What Can I Do with a Bachelor’s in Counseling?

If you are seri­ous­ly con­sid­er­ing enrolling in a pro­gram as a coun­sel­ing major, it is impor­tant to com­plete one’s due dili­gence with regard to research and find the answers to these questions –

• What degree do I need to be a counselor?
• What under­grad­u­ate degree is best for counseling?
• Are there any types of coun­sel­ing degrees that would meet my career goals and budget?
• Is there a best degree for coun­sel­ing that is avail­able at the bac­calau­re­ate level?
• What degree do I need to be a coun­selor in a school?
• Which coun­sel­ing major is the most popular?

The above-not­ed ques­tions are valid as there are quite a few dif­fer­ent types of coun­sel­ing degrees from which to choose when con­sid­er­ing a career in counseling.

Accreditation for Counseling Programs

Accred­i­ta­tion is the stan­dard­ized process that exten­sive­ly reviews schools and aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams offered by high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions. In the Unit­ed States, accred­i­ta­tion is the process that offers stu­dents and par­ents an assur­ance that the edu­ca­tion and degree promised by the school is the edu­ca­tion a stu­dent receives after com­plet­ing the program.

The process of accred­i­ta­tion is sim­ply a pro­ce­dure where third-par­ty over­sight agen­cies eval­u­ate a school and its aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams against a set of pre­de­ter­mined cri­te­ria. The objec­tive of accred­i­ta­tion is to devel­op and improve the aca­d­e­m­ic resources in the Unit­ed States and to offer pro­tec­tion to the pub­lic by hold­ing insti­tu­tions of high­er edu­ca­tion to rea­son­able edu­ca­tion­al stan­dards that deliv­er the qual­i­ty of edu­ca­tion promised.

In the U.S., the edu­ca­tion sys­tem has two fun­da­men­tal lev­els of accred­i­ta­tion applied to schools and aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams — Region­al Accred­i­ta­tion & Spe­cial­ized Accreditation.

Regional Accreditation

The old­est of accred­i­ta­tion process­es is that of region­al accred­i­ta­tion. Region­al accred­i­ta­tion is fed­er­al­ly admin­is­tered by CHEA — the Coun­cil for High­er Edu­ca­tion Accred­i­ta­tion (CHEA).

The Coun­cil for High­er Edu­ca­tion Accred­i­ta­tion cov­ers the edu­ca­tion­al resources across the Unit­ed States by divid­ing the coun­try into six pri­ma­ry regions. Each region or zone is respon­si­ble for the accred­i­ta­tion duties for insti­tu­tions of high­er learn­ing in its defined region. CHEA’s region­al divi­sions are as follows -

• WASC Senior Col­lege & Uni­ver­si­ty Com­mis­sion (WSCUC)
• Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion of High­er Edu­ca­tion (MSCHE)
• The High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion (HLC)
• South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges & Schools Com­mis­sion on Col­leges (SACSCOC)
• North­west Com­mis­sion on Col­leges & Uni­ver­si­ties (NWCCU)
• New Eng­land Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion (NECHE)

Region­al accred­i­ta­tion denotes if a school or pro­gram has met the strin­gent cri­te­ria estab­lished by the accred­i­ta­tion agency. Accred­i­ta­tion over­sight agen­cies assess a school’s resources, a program’s cur­ricu­lum as well as ver­i­fy the cre­den­tials of edu­ca­tors and professors.

The sec­ond fun­da­men­tal type of accred­i­ta­tion in the Unit­ed States is spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion. Spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion is typ­i­cal­ly admin­is­tered by sanc­tioned over­sight agen­cies with­in spe­cif­ic industries.

As you con­sid­er which of the best col­leges for coun­sel­ing degrees may fit your career goals and bud­get, rec­og­nize that it is impor­tant that your cho­sen pro­gram have coun­sel­ing pro­gram accred­i­ta­tion. There are two pri­ma­ry spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion awards in the field of coun­sel­ing, which should be com­pared, as you con­sid­er your coun­sel­ing degree options – CACREP vs APA – the Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion accred­it­ed programs.

