What is Counseling?
The growing awareness of mental health has significantly increased demand for skilled counselors in California. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the need for counseling services, including telehealth options. However, not all counseling degrees offer the same career prospects—demand varies by specialization and state, often influenced by local industries and job-related stressors. Aspiring counselors in California should choose degrees that align with the state's needs unless they plan to work elsewhere. Those familiar with key industries like real estate, business services, and manufacturing are better prepared to address clients’ unique challenges.
Aspiring counselors in California can benefit from understanding the state’s top industries, as job-related stressors often influence mental health needs. The largest industry, real estate rental and leasing, generates $504 billion annually. With high housing costs, counselors familiar with real estate challenges, like landlord-tenant disputes, can better support clients in this field. Professional and business services, the second-largest industry at $400 billion, comes with workplace stressors such as long commutes and performance pressures, requiring specialized counseling approaches. Manufacturing, generating $320 billion, involves tight deadlines and safety concerns, making industry-aware counselors invaluable in addressing stress and anxiety.
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Online Counseling Education in California
Counselors are professionals who are trained in helping others overcome emotional distress and mental health ailments. In particular, counselors will need to be excellent listeners and empathetic individuals who can work with clients without judging them negatively for their life circumstances. Instead, counselors will work closely with patients to understand their mental health conditions, follow up with them consistently, develop treatment plans, and elucidate coping strategies that their clients can use daily to improve their overall well-being.
In school, future counselors are trained to adhere to a strict ethical code and master evidence-based practices, which are important measures of whether an individual can achieve a professional counseling license and join the American Counseling Association. The day-to-day tasks and patients that counselors work with will depend on their specific field of counseling, which can range from school counseling to clinical mental health counseling to rehabilitation counseling to highly demanding fields like suicide prevention counseling.
Online Associates (AS)
Due to the sensitive nature of counseling, degree and licensing requirements are strict. A counselor’s work can be life-changing, so each state sets specific education and licensing standards. In California, an associate degree qualifies for support roles in counseling but isn’t enough for full licensure, except in substance abuse counseling, which offers four certification levels. Entry-level roles include caseworker, youth advocate, family mediator, and social services assistant.
The BLS reported a 2023 median salary of $41,410 for social and human service assistants. These entry-level roles help aspiring counselors gain experience in behavioral health. Paired with an associate degree, this foundation supports future licensure.
Online Bachelors (BS)
Similar to students who choose to obtain their associate degree in counseling, California students should be aware that they will not be eligible for licensure as counselors in the majority of counseling fields if they only finish their bachelor’s degree. Undergraduate students will, however, be able to apply for the Certified Alcohol Drug Counselor Associate certification.
Undergraduates who delay or forgo a master’s degree can access the same support roles as those with an associate’s degree. In California, a bachelor’s in counseling or social work qualifies students for roles like mental health specialist, social worker, rehabilitation specialist, child life specialist, technician, or data specialist.
Undergraduates in behavioral health, counseling, health sciences, or psychiatry are preferred over those with only an associate degree. According to Indeed, the average salary for a social worker in California is $65,568 per year. A bachelor’s degree offers higher pay, but pursuing a master’s is essential for licensure.
Online Masters (MS or MC)
To become a licensed counseling professional in the state of California, students will typically be required to have completed a master’s degree in either counseling or psychotherapy. Depending on one’s area of focus, one’s graduate studies may also need to be specifically targeted towards the counseling sub-field in which they hope to build their careers. For instance, in California, graduate students who are looking to become marriage and family therapists must specifically attain a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, while school counselors must have gone to graduate school for school counseling or a closely related area.
Specific responsibilities and pay may vary between different subfields of counseling, and popular areas include school counseling, clinical mental health counseling, rehabilitation counseling, child-centered play therapy, school psychology, and substance abuse counseling. Despite the different areas of counseling focus for graduate studies every student must still undertake the same rigorous licensing process and obtain enough hours of supervised work experience before they can officially become fully licensed in California. According to Indeed, the average base salary for a licensed professional counselor who works in California is $60,400, though certain positions can pay up to $106,000.
