Careers in Сounselling and Psychotherapy

Here you will find out the main differences between Counsellors and Psychotherapists as well as what they do and how to become one.

Counsellors often engage in more short-term counselling (10-20 sessions) that focus on specific issues such are depression, anxiety or different life stressors. On the other hand, psychotherapists work with their clients to solve a wide variety of their different issues, which can take from 10 sessions to years in therapy.

Despite them both working with a variety of different types of distress, they both have specialties be it what issues they are best at solving, what therapy they are best at conducting or what kind of clients they work the best with. Therefor, thank to those specialities, there is a wide range of possibilities within counselling and psychotherapy work opportunities.

 

Counselling

Below are 18 different work opportunities for counsellors:

Marriage counsellor

• You will specialise in relationship struggles and will help couples communicate proactively to solve their issues.

Guidance counsellor

• Your role will include supporting students by providing advice and resources on several topics such as learning challenges, preparing for tests or planning for their academic or career planning.

Rehabilitation counsellor

• If you choose to work in the clinical field as a rehabilitation counsellor, you will focus on psychological impacts of disability of any kind. While in the vocational field you will be working as a vocational counsellor with the goal of returning the person into the workforce.

Mental health counsellor

• As a mental health counsellor you will help your clients with mental health problems by giving diagnosis and using different therapies.

Trauma counsellor

• As a trauma counsellor you will give clients skills to help cope and with time heal from the traumatic events.

Sports counsellor

• As a sports counsellor you will help athletes overcome psychological/emotional barriers to reach their potential in sports.

Youth counsellor

• As a youth counsellor you will direct young people and children towards accomplishing their goals, overcoming academic and personal struggles as well as giving them the right sources in case of mental health problems.

Nutritional counsellor

• As a nutritional counsellor you will specialise in trauma and negative experience surrounding food, body image issues and nutrition. You will help clients understand, cope and heal from those issues to become healthier mentally and physically.

Career development counsellor

• In this role you will provide expert advice about possible career opportunities and ways to develop in their field considering values, interests and abilities of the client.

Addiction counsellor

• As an addiction counsellor you will specialise in understanding the underlying causes of addiction. You will give this information to the client and their family as well as creating an tailored treatment plan for the client to help them overcome mental health issues related to their addiction.

Adoption counsellor

• As an adoption counsellor you will guide the adoption process while helping parents and the child understand and deal with the psychological and emotional impact of adoption. You will need to know the legal, regulatory frameworks and several social dynamics that will come into play between different families and children to help in the adoption process.

Speech therapist

• As a speech therapist you will help children and adults overcome physical and/or psychological challenges of speaking and communicating with other people using different types of therapy, some focused on the physical aspect and some on the psychological.

Counselling psychologist

• In this role you are able to choose a wide range of specialties depending on what type of client you work with best in terms of age. You will help them with a wide range of issues by exploring their source from their everyday life and background. Some examples of what you will help them with include; depression, anxiety, negative life events, personality disorders, trauma, abuse and psychosis.

Behavioural therapist

• As a behavioural therapist you will focus on understanding and helping your client correct their behaviour that is harmful to their physical or mental health. Some examples being; phobias, compulsions or habits.

Clinical social worker

• As a clinical social worker you will work with a wide age range to help them prevent, understand and solve their mental and psychological issues. You will take the prospective of the client as a person-in-environment to help them understand how it impacts them and what they can do about it if it impacts them negatively.

School counsellor

• As a school counsellor you will work within a school with students, their parents and staff to help them with their academic progress and hurdles along the way, be it adapting to the school environment with mental health issues or just regular academic stress.

 

Psychotherapy

Adult psychotherapist

• You will help adults overcome stress, emotional and relationship problems or troublesome habits.

Assistant psychologist

• You will provide clinical support under the direct supervision of a qualified psychologist.

CBT therapist

• You will assess and support people with common or severe mental health problems.

Child and adolescent psychotherapist

• You will work with children, young people and their families to assess and treat a wide range of psychological difficulties.

Children’s wellbeing practitioner

• You will provide support such as guided self-help and therapeutic activities for children and young people with anxiety, low mood and behavioural difficulties.

Clinical associate in psychology

• Supervised by a psychologist, you will find the best interventions for people with longstanding and complex difficulties.

Clinical psychologist

• You will help people with a range of mental health problems including addiction, anxiety, depression and relationship issues.

Counselling psychologist

• You will help people with mental health problems such as depression, eating disorders, psychosis and personality disorder.

Counsellor

• You will help people talk about their feelings linked to relationship difficulties, grief or everyday life.

Education mental health practitioner

• You will provide mental health support for children and young people in schools and colleges.

Below you will find 9 work opportunities for psychotherapists:

Cognitive behavioural psychotherapist

• You will help clients identify, understand and challenge unhelpful behaviours and thought patterns in order to support their mental health.

Family and systemic psychotherapist

• You will work with groups and families to assess and treat psychological and relationship difficulties in emotional, mental and physical health.

Forensic psychologist

• You will apply psychology to criminal investigation, understand psychological problems associated with criminality and treat those who’ve committed offences.

Health psychologist

• You will help people deal with the psychological and emotional aspects of health and illness.

High intensity therapist

• You will equip adults with the tools and techniques they need to overcome complex problems related to anxiety and depression.

Mental health and wellbeing practitioner

• You will provide wellbeing-focused psychologically informed interventions and coordinate care plans for adults with severe mental health problems.

Peer support worker

• You will use your lived experience of mental health problems to support others.

Psychological wellbeing practitioner

• You will assess and support people with common mental health problems such as anxiety disorders and depression.

Youth intensive psychological practitioner

• You will work in inpatient and intensive home treatment services and your responsibilities will include, assessing young people’s mental health, providing support in a form of interventions, helping them to find the support they need and avoiding hospital admission and shorten length of inpatient stays.

 

After you have read the previous lists of possible opportunities it would be helpful to keep in mind that they are not exclusive and an opportunity typically for Counsellors can be taken by a psychotherapist and a counsellor with some additional training can take a work opportunity for psychotherapists.

With that out of the way we can tell you about what goes into becoming a Counsellor and Psychotherapist.

Personal qualities

These will be the same for both counsellors and psychotherapists, since to fulfil both those roles you need to be:

• able to work and communicate with people from all backgrounds and beliefs
• warm, open and empathetic, able to gain people’s trust and help them feel relaxed
• patient, tolerant and sensitive with an impartial, non-judgmental attitude
• trustworthy and discreet, with a good sense of personal integrity and ethics
• resilient and self-aware, with the ability to examine your own thoughts and feelings and understand your limitations

Training and qualifications

Despite not necessarily needing to become a counsellor before becoming a psychotherapist, a lot of pathways require some experience as a counsellor first. This is why we will first talk about how to become a counsellor and then how you can develop into a psychotherapist.

The final goal when training to be a counsellor is to be qualified enough to be licensed by a professional body such as BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychology).

To meet most of those requirements you will need to find courses in counselling that are accredited by the BACP and find a qualified, professional mentor who will supervise you for at least one hour for every 8 hours of your work with clients. They will help you develop your skills in counselling, practice standards, and provide personal and psychological support.

 

Learn more about different types of psychotherapy a qualified psychotherapist may specialise in to help their clients improve the quality of their life.

Visit our Career Hub for more information on careers for psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists.