Licensed Professional Counselor Job Description

Professional Counselors

Counseling is a profession that has been around for a long time. It is now a professional career in which you can help people from a wide variety of ages and genders, and it is still possible to receive it from a village shaman. It is important to make sure that counseling is the career for you.

Learning more about what a professional counselor does and does not do can help you make a more informed decision. If you are ready to learn more about your career, sit down and let's get started. A licensed professional counselor is trained to work with groups, families and individual people in a clinical setting or private practice.

They may address mental, emotional, social or behavioral issues, all with an eye towards helping people find better alternatives to unhealthy ways of dealing with the challenges of daily living. Any number of roles can be served by licensed professional counselors. They may focus on mental health in children, adolescents, adults or the elderly.

They can work in private practice, hospitals, schools, veterans, and the military. They may be employed by corporations or non-profits, and a wide variety of other health centers, agencies and organizations. Professional counselors help people get better wherever possible.

They help them deal with trauma, grieve, learn to engage with other people in a healthy manner, and live full lives even with mental illness. They counsel, encourage families and couples to work together and provide therapy. Counselors who are licensed may work as mental health service providers, who assess people for disorders and provide courses of treatment.

Specialization in Mental Health Counseling Psychology

Some mental health counselors specialize in a specific area, while others work on a range of general issues. Some choose to specialize in a particular patient population. One's interests and desires are what determines Specialization.

It is not the job of a mental health counselor to fix the problems their clients face but to help them understand those challenges and figure out their own path toward resolution. In most cases, the work that must be done by the client is what you will offer as a mental health counselor. If you work as an addiction counselor, you will help a client navigate through the stress of daily life, overcome their substance abuse problems, and allow them to see other ways of dealing with the daily problems besides turning to daily habits and vices.

Some counselors help the elderly with depression or aging related problems. More elderly patients are seeking help because of the less stigma of mental health services. Wanting to help people is just one part of becoming a mental health counselor.

Thinking Well: A Rule of Attitude and Practice

To think well means to think critically, to think logically, and to demonstrate good academic skills. To act well means to conduct oneself in the service of the client, community, and the professional field. A counselor needs to listen to what is being said, but also how it is said, why it is being said, and what it means in the context of that particular client.

Think about delivery, context and content. A counselor needs to be able to listen between the lines for things that aren't being said. What a client doesn't say in a session can be said in the same way as what is said out loud.

A counselor should know how to listen without judgement. Clients will come to you with difficult and complicated issues, and they will need to feel like they have the space to say what they need to, without fear of shame or feeling as though their counselor has jumped to a conclusion. A counselor needs to be accessible to clients in order to gain their trust, but he or she also needs to be genuine and compassionate in his or her communication, listening, and professional persona.

State Employment Opportunities for Professional Counselors

State employment as a licensed professional counselor can be very varied. A counselor may be assigned to a specific region. Depending on the budget and demand for services, other counselors may work across departments or regions.

The Department of Children and Family Services, the Office of Disability Affairs, and the Office of Elderly Affairs are some of the state agencies that use LPCs. Here, the LPCs can handle case management, advocacy, life skills training and some counseling services. If you love helping special populations, working in the non-profit sector may be a good choice for you.

A Master's Degree in Counseling and Psychotherapy

A counselor and psychologist do different things for their clients. A counselor has a master's degree in counseling, social work, or psychology.

A psychologist does more assessments. They have a degree in psychology. Students in a psychology master's program are trained to use psychotherapy to treat severe mental disorders.

A psychologist analyzes clients from an exact scientific perspective and then treats their individual problems, while a counselor helps clients achieve overall health. If you want to resolve more short-term issues that don't stem from long-term mental health issues, a counselor is a better choice.

A therapist may offer treatments that address deeper mental health concerns. If you want to work as a licensed social worker, you may need to complete a Master's of Social Work program. They can diagnose mental health conditions, but they can't prescribe medication.

Mental health counselors must have a master's degree in psychology or counseling and have experience working with patients. They must pass the licensing exam in their state. Laws in 32 states authorize the diagnosis of mental illness by a licensed professional counselor.

Master's Degree in Counseling

Gerontology counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy counseling, School counseling and addictions counseling are degree concentrations. Before choosing a Master's program, you should consider what kind of client base you want to work with. Some people prefer to work with a wide variety of clients in order to help a broader base of people, while others prefer to hone their skills to work with a specific clientele.

Most Master's programs require baseline knowledge as part of the program and will spend a significant portion of the second year of the program gaining clinical experience under the supervision of a licensed professional counselor. Once the NBCC has notified your state board of counseling that you passed the exam, you can apply for an LPC license. You can practice counseling in the state where you are licensed once you receive your license.

The Careers of Professional Counselor

Counseling is a profession that can offer unique opportunities to help others in overcoming emotional and social setbacks. Counselors are required to have a formal education and licensure in order to work in major counseling practice areas. A master's degree is the entry level requirement for most counseling careers, but there are many different degrees to choose from.

The area of counseling that you wish to practice will affect the degree you choose. Continue reading to learn more about the different types of counseling, what counselors do, how to become a counselor, and what the job and salary market looks like for counselors in the coming years. The scope of practice for assessing and treating mental disorders is different between licensed professional counselors and psychologists.

Professional counselors are only able to diagnose a narrow range of disorders, such as addiction, when the rules are different from state to state. Other medical disorders can be diagnosed by a psychologist, psychiatrist or doctor. Depending on the type of counselor and their focus area, what they do will vary.

All counselors provide services to help their clients overcome challenges such as addiction, disability, and family crisis. You need a license to be a professional counselor in most states. Marriage and family therapy licensure requires a master's degree in counseling.