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What is Counseling?
A counselor is a professional who works to help people change their lives for the better. While most think of this profession in the context of clinical mental health counseling and psychotherapy, there are many sorts of counselors. Professional counselors specialize in jobs such as helping students launch a career, rehabilitate from a trauma or injury, or sort out their finances.
There are also other counseling professionals who aren't part of the mental healthcare industry. They may work as guidance counselors in high schools who help students find an appropriate college or trade school. There are also genetic counselors who consult with couples who seek to have a baby and start a family. Counselors may also help people with their credit or other financial matters. In each case, the counselor seeks to understand their client and to help them achieve their best life. Thus, counseling does not have to involve deep psychoanalysis and facing horrible traumas. Those who wish to join a helping profession can thus consider one of these sorts of counseling careers as a way to help people.
This page is concerned with mental health counseling and the degreed, licensed professionals who work in this field. These professionals typically hold a master’s degree and work with clients one-on-one in psychotherapy. They may also work with groups that are focused on a specific problem, such as depression or grief, or groups who each have different issues but are gathered to provide support. Counselors also work with a variety of individual clients such as those who are coping with specific traumas, addictions, or age-related issues. Some counselors are licensed to work with specific clients, such as marriage and family therapists or school counselors.