I’ve been having a hard time find a career field to into in the future. I know all the money is in STEM and business fields,but I’m just not interested in those. I’ve dealt with a great deal of family, personal, and academic issues in the past two years. Because of this I started seeing a mental health counselor once a week in school and she helped me overcome so many obstacles! My guidance counselor was a great help as well. I want to help teens with their emotional issues just like I was helped, which is why I want to go into counseling. I’m thinking about going for a dual masters program where I can get a school counseling certification and mental health counseling certification. Is counseling a good career choice? I heard its hard to find jobs in schools and there’s not many jobs elsewhere. I’ve watched my mother deal with an unstable job and we actually ended up homeless, so its important to me I find a stable career for myself .
If it’s important to you, then go for it. You’re going to spend decades working, so you’ve got to find something you can love. (You know the old saying: find a job you love and you’ll never work a single day. I love my job as a high school teacher, and can’t imagine myself doing anything else.)
That said, a few flags I want to raise:
- Each school or district has a very limited number of counselors-- far fewer than the number of math or English teachers. So getting a job won’t be easy. That’s not meant to discourage you, but to encourage you-- to make sure your resume is eventually as strong as it can be. Now, as you’re looking at colleges, take a good look at their fieldwork and internship programs. Do they get you into schools early and often? What sort of internships do their kids get?
And how’s their career center? How many of their recent grads have gotten the kinds of jobs you want, and how soon after graduation?
- Know that you'll be dealing day in and day out with kids facing serious problems. Will it effect your own mental health? I was speaking to someone at a shower the other day. She had considered a career in counseling, but had worried that she would never work with a kid who was happy, who was having a good day. It's something to consider.
I agree- anyone involved in the counseling professions whether a social worker, psychologist or school counselor, has to take a serious inventory of their own personal traits to see if they are suited. They have to walk the line of being compassionate without being overwhelmed so they can help without becoming burned out by their work. That is true of school counselors even though they may not always face as serious issues sometimes (they will face them, but maybe not as often, and they can refer out) as other counseling professions.