Specialized Accreditation

The best coun­sel­ing degree pro­grams will typ­i­cal­ly hold accred­i­ta­tion from the Coun­cil for Accred­i­ta­tion of Coun­sel­ing & Relat­ed Pro­grams or the Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion. So, as you con­sid­er the many bac­calau­re­ate degree pro­grams in coun­sel­ing, be cer­tain to answer these questions –

• Is CACREP Accred­i­ta­tion important?
• How does CACREP vs APA com­pare for the best schools for counseling?
• How do I locate the best col­lege for coun­sel­ing degrees that are accredited?
• How does coun­sel­ing pro­gram accred­i­ta­tion work?
• What are CACREP stan­dards, and how do they apply to accreditation?
• Where can I find the best coun­sel­ing degree pro­grams that will fit my budget?

The CACREP — the Coun­cil for Accred­i­ta­tion of Coun­sel­ing & Relat­ed Edu­ca­tion Programs

Head­quar­tered in Alexan­dria, Vir­ginia, The Coun­cil for Accred­i­ta­tion of Coun­sel­ing & Relat­ed Edu­ca­tion­al Pro­grams is rec­og­nized by the fed­er­al agency known as the Coun­cil for High­er Edu­ca­tion. The CACREP is tasked with the respon­si­bil­i­ty of accred­it­ing coun­sel­ing degree pro­grams – who must meet strict CACREP Stan­dards to receive accred­i­ta­tion — pro­vid­ed to uni­ver­si­ties and col­leges in the U.S. and across the globe.

CACREP Stan­dards are rec­og­nized as the gold stan­dard in terms of coun­sel­ing degree programs.

The Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion (APA)

The Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion has a com­bined mem­ber­ship that exceeds 120,000 in the Unit­ed States. Mem­bers of the APA include stu­dents, edu­ca­tors, researchers, and con­sul­tants, plus the clin­i­cians work­ing the front lines every day. The APA’s mis­sion is to cre­ate and use psy­chol­o­gy to help solve vital social issues and by prepar­ing the discipline’s next lead­ers through its accred­i­ta­tion efforts.

The COAMFTE — the Com­mis­sion on Accred­i­ta­tion for Mar­riage & Fam­i­ly Ther­a­py Education

The COAMFTE – the Com­mis­sion on Accred­i­ta­tion for Mar­riage and Fam­i­ly Ther­a­py Edu­ca­tion was found­ed in the mid 1970s and is the pre­em­i­nent agency in the accred­i­ta­tion of aca­d­e­m­ic degree pro­grams relat­ed to mar­riage & fam­i­ly ther­a­py edu­ca­tion. The COAMFTE is a rec­og­nized accred­it­ing agency by CHEA, the Asso­ci­a­tion of Spe­cial­ized & Pro­fes­sion­al Accred­i­tors, and the U.S. Office of Education.

Types of Counseling Bachelor’s Degrees

The field of coun­sel­ing offers many degree options to stu­dents who are seri­ous con­sid­ered earn­ing a bachelor’s in coun­sel­ing degree. In addi­tion, the tra­di­tion­al routes to earn­ing a bachelor’s in coun­sel­ing degree on-cam­pus, there are now many options that offer you ways to become a coun­selor online. Bachelor’s in coun­sel­ing degree pro­grams are now wide­ly offered by many four-year insti­tu­tions of high­er edu­ca­tion through their coun­sel­ing degree online dis­tance learn­ing pro­grams.

A coun­sel­ing bachelor’s degree is a great option for those who wish to work towards their license, typ­i­cal­ly avail­able when com­plet­ing a master’s lev­el pro­gram, but want to work in a coun­sel­ing facil­i­ty while earn­ing their grad­u­ate degree.

There are var­i­ous degree pro­grams that will allow stu­dents to become a coun­selor online or on-cam­pus if you pre­fer. Con­sid­er these online psy­chol­o­gy coun­sel­ing degree options that offer aca­d­e­m­ic emphases as follows –

• Men­tal Health Counseling
• Mar­riage & Fam­i­ly Therapy
• School Coun­sel­ing
• Sub­stance Abuse Coun­sel­ing, or
• Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Coun­sel­ing, to name a few.

Any of the above-men­tioned coun­sel­ing degree online pro­gram options are avail­able from some of the finest uni­ver­si­ties as an online psy­chol­o­gy coun­sel­ing degree.

