Youth Counselor Job Description

Youth Counselors: A New Generation of Professionals

Youth Counselors are role models, mentors and advocates to young people facing a wide range of challenges, such as behavioral and legal issues, substance abuse and the home. Youth Counselors help kids and teens stay on track with schoolwork, speak for them in the legal system, and other duties, while interacting with them on a regular basis. A Youth Counselor is usually the main point of contact for a team of professionals.

They are employed by both public and private organizations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that demand for counselors will increase by 19 percent through the year 2022, creating more than 1,200 job openings each year. You fill a lot of roles in a young person's life as a Youth Counselor.

Youth Counselors are often nonjudgmental. Counselors offer advice and help kids and teens. They hold clients accountable for their actions, such as attending school and required meetings.

Youth Counselors often advocate for their clients. Youth Counselors work with other professionals to help assess the needs of their clients. Youth Counselors can better tailor their services to meet the needs of a client based on what they discover about current events and challenges in a client's life.

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.

A Career in Counseling: The Role of a Counselor

A mental health counselor helps patients overcome and manage their mental and emotional challenges. They have to listen to patients, diagnose their mental or emotional disorder, and build treatment plans and strategies for the patient to follow. A counselor works with patients and students to assess and diagnose their mental health or emotional issues.

They can meet with patients to help improve their mental wellbeing. They will record the patient's progress throughout the session and teach the patient how to cope with their mental health challenges. The average salary for a counselor is $16.18 per hour.

The salary may be different depending on the candidate's education, experience level, geographical location and job duties. A counselor's tenure is usually less than a year. The education and training requirements of a counselor must be met.

A candidate should have a bachelor's degree in psychology, social work or counseling and be able to obtain a National Certified Counselor certification before they are hired. A master's degree or doctorate in a related field is required. Counselors may need experience writing assessments and reports to monitor client progress, working directly with clients or patients in an office or hospital setting, or gaining experience as an intern under another Counselor.

Any experience working with people one-on-one is a plus. There are many counseling careers for an individual to specialize in. Marriage and Family Counselors help couples and family members overcome their issues with loved ones to build stronger relationships with each other.

A Bachelor's Degree in Human Services or Social Sciences Required for a Youth Counselor Job

The most important duty of a youth counselor is to conduct individual and group counseling sessions for at-risk kids. Counselors are required to offer parental support via talking sessions and to schedule visits with children at appropriate times. They are assistants to staff physicians, psychologists and therapists, and as a resource for youth residents.

A bachelor's degree in human services, social sciences or a similar field is required for a youth counselor job. Candidates should have experience working with at-risk kids and pass a criminal background check. Basic computer skills for record keeping and good written and verbal communication skills for interacting with youth, medical professionals, and family members are needed.

Training and Experience in Family Therapy for a Youth Counselor

Counselors use a wide range of skills to help their clients. To establish themselves as a friendly, trustworthy adult who has their best interests and success foremost in mind, is the most important technique. It is difficult to establish a relationship with a youth who is underachieving, abused, or within the criminal justice system.

Building trust with distrustful youth can be accomplished with a number of first-line tools. Changing thoughts, behaviors, or feelings can facilitate change in the other two categories. If a counselor and youth are working together to change the behavior of a certain class in order to improve the youth's grade, they might focus on changing the youth's thoughts about the teacher.

If the youth would benefit from family therapy, some youth counselors incorporate it into their treatment. Art therapy, journaling, and psychodynamic techniques are examples of other techniques. Collaboration with other adults in the youth's life is beneficial, but must be done in a way that does not compromise the youth's confidentiality and therefore trust.

A gang prevention counselor works with people who are either at risk for gang involvement or who have been members of gangs. Gang prevention counselors are usually focused on the needs of children and adolescents and work with a larger team to reduce gang activity. Gang prevention counselors will help families whose loved ones are in gangs as well as communities that are struggling with gang violence.

Counselors talk to students about issues that face teenagers in a school environment. Individual students can come to the counselor's office if they want to discuss issues with the counselor. If you want to become a licensed counselor, you will need to finish a graduate degree in counseling so you can work with youth in a clinical setting.

Asking Questions: A Way to Talk About Your Future

When a youth needs to connect with an adult, listening on the adult's part is a core ingredient for whether or not the youth feels heard. Many adults don't practice basic listening skills and youth are left feeling unheard and not understood if not completely written off. Asking questions can be a great way to engage teens in discussion.

You have an interest in the lives of the youth you are talking to, and you have questions about that. There are a number of different questions and they all have a time and place. The key is to check your gut about when to use the question.

It is important that the questions are not over-relied upon and that they are accompanied by reflective statements, Affirmations and other ways that show the youth you are listening to. It would be good to use the bell at the beginning and end of the meditation. You would want to pause for sustained periods of time and not always be talking so the youth can actually envision what you are suggesting without having to more quickly to the next prompt.

You can change it to be 5 years, 2 years or any amount of time in the future. After you finish meditating, talk with the youth about their experience and try to come up with a long-term goal. The above meditation is a great way to think about the future even if their goals are big.

Training requirements for juvenile correctional counselors

Counselors for youth who are in prison provide counseling services to juvenile offenders and their families. They are employed by the government to work in juvenile centers. State and local governments are the main employers for youth correctional counselors.

A juvenile correctional counselor with an advanced degree may be able to find advancement opportunities. Counselors help rehabilitate young offenders. Counselors work in a juvenile correctional facility where they supervise the offenders by making and maintaining records, and implementing constructive activity programs.

They may work in social service organizations. Before or during sentencing, juvenile correctional counselors may make recommendations as to the appropriate destination for an offenders based on their evaluations, such as detainment, care homes, or treatment programs. They counsel juvenile offenders and their families and offer courses such as addiction recovery and anger management.

A combination of undergraduate education and relevant experience is usually the minimum requirement to become a youth correctional counselor. To better understand the qualifications, check the requirements of the job. Training for juvenile correction counselors is usually done on the job.

The training required depends on the organization that hired the counselor. The California Department ofCorrections and Rehabilitation requires new hires to attend a 16-week training academy and two-year apprenticeship program at the youth facility where they are assigned. If you want to learn more about training requirements for youth correctional counselors, you should visit the employment page of the organization.