How To Become A Children's Counselor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a children's counselor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Juleen Buser Ph.D.

The average children's counselor salary is $38,024. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an psychology major. It usually takes 2-4 years of experience to become a children's counselor. Children's counselors with a First Aid, CPR and AED Instructor certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 64,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a children's counselor?

Juleen Buser Ph.D.

Professor and Director, School Counseling and Coaching Programs, Rider University

Counseling Services (school counseling concentration) and an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (we have a CMHC concentration and a Dance Movement Therapy concentration in this program). The general advice I would give to graduates starting positions in the counseling field would be to understand the critical importance of the work of helping professionals. Counselors optimally provide a safe space for clients to discuss their fears, worries, anxieties, joys, traumas, insecurities, accomplishments, etc. This ability to be an empathic, listening, accepting presence will be even more crucial for clients in our current situation.

ScoreChildren's CounselorUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,024

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.51%

Asian 2.67%

Black or African American 13.37%

Hispanic or Latino 15.12%

Unknown 4.19%

White 63.14%

Gender

female 65.85%

male 34.15%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.5

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a children's counselor

Explore children's counselor education requirements

Most common children's counselor degrees

Bachelor's

61.1 %

Master's

16.7 %

Associate

10.3 %

Start to develop specific children's counselor skills

Skills	Percentages
Child Care	21.88%
Social Work	11.89%
Mental Health	10.33%
Crisis Intervention	7.88%
Group Therapy	6.59%

Complete relevant children's counselor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New children's counselors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a children's counselor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real children's counselor resumes.

Research children's counselor duties and responsibilities

Work towards empowering juveniles and their families to support a positive lifestyle by providing strength base intensive intervention and rehabilitation services.
Develop and attend treatment plan and IEP meetings for adolescents with mental diagnosis.
Maintain IEP goals and classroom management.
Provide behavior modification and social skills training to children and adolescents with ADHD and other behavioral and emotional disorders.

Prepare your children's counselor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your children's counselor resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a children's counselor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable children's counselor resume templates

Build a professional children's counselor resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your children's counselor resume.

Apply for children's counselor jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a children's counselor job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do children's counselors rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

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1 star

Children's counselor reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2019

Pros

To help most people out of their respective concern.

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2019

Cons

The over documentation required by DHS that robs the quality time needed in intervention and treatment. This lopsided demand makes the term “best practices” mere bureaucratic lip service without the means to actually deliver quality hands on services.