Different types of counselling careers

Providing you with the opportunity to help others overcome a host of emotional issues and needs, embarking on a career in counselling can be incredibly rewarding.

As well as making a huge difference in other people’s lives, becoming a counsellor will allow you to enjoy an incredible amount of flexibility and lots of opportunities to explore different fields of counselling. If you’re looking to start a career in counselling, we have created a helpful guide outlining our top tips on how you can get the ball rolling.

You’ll soon come to realise that counselling is a diverse field and there is a range of different types of counselling careers to explore. We’ve taken a look at some of them.

What’s involved in being a counsellor?

Counselling is a type of confidential therapy that involves a qualified and trained counsellor listening to a patient’s emotional issues to create an effective treatment plan that will allow the patient to overcome their problems.

If you are thinking of becoming a counsellor, it’s important that you are dedicated and committed to helping people work through a range of mental health and emotional health concerns.

The role of a counsellor is incredibly varied and there are certain qualities in a person that makes a good counsellor. When working as a counsellor, you could find yourself helping clients of all ages to work through issues including:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Low self-esteem
• Terminal illness
• Bullying
• Post-traumatic stress
• Weight issues
• Infertility
• Self-harm
• Anger issues
• Bereavement and loss
• Relationship breakdowns
• Divorce
• Job changes
• And much more…

Ultimately, your role as a counsellor is to listen to your client’s concerns and support them in a non-judgemental and empathetic manner.

Different types of counselling careers

School Counsellor

If you enjoy working with children, this is a great option. A school counsellor works with students in an educational environment, helping them to overcome a wide range of issues and concerns that are impacting their social and academic success. Common concerns include bullying and issues with educational development, as well as struggles that are affecting a student personally or socially.

Counsellors can also help students to reach their full potential, offer guidance on career success and help them to figure out what they want to do in life.

Marriage and Family Therapist

Marriage and family counselling is an extremely fulfilling route to take.

As part of your role, you will be involved in helping married couples and families to overcome a variety of problems, from communication issues and family loss, to divorce and the impact of health concerns on a relationship.

Rehabilitation Counsellor

The main role of a rehabilitation counsellor is to help people improve their physical and emotional well-being after dealing with challenges such as substance abuse, grief, and trauma.

You will help people work towards living a happy and fulfilled life, helping them get in the right headspace to integrate themselves back into society again, gain employment and move on with their lives.

Mental Health Counsellor

Life can be incredibly challenging and more people than ever before are seeking help from mental health counsellors.

A career as a mental health counsellor will see you work in a variety of different settings, meet people with a diverse range of needs, and help treat a broad scope of emotions and conflicts to support your client’s mental health and wellbeing. You will receive a high level of training that will allow you to assess and create a bespoke treatment plan for each client.

Grief Counsellor

All of us will experience loss at some point in our lives. When it comes to dealing with grief, many people need extra help and support to help them come to terms with the loss of a loved one.

Grief can quickly consume all aspects of a person’s life, affecting their emotions, ability to function, and desire to move forward with their life. There are many tools and techniques that can be used to help people to deal with their grief.

Become a counsellor

If you’re thinking of becoming a counsellor, find out how to become a counsellor or find your nearest counselling course locations to start learning.