People who have lost someone close to them need some real support in order to return to their everyday lives and it will be up to you to give them the tools that they need to return to this life. In other cases, you will be responsible for helping couples deal with their issues and return to the happy life that they once had. In many cases, the problems between couples are deeply rooted, so you will have to find the source of the problem and then work from there.
With families, there could be a number of different issues going on at once that you will have to get to the bottom of. In these cases, you might have to work through the family as individuals and then reach some conclusions from there. You cannot do these jobs part time. However, as once you are a counselor, it is something that you will deal with at all times.
Counseling careers can start in a number of different manners and most people who choose this form of employment have a specialty that they deal with. Some counselors deal with mental health issues by helping people to cope with things like depression and grief. Others focus on those with some sort of addition, as this is something that usually has a mental cause that is responsible for the physical addiction. Many other people are having problems with their careers and cannot seem to get themselves on the right track, which brings about a lot of stress that must be handled in a constructive way. Marriage and personal problems are also very common disciplines for counselors to deal with, as there is always someone who is in need of some help. Counselors can either choose to focus on one of these niches or be a general counselor, so you will have many different options if this is the career path that you choose to take.
As for your actual location of employment, there are many variables at play that can influence where you work. Some counselors have a private office that individuals can visit whenever they have a problem. These counselors usually ask patients to make an appointment, so it is similar to running a private doctor's office. Other counselors are employed in schools, hospitals, and clinics, as there are countless places where people need some sort of guidance. If you work in a school, you will be responsible for many different aspects of counseling, as children have varying problems that must be dealt with. At clinics and hospitals, you might be left in charge of addictions or possibly as a grief counselor for people who have just lost a loved one. Some counselors are even self employed, which is usually the only way to do these jobs part time, as you can set up an office at your house and then work from there, visiting people at their own homes.
Before you are able to gain employment as a counselor, you will have to go through with the necessary training. There are a few different ways to gain this employment, starting with a master's degree in psychology. Counselors are different from psychiatrists because psychiatrists have a doctorate and, therefore, they are able to dive into entirely different sets of issues. Counselors do not even require a master's degree, as it is possible to get the proper certification with a bachelor's degree and a post-baccalaureate diploma or certificate in counseling. This certificate takes about a year to obtain once you have graduated from university and is probably the easiest way to gain employment in one of these rewarding careers. The pre-requisites for becoming a counselor vary from state to state, so you must research the laws in your state before going ahead with any sort of training or certification.
Depending on where they work, counselors can make a very good living. Many counselors are now making well over $50,000 per years and we could see those numbers increase as more people looking for help dealing with their issues. This is a career that requires a lot of dedication, however, and it requires a special type of person to be able to handle the mental strain that this job will create. You will have to deal with things like death, serious injury, and depression on a daily basis and it is impossible to not bring these issues home with you.
You must be a very strong person who is not afraid of having other people put their problems on you in order to survive in this industry, as people will come to you for this support and you must be there for them. Another very sad aspect of being a counselor is that there will probably be times where you fail to help someone and that person goes on to make a very serious mistake. This is something that you must accept and be prepared to deal with if you want one of these careers, as it can be very difficult to realize that in some cases, there is nothing that you can do.
