate approximately forty-five hours a week while counselors who are self-employed work more than this per week. So the time pressure for counselors is more when working independently.

Overtime Details

Counselors work about eight to nine hours per day and up to twelve hours when required. While several counselors work independently, some individuals work for reputed companies or medical institutions as part of a team.

Weekly Hours of Work

Min 45 Hours

Counsellors generally work for around 8-9 hours a day and five days a week.

Listening: Effective listening ability in counselling increases trust, allows the clients in opening up and reveal their emotions, and encouraged to share their feelings and thoughts. It also supports the collection of important patient information which helps the counselling process in the future. Attending is the art of being in someone else's company and being able to give them your full attention, with no distractions. It makes clients feel supported and important and it's crucial to a counsellor building a therapeutic relationship with the client, as is active listening. The client needs to feel that their problems and issues are recognised and understood by someone empathetic but impartial.

Unbiased: Being bias-free includes a real assessment of the policy objectives and practices in the organization to guarantee employers are honest to applicants, staff, and shareholders. The main benefit is that workers feel that their working conditions are secure, free of poor treatment, and also free from any kind of harassment and discrimination. A counsellor's job isn't to pass judgment or give advice on a client's actions or feelings; instead through talking therapy, they aim to help clients see things clearly, from a different, more optimistic viewpoint. As a counsellor, you need to contain and manage your own reactions in a supportive and professional manner.

Professionalism: Professionalism embraces the behaviour and attitude, appearance, and ethical standards of a worker's place of work. Employees with high levels of integrity are often seen as more reliable and trustworthy than their peers. As a repercussion, professional employees are often seen as the representatives of their organization. Counsellors ought to specifically consider confidential matters. Everything mentioned in client meetings should only be forwarded on to third parties in exceptional cases other than the clinical supervisor of the counsellor.

Patience: Patience is a vital component of organizational performance. Employees have to experience certain cases, several times that really need patience. That because when urgency occurs, they, therefore, need to function more hours than regular days.  The work of a counsellor can be very intense and demanding. You'll support clients through emotional issues on a daily basis, which can lead to burnout if you let stress, performance pressure, and overwork build-up.

Empathy: Compassion, understanding, and genuineness are critical in the career of counselling. It provides hope in the counselling session.  Optimism could develop to bring effective changes in the client's personality so that they can bring positive change into their lifestyles. You'll need to remain curious and committed to improving your clients' emotional wellbeing for a lasting and gratifying career. Being able to demonstrate a real interest in clients' individual situations will promote a positive and trusting client-counsellor relationship.

Family counsellors: Marriage and Family Counsellors are mental health professionals trained in psychotherapy and family systems, and licensed to diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders within the context of marriage, couples, and family systems.

Guidance and career counsellors: Career Counsellors or a student counsellor job description includes giving guidance for a particular field, such as engineering, management, hospitality, etc., must be experts in the concerned domain. A good Career Counsellor is a problem solver, a keen listener, and observer, and has sufficient knowledge of various fields to guide you in your career decisions.

Rehabilitation counsellors: Rehabilitation counselors help people with physical, mental, developmental, or emotional disabilities live independently. They work with clients to overcome or manage the personal, social, or psychological effects of disabilities on employment or independent living.

Mental health counsellor: A mental health counselor is a professional who utilizes a variety of psychotherapy methods and techniques to help people experiencing psychological distress.

Substance abuse counsellor: The substance abuse counselor is a mental health counselor specializing in treating patients who have a chemical dependency on drugs or alcohol. Whether counseling addicts or those who fear they will become addicts, a substance abuse counselor works with their client to help overcome dependencies and become self-sufficient.

Educational counsellor: An educational counselor or an academic counsellor job description involves working with school students in a school environment. Schools now hire educational counselors to assist special-needs children with their studies, provide career counselling, based on the options available to students and also help students with their personal issues.

India has the biggest student population in the world, accounting for 350 million students. The nation needs at least 1.4 million career counsellors to maintain a globally acceptable student-to-school-counsellor ratio. This is because the problem of selecting a suitable career is direr in India as parents even now force their kids to pick their future only from three or four conventional options including engineering, medical, and MBA. This increases the need for career counselling for students to determine their field which compliments their interest and offers a practical job. This showcases the high scope for career counsellors in India and forecasting a bright future for the counselling business.

Career counselling in India is a huge addressable market as currently India needs a minimum of 1.4 million career counsellors to maintain a globally acceptable student to school counsellor ratio. While a few national boards have mandated schools to have counsellors, over 93 per cent schools in India don’t have a professional counsellor on board. There is an urgent need for career counsellors at the school level in India. The market size for career assessment and guidance is currently estimated at over Rs 5,000 crore* in India and continuously growing. Developing economies are increasingly appreciating the impact of career counselling in aligning students with the right options and thus contributing towards nation-building. 

India is a counselling-deficit education sector - and has just around 1 lakh career counsellors whereas it needs at least 15 lakh career counsellors to satisfy the student market (315 million students) today. In comparison, the US has about 2.6 million student counsellors for 56 million students. So there is huge scope for counsellors to grow in India.