How To Become a Mental Health Counselor

Mental counsellor

Before deciding on any career path the job description is the major factor that you would consider first before anything else. Therefore a mental health counselor is a professional person that offers advice to patient seeking help, he listens and talks to patients, and their families on emotional and personal issues, diagnose them and then helps them cope with emotional and mental conditions that might have been caused by stress, trauma, addiction, substance abuse and so on. It is also really important to note that counselling is a general word that has several different fields of counselling which could include, school counselling, guidance counselling, substance abuse counselling, nutritional or health counselling and even careers counselling.

Step 1

When mental health counselor finally got their identity
Mental health counselor had their first root in the late 1970s and later formed the American mental health counselor association in 1976. 11 years later the first training standards which was 60 hours was delivered by seiler, books and beck. This training standard was slow to be accepted but in the early 2000 it became pretty much universally accepted and the 60 credits masters program is now the standard for mental health counsellor.

How to become a mental health counselor
The basic qualification to becoming a mental health counsellor is the attainment of a masters degree in any field of counselling which could be marriage and family counselling, rehabilitation or even health counselling. To gain the License and the right to practice publicly, experience is extremely significant, a two year internship under supervision from a licensed or certified mental health professional is a must and that’s not all, after the internship a mandatory exam required by the state in which the professional resides is to be done and you have to pass. Licensing requirements vary by states and are usually similar to those of clinical social workers or even the therapists. The major duties of a mental health counsellor has to be mustered If one is really ready to be an active mental health counsellor, this duties are like; promoting mental health which he does by addressing the emotional and mental disorders, offering services like diagnosis, therapy so therapeutic techniques have to be mastered, development of treatment plans and even educational programs. Mental disorders like depression, suicidal impulses, stress and substance abuse have to be researched in order to be fully informed and prepared to handling the different mental disorders.

Comments

Most Recent Articles