Counselling is a unique job requiring professionals to have compassion and empathy for their clients and the ability to effectively lead them through their trauma or difficult circumstances. If you’re planning on becoming a counsellor or you are one already, you should consider studying further because of the job opportunities available to counsellors with an advanced degree.
What does an advanced counselling course entail?
Assuming you already have a counselling-related degree, a post-graduate course in counselling, such as a master’s degree, would consolidate many of the principles and methodologies you’ve already learned. In addition to that, it also provides you with new, advanced counselling techniques and a deeper understanding of how to deal with people in certain situations.
Studying further also offers you the opportunity to specialise in a certain area of counselling. For example, you may want to pursue a career as a trauma specialist, dealing with individuals who’ve gone through traumatic experiences and helping them process the information in a healthier way.
What careers can you pursue with an advanced counselling degree?
Studying further will increase your job prospects as a counsellor, opening more career avenues for you. Here are some jobs you could get with an advanced degree in counselling:
1. Clinical social worker
As a clinical social worker, you would have the opportunity to work with kids, youth, adults, and the elderly. Your role would be to provide them with mental health services in order to improve their overall mental health and ability to cope with the demands of their environment. In some cases, you may need to create treatment plans for individuals who’ve come out of terrible situations of abuse or trauma in order to improve their mental state.
2. Organisational counsellor
You could also choose to work as a counsellor in an organisation’s workplace. Many companies that have a considerable amount of employees and involve highly intensive work environments often have their own in-house counsellor in order to care for the mental state of their employees.
In this role, you would be responsible for caring for employees, ensuring that they don’t burn out and collaborating with other HR employees to create a suitable plan to ensure that employees are mentally and physically healthy while they work.
3. Geriatric counsellor
A geriatric counsellor works with the elderly, providing them with psychological assessments and counselling them. Essentially, with an advanced degree in counselling, you’ll gain the knowledge and skills to do all you can to improve the quality of life for those who are more advanced in their years.
4. Sports psychologist
With an advanced degree in counselling, you can also pursue a career as a sports therapist or psychologist. At higher levels, athletes put a heavy mental strain on themselves to push themselves to perform at a high standard. Because of this, they are very susceptible to different mental issues. As a counsellor, your role would be to assess and implement treatment plans that assist athletes in overcoming mental hurdles in order to perform at their best.
5. Trauma specialist
Studying for an advanced degree in counselling also affords you the opportunity to specialise in an avenue of psychology, like trauma counselling, where you would deal solely with patients who have those issues. Trauma comes in many different forms and can be caused by a wide range of experiences people have. Often, people don’t know how to process trauma. Your job would be to use the methods and techniques you’ve learned to help patients navigate their trauma and process it in a healthy way in order to maintain or restore their mental health.
Want to pursue a career in counselling?
Do you want to study further as a counsellor? Finding the right place to study is one of the first steps you’ll need to take. We suggest looking at a master of counselling online as your solution to advancing your career. ECU is one of the best online universities in Australia, and studying online offers you the freedom to study at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home. All you’ll need is a connection to the internet, and you’re all set.
Final Thoughts
Level up your counselling skills and open the door to new opportunities as a counsellor by studying further. Consider doing a graduate certificate diploma, studying for your master’s or even going as far as a doctorate. In the end, improving your credentials and skills can only benefit you, right? So, what are you waiting for? Enrol in a graduate counselling course ASAP!