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This question is about residential counselor.
It takes 3 years of professional experience to become a residential counselor. That is the time it takes to learn specific residential counselor skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 6 to 8 years years to become a residential counselor.
There are certain skills that you need to obtain in order to become a successful residential counselor. Some of the most common skills are listed below. Along with each skill, we provide an actual example of how someone included the skill on their resume:
Mental Health -- Participated in consultation with other disciplines; reviewed medical and mental health diagnosis, disabilities and treatment procedures.
Intellectual Disabilities -- Served as Residential Counselor / Case Manager for medicaid and non-medicaid waiver clients with intellectual disabilities in a community residential facility.
Medication Administration -- Monitored and supervised medication administration.
Personal Care -- Assisted adults with developmental disabilities with daily living activities including personal care, skill building, shopping, and administered medications.
Direct Care -- Provide clinical direct care to emotionally/behaviorally/developmentally-disabled adolescents in a residential treatment center.
The education needed to be a Residential Counselor is normally a Bachelor's Degree. Residential Counselors usually study Psychology, Criminal Justice or Social Work. 59.0% of Residential Counselors hold a Bachelor's Degree and 15.0% hold a Associate Degree. We found these by analyzing 36723 Residential Counselor resumes to investigate the topic of Residential Counselor education more precisely.
The most common colleges for students to pursue their goal of becoming a Residential Counselor are University of Phoenix and Norfolk State University. We also broke down what colleges provide the best overall education for a Residential Counselor. Students have a great path to earning their Residential Counselor qualifications at the following schools:
If you're interested in getting a college degree in an affordable college for Residential Counselors - Hunter College of the City University of New York is an excellent option for you. If your SAT or ACT score aren't as high as you'd like, you can look at Nyack College, as the admission requirements aren't too selective. On the other end of that spectrum are the Boston College, Boston University and New York University.
For those who would rather stay in your pajamas during the day, we prepared some online courses that can help in Residential Counselor education paths.
The First Aid, CPR and AED Instructor certification is most common among Residential Counselors. This certification is awarded by the National Safety Council. To become a certified Residential Counselor with First Aid, CPR and AED Instructor, You don't need to pass the exam. Lucky you - certification doesn't require more than two years of work experience. No renewal for certification, if you earn it once it is valid all time.

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