You should know what is expect­ed of you before apply­ing. Will you have to study full-time? What kind of course­work and practicum is involved? Is part-time an option? What kind of GPA do you need? Will this meet the edu­ca­tion­al require­ments and licen­sure require­ments for pro­fes­sion­al coun­sel­ing? What coun­sel­ing spe­cial­iza­tion is avail­able? Spe­cial­iza­tions in a bach­e­lor of sci­ence may include:

• clin­i­cal men­tal health counseling
• coun­sel­ing psychology
• human devel­op­ment
• behav­ioral health
• career coun­sel­ing
• group coun­sel­ing
• abnor­mal psychology
• mar­riage and fam­i­ly therapist
• behav­ioral disorder

These spe­cial­iza­tion, accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics (BLS) can pre­pare you for pri­vate prac­tice or human ser­vices posi­tions. There are many career paths, such as reha­bil­i­ta­tion coun­selors, where you can use your coun­sel­ing skills. A relat­ed field is social sciences.

Certifications and Licenses for Counseling

Those who have been award­ed a bach­e­lors-lev­el degree in coun­sel­ing may sup­ple­ment their edu­ca­tion and degree by earn­ing one of the man coun­selor cer­ti­fi­ca­tion cre­den­tial options, which may make them more attrac­tive to poten­tial employ­ers and offer more com­pet­i­tive com­pen­sa­tion. There are var­i­ous types of coun­sel­ing certifications.

The vari­ety of these types of coun­selor cer­ti­fi­ca­tions run the gamut. The need for the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion will depend upon any rel­e­vant fed­er­al or state licens­ing laws. If you have yet to answer these ques­tions, then it is like­ly your research into how to become a Nation­al Cer­ti­fied coun­selor remains incomplete –

• How do I learn how to get a coun­sel­ing certification?
• Are there spe­cif­ic fam­i­ly coun­sel­ing cer­tifi­cate pro­grams available?
• How do I become a Nation­al Cer­ti­fied Counselor?
• Where can I find a list of spe­cial­ty coun­sel­ing certifications?
• Is the Nation­al Cer­ti­fied School Coun­selor cer­ti­fi­ca­tion worth the effort?
• How do I become a Nation­al Cer­ti­fied School Counselor?

The real­i­ty is that obtain­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion demon­strates a professional’s com­mit­ment to excel­lence in the pro­fes­sion. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion also helps pro­vide coun­selors with spe­cif­ic exper­tise in many dif­fer­ent subspecialties.

There are many types of coun­sel­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tions, or cer­ti­fi­ca­tions avail­able to those who hold a bachelor’s degree in coun­sel­ing will vary by state. To learn how to get a coun­sel­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion for your state, it is pru­dent to check with the state’s licens­ing board.

Counselor Certification Categories

School & Career Counselor

The Cer­ti­fied Career Coun­selor (CCC) cre­den­tial is offered by the Nation­al Career Devel­op­ment Asso­ci­a­tion (NCDA) and is con­sid­ered the new stan­dard in excel­lence for those trained to deliv­er coun­sel­ing ser­vices with regard to careers. The CCC cer­ti­fi­ca­tion indi­cates that the hold­er is both spe­cial­ized, trained, and expe­ri­enced in terms of career train­ing and development.

Sub­stance Abuse

The NAADAC — the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Alco­holism and Drug Abuse Coun­selors (NAADAC) offers six exams that lead to addic­tion coun­sel­ing certifications.

The Cer­ti­fied Addic­tion Coun­selor (CAC) is a cre­den­tial that is regard­ed as one of the high­est cre­den­tials in the field of addictions.

The Inter­na­tion­al Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion & Reci­procity Con­sor­tium (I.C. & R.C.) offers cre­den­tials and cer­ti­fi­ca­tions that are rec­og­nized across the globe for those addic­tion spe­cial­ists and pro­fes­sion­als who are tasked with facil­i­tat­ing the pre­ven­tion and use of sub­stances, drugs, and alco­hol. Among the cre­den­tials offered by the I.C. & R.C. include the fol­low­ing, which are admin­is­tered by juris­dic­tions as set forth by state law –

