Counseling Associate’s Degree Programs

Counseling Career and Training Information

The educational prerequisites are varied depending upon the specialty within counseling that you choose and the certification and license requirements of your particular state. Programs for counselors are most often within the education or psychology departments.  They include but are not limited to:

• Student affairs
• School counseling
• Geriatric or pediatric counseling
• Family and marriage therapy
• Substance abuse counseling
• Rehabilitation
• Clinical counseling
• Career counseling

The core courses are often broken down into these eight divisions:

1. Social and cultural diversity
2. Group Therapy
3. Relationship Therapy
4. Career development
5. Human growth and development
6. Assessing human relationships
7. Professional identity
8. Program evaluation and research

To become licensed in counseling, the requirements vary from state to state.  Some states have prerequisites that include the licensure of counselors in public schools and even some must hold teaching certification to be able to work in that setting.

Those counselors who do not work in an educational setting still need to have some sort of professional license to work in the particular state.  A career counselor might need a license but counselors who work in a career center may not.  Substance abuse counselors, as well as behavioral counselors are overseen by different state agencies than other counselors.

Obviously, people who are interested in counseling must have a strong willingness to help other people and be able to inspire trust and confidence among their peers and the people they are counseling.  The physical and emotional toll counseling takes on people makes it a rewarding yet difficult field to master.

To be certified, a counselor must have at least two years of field experience in addition to holding an associate’s degree.  The requirements for becoming a counselor are stringent because many times, you must deal with people who need serious help.  Becoming certified is key to passing your associate’s degree program but doing volunteer work while going to school can help your chances when you graduate from these programs.