Online Doctorate (PhD)
While some students may choose to pursue a doctorate in the counseling field, this level of education is usually not a prerequisite for becoming a licensed counseling professional. Instead, students often choose to complete their Ph.D. in counselor education so that they can become professors who are capable of training the next generation of counselors.
Doctorate degrees in the field of counseling are often geared towards helping educators gain advanced clinical and supervision skills so that they can correctly guide those with less training than them in the field. Additionally, doctorate degrees in the counseling field stand out because participants must typically have already completed their master’s degree in the field before they are eligible for their Ph.D. program and there are many options for currently licensed counselors to return to school for further education. According to Payscale, those who have completed their doctorate in counselor education can expect to earn an average annual salary of $73,300.
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Become a Counselor in California
Counselors must go through a rigorous education and certification process, which includes examinations and supervised on-the-job training, before they can become licensed professional clinical counselors (LPCC) in the state of California. The state has updated its licensing procedures for students who began graduate studies after 2012, and since the licensing process includes California-specific content, students are advised to only attend graduate programs that have already been pre-approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Candidates who obtain online degrees will need to apply as out-of-state applicants regardless of where they were residing and, as of January 2020, California has passed AB679, which has begun the process of simplifying license portability for masters-level mental health licensees to transfer their certification from other states to California’s LPC process.
For most fields in the counseling profession, California requires LPCC applicants to have completed a 60-semester-unit master's or doctoral degree from an accredited institution. This educational program must also include 6-semester units of supervised field work with at least 280 face-to-face hours and at least 3-semester units of coursework in 10 of 13 core content areas.
For education to be approved, applicants must complete all 13 core content areas, which are:
- Counseling and psychotherapeutic theories and techniques
- Human growth and development across the lifespan
- Career development theories and techniques
- Group counseling theories and techniques
- Assessment, appraisal, and testing
- Multicultural counseling theories and techniques
- Principles of diagnosis, treatment planning, and prevention of mental and emotional disorders and dysfunctional behavior
- Research and evaluation
- Professional orientation, ethics, and law in counseling
- Psychopharmacology
- Addictions counseling
- Crisis/Trauma counseling
- Advanced counseling and psychotherapeutic theories and techniques
Applicants must also include 15-semester units of advanced coursework geared towards helping treat specific mental and emotional health issues or working with special populations, which include cases like child abuse assessment and reporting. California-specific course content includes learning to understand various cultures found in California and becoming attuned to psychological impacts due to socioeconomic positions.
Licensed professionals must also complete a minimum of 3,000 hours of post-degree supervised mentorship under an LPCC, LMFT, LCSW, licensed psychologist, or licensed physician certified in psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. This must all be completed in no less than two years and they must also have at least 1,750 hours of direct counseling with individuals or groups focused on clinical mental health counseling, with 150 hours completed in a hospital or community mental health setting. In addition to all the educational coursework and on-the-job experience, students must also achieve a passing score on the National Clinical Mental Health Counselor Examination and the California Law and Ethics Exam.
The only exception to this process is for individuals who wish to work in substance abuse counseling in California. It is possible to achieve certification in this area even with only an associate degree, and students are expected to pass the ICRC written examination to attain any of four certification levels in this field. It’s possible to achieve the highest level of Licensed Advanced Alcohol Drug Counselor (LAADC) with a mix of lower educational background and more supervised training. For instance, for associate degree holders, it’s possible to attain a LAADC license with 6,000 hours of supervised training, while students with bachelor’s degrees only need 4,000 hours of supervised training.
Potential Careers for Graduates
- Career Counselor:
Career counselors have the important role of helping students evaluate their interests and strengths while providing students with a list of potential career paths that they can consider. Other tasks include advising students on the educational programs they will need to complete for certain careers, helping them select the correct schools for their needs, or advising on career changes. Students may also choose to practice interviewing, resume writing, and networking skills with career counselors. - Psychiatrist:
Psychiatrists help screen patients for mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders through psychiatric evaluations. After they receive results, psychiatrists work with patients to develop effective treatment plans for managing disorders, prescribe necessary medications, and evaluate treatment results.
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