• The CCJP – the Cer­ti­fied Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Addic­tions Professional
• The PR – the Peer Recov­ery cre­den­tial — cre­den­tial — stu­dents typ­i­cal­ly use study guides offered by the I.C. & R.C.
• The ADC – the Alco­hol & Drug Coun­selor cre­den­tial – this three-hour exam requires the com­ple­tion of 150 questions.
• The P.S. – the Pre­ven­tion Spe­cial­ist cre­den­tial – cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is offered at the juris­dic­tion level.
• The C.S. – the Clin­i­cal Super­vi­sor cre­den­tial — stu­dents typ­i­cal­ly use study guides offered by the I.C. & R.C.
• The AADC – the Advanced Alco­hol & Drug Coun­selor cre­den­tial — this cre­den­tial is admin­is­tered by local boards and may vary by state.

Men­tal Health Counselor

The NBCC offers a coun­sel­ing cre­den­tial well-known in the indus­try that is the CCMHC – a Cer­ti­fied Clin­i­cal Men­tal Health Coun­selor (CCMHC) that requires cer­tifi­cate can­di­dates to meet strict edu­ca­tion, expe­ri­ence, and eth­i­cal man­dates. The exam for this coun­sel­ing cre­den­tial is offered twice per year.

The NBCCH — the Nation­al Board for Cer­ti­fied Clin­i­cal Hyp­nother­a­pists (NBCCH), estab­lished in 1991, offer cer­ti­fi­ca­tions to coun­sel­ing pro­fes­sion­als who wish to use hyp­nother­a­py in their coun­sel­ing ses­sions. The NBCCH offers six cre­den­tials, as follows –

• The Nation­al Board Cer­ti­fied Clin­i­cal Hyp­nother­a­pist in Pub­lic Service.
• The Nation­al Board Cer­ti­fied Clin­i­cal Hypnotherapist.
• The Nation­al Board Cer­ti­fied Clin­i­cal Diplo­mate in Clin­i­cal Hypnotherapy.
• The Nation­al Board Cer­ti­fied Clin­i­cal Diplo­mate in Clin­i­cal Hyp­nother­a­py, in Pub­lic Service.
• The Nation­al Board Cer­ti­fied Clin­i­cal Fel­low in Clin­i­cal Hypnotherapy.
• The Nation­al Board Cer­ti­fied Clin­i­cal Fel­low in Clin­i­cal Hyp­nother­a­py, in Pub­lic Service.

Mar­riage & Fam­i­ly Therapist

For those ther­a­pists who want to earn a mar­riage and fam­i­ly ther­a­py license or cre­den­tial, the Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion for Mar­riage & Fam­i­ly Ther­a­py offers a clin­i­cal fel­low mem­ber­ship. Clin­i­cal fel­lows join a net­work of more than 24,000 fam­i­ly and mar­riage ther­a­pists, tremen­dous rel­e­vant resources, and the oppor­tu­ni­ty to voice their opin­ion through AAMFT’s advo­ca­cy efforts.

Social Work­er

The NASW – the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Social Work­ers offers a vari­ety of cre­den­tials for those in the coun­sel­ing pro­fes­sion with career objec­tives in these specialties –

• Case Man­age­ment – at the bachelor’s lev­el, the NASW offers the C –SWCM cre­den­tial — the Cer­ti­fied Social Work Case Man­ag­er certification.
• Hos­pice & Pal­lia­tive Care – at the bachelor’s lev­el, the NASW offers the CHP ‑S.W. cre­den­tial — the Cer­ti­fied Hos­pice & Pal­lia­tive Care Social Work­er credential.
• Geron­tol­ogy – at the bachelor’s lev­el, the NASW offers the SW ‑G cre­den­tial — the Social Work­er in Gerontologycredential.
• Youth & Fam­i­ly – at the bachelor’s lev­el, the NASW offers the C ‑CYFSW cre­den­tial – the Cer­ti­fied Chil­dren, Youth, and Fam­i­ly Social Work­er credential.
• Mil­i­tary — – at the bachelor’s lev­el, the NASW offers the MVF — S.W. cre­den­tial – the Mil­i­tary Ser­vice Mem­bers, Vet­er­ans, and their Fam­i­lies credential.

These NASW cer­ti­fi­ca­tions are avail­able to qual­i­fied social work­ers who are mem­bers of the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Social Workers.

Many of the above-not­ed cer­ti­fi­ca­tions are dic­tat­ed and guid­ed by state-lev­el law, so stu­dents are encour­aged to con­firm the licens­ing and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion require­ments for their par­tic­u­lar state.

Careers in Counseling

The field of coun­sel­ing is an ever-broad­en­ing field that offers tremen­dous oppor­tu­ni­ties to stu­dents who have an objec­tive to become a coun­selor or to work in one of the asso­ci­at­ed non licensed coun­sel­ing jobs that sup­port men­tal health or coun­sel­ing pro­fes­sion­als. There are many types of ther­a­py careers from which to choose as you dis­cov­er how long does it take to become a coun­selor and how to become a men­tal health counselor.

As you con­tin­ue your research and analy­sis of your poten­tial career in the dif­fer­ent types of ther­a­py careers, make sure you learn –

• How to become a sub­stance abuse counselor?
• What are the dif­fer­ent types of coun­sel­ing jobs avail­able in my area of interest?
• How to become a licensed counselor?
• How long does it take to become a counselor?
• How to become a men­tal health coun­selor with an online degree?
• How to become a coun­selor with­out a degree by learn­ing if there non licensed coun­sel­ing jobs?
• What types of entry-lev­el coun­sel­ing posi­tions are avail­able with a bachelor’s degree?
• How to become a coun­selor with­out a degree while study­ing to com­plete your degree?

If you are seri­ous about learn­ing how to become a licensed coun­selor, then it is imper­a­tive that you under­stand which coun­sel­ing jobs with bach­e­lors in psy­chol­o­gy may be of inter­est to you. Remem­ber that earn­ing a bac­calau­re­ate degree in coun­sel­ing can open these options that lead to reward­ing careers –

• A School Counselor
• A Mar­riage & Fam­i­ly Therapist
• A Men­tal Health Counselor
• A Reha­bil­i­ta­tion or Sub­stance Abuse Counselor
• A Grief Counselor
• A Child Pedi­atric Coun­selor, to name just a few.

If you are on a mis­sion to under­stand how to become a sub­stance abuse coun­selor, then it is impor­tant to focus on those pro­grams the spe­cial­ize in coun­sel­ing pro­grams with aca­d­e­m­ic tracks ded­i­cat­ed to help­ing oth­ers reha­bil­i­tate from sub­stance abuse issues.

Salaries of Counselors

One of the essen­tial facets when con­sid­er­ing any career is to think about the amount of salary or com­pen­sa­tion one will receive in that career. Because the field of coun­sel­ing offers degree hold­ers a vari­ety of career options, it is impor­tant to dis­cov­er the answers to these impor­tant salary-relat­ed questions.

• What is the salary of a school coun­selor who holds a bac­calau­re­ate degree?
• How much do mar­riage coun­selors make an hour?
• What are the oth­er avail­able coun­selor salaries for more spe­cial­ized coun­sel­ing careers?
• How do school coun­selor salaries rise through­out one’s career?
• What is the dif­fer­ence between a non-cer­ti­fied and a cer­ti­fied coun­selor salary?

Accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Ser­vices’ sta­tis­ti­cians, the careers of clin­i­cal, coun­sel­ing, and school psy­chol­o­gists are cat­e­go­rized togeth­er for sta­tis­ti­cal pur­pos­es. As such, school coun­selor salaries and clin­i­cal coun­selor salaries are as follows –

• In May 2018, there were more than 110,000 clin­i­cal, coun­sel­ing, and school psychologists.
• In May 2018, the medi­an salary of a school coun­selor was $76,990 per year.
• The salary of a school coun­selor who is earn­ing at the top of the scale (90%) is $129,310

School coun­selor salaries, along with clin­i­cal psy­chol­o­gists, will find the top-pay­ing indus­tries for these jobs as follows –

The top-pay­ing states for coun­selor salaries are as follows –

Professional Organizations in Counseling

The coun­sel­ing indus­try is con­stant­ly evolv­ing and has many sub­spe­cial­ties from which stu­dents can choose.

Pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions are designed to sup­port a spe­cif­ic indus­try (or a slice of an indus­try) by pro­vid­ing ser­vices and ben­e­fits to its members.

