Developing a Career in Counselling
If you consider the counselling profession in more detail, it is possible to see how counselling skills can also be useful in many careers.
Counsellors use a range of what are called “micro skills” when they interact with clients and help them to work through and find resolutions to their problems. These counselling skills are the specific skills a counsellor is trained to use and they include such things as active listening, paraphrasing, summarising, feedback, and confrontational skills.
Counsellors are able to gauge when to use particular skills, how long to use them for, and whether they are working or not.
Some of these skills can be used in other situations to good effect. For instance, ‘active listening’ can be used to demonstrate to someone that they are being heard. With active listening, the listener pays full attention to what the person is saying with the intention of being able to provide feedback and summarise what they have said. As such, it is possible to ensure we are clear about what they have said.
This is a valuable skill to have in any people profession. For example, consider someone working in customer service. If a customer visits their store and asks for a certain product, the sales person will quickly endear themselves to the customer if they carefully listen to what the customer requires and they can provide feedback which shows they have understood them.
The interpretation of body language and non-verbal cues also provides useful information to counsellors and psychologists about how someone might be thinking or feeling. Outside of a therapeutic relationship this information might help inform decisions for police officers, customs officers, lawyers, or even managers about when or how to instigate particular company policies.
It is probably becoming clear to you just how useful knowledge of psychology and counselling skills can be in many different professions.
Other Roles in Psychology and Counselling
Counsellors can work in a range of fields including working with private clients, working in larger organisations, or in most developed countries the health service employs counsellors.
Counsellors may also work in specialised fields such as school counselling, trauma counselling, career counselling, or crisis counselling. Psychologists may also work in a variety of settings. They may work with children, adults, people with disabilities, people with mental health issues, or people with learning disabilities and they have a range of skills which they use to assess individuals and devise treatment interventions.
However, many people who obtain qualifications and experience in psychology and/or counselling may end up working in other areas. This is often because they have chosen to study courses in these fields out of interest but didn't choose to follow it further as a career. A background in psychology is useful for work in other areas, such as marketing psychology, industrial psychology, child psychology, ergonomics, or sales and marketing.
What Are the Advantages of Studying Psychology With ACS Distance Education?
- You can start at any time to suit you.
- They are self-paced.
- You can study when and where suits you. They are flexible to fit in around you and your lifestyle.
- Our tutors are all experts in their field, with years of experience in psychology and counselling.
- They are also keen and enthusiastic about their subject and enjoy working with students to improve their knowledge and skills.
- Courses are also updated regularly to meet the demands of the changing needs for knowledge and to keep our courses up to date.
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