As such, it is imper­a­tive for coun­sel­ing pro­fes­sion­als to remain cur­rent with the indus­try by join­ing one of the many school psy­chol­o­gist asso­ci­a­tion options in terms of pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions. Among the larg­er of the pro­fes­sion­al coun­selor orga­ni­za­tions avail­able are -

The Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion (APA)

The Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion is per­haps the largest and most influ­en­tial of the coun­selor orga­ni­za­tions. The Amer­i­can Psy­cho­log­i­cal Asso­ci­a­tion offers the typ­i­cal ben­e­fits mem­ber­ship offers in a pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion. These mem­ber ben­e­fits include –

• Job Boards.
• Pro­fes­sion­al Code of Ethics.
• An Annu­al Convention.
• Men­tor­ship, edu­ca­tion & accred­i­ta­tion ser­vices, to name a few.

The Nation­al Board for Cer­ti­fied Coun­selors (NBCC)

The Nation­al Board for Cer­ti­fied Coun­selors is anoth­er pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion that seeks to be the pre­em­i­nent cer­ti­fi­ca­tion body for coun­sel­ing. As a pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion, NBCC indus­try-approved cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and cre­den­tials with its NCC – Nation­al Cer­ti­fied Coun­selor cre­den­tial. Addi­tion­al­ly, the Nation­al Board for Cer­ti­fied Coun­selor­spro­vides a state license direc­to­ry to facil­i­tate licen­sure infor­ma­tion for any state. NBCC offers its mem­bers afford­able lia­bil­i­ty through part­ner­ships in the insur­ance industry.

The Amer­i­can Men­tal Health Coun­selors Asso­ci­a­tion (AMHCA)

The Amer­i­can Men­tal Health Coun­selors Asso­ci­a­tion is a pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion for coun­selors who have earned a grad­u­ate-lev­el degree, or high­er, although the Amer­i­can Men­tal Health Coun­selors Asso­ci­a­tion offers stu­dent mem­ber­ships and asso­ciate mem­ber­ship to those in the coun­sel­ing pro­fes­sion who sup­port men­tal health counselors.

The AMHCA Code of Ethics is the gold stan­dard for AMHCA mem­bers. Mem­ber­ship with­in the Amer­i­can Men­tal Health Coun­selors Asso­ci­a­tion requires mem­bers to strict­ly align with the AMHCA Code of Ethics and standards.

The Amer­i­can Col­lege Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion (ACA)

The ACCA — the Amer­i­can Col­lege Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion (ACCA) is a divi­sion of the larg­er orga­ni­za­tion known as the Amer­i­can Col­lege Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion. The Amer­i­can Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion mem­ber­ship is avail­able to stu­dents or work­ing pro­fes­sion­als in the fields of coun­sel­ing, social work, and psy­chol­o­gy. Addi­tion­al­ly, those who super­vise or edu­cate coun­selors can also apply for the Amer­i­can Coun­sel­ing Asso­ci­a­tion membership.

The Coun­selors for Social Jus­tice (CSJ)

The Coun­selors for Social Jus­tice offers mem­ber­ship to those coun­selors who wish to pro­mote social jus­tice through the devel­op­ment of pro­fes­sion­al coun­selors. Coun­selors who are mem­bers of CSJ work with issues that include dis­abil­i­ty rights, health­care for women, LTBTQ com­mu­ni­ty rights, racism, and dis­crim­i­na­tion in gen­er­al, among oth­er issues.

The Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of School Psy­chol­o­gists (NASP)

The NASP is one of the more pop­u­lar of the school psy­chol­o­gist asso­ci­a­tion options for school coun­selors. The NASP, as a school psy­chol­o­gist asso­ci­a­tion, also offers spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion for pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment pro­grams ded­i­cat­ed to school psychologists.

The School Social Work­er Asso­ci­a­tion (SSWA)

The School Social Work­er Asso­ci­a­tion offers a wide vari­ety of mem­ber­ship ben­e­fits that include var­i­ous lev­els of pro­fes­sion­al mal­prac­tice insur­ance, con­fer­ences, webi­na­rs, resources, and job boards.

Addi­tion­al­ly, the field of coun­sel­ing offers these pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions for a more spe­cif­ic slice of the coun­sel­ing field – The Asso­ci­a­tion for Cre­ativ­i­ty in Coun­sel­ing and the Asso­ci­a­tion of Guid­ance Coun­selors.

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