How To Become A Counseling Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a counseling specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Javier Casado Pérez Ph.D.

Counseling specialists can serve a wide variety of roles and be employed by many different types of organizations or institutions.

For instance, as a counseling specialist, you could find yourself working for a university. In this type of position, your duties may include the counseling of both students and faculty. You might provide counseling and guidance on career, personal, or academic concerns, serving as a general consultant in many fields.

Besides universities, you can become employed as a counseling specialist by senior living communities, mental health facilities, or similar organizations. These can provide opportunities to work as a grief counselor, a marriage and relationships advisor, an addictions therapist, and many other therapeutic roles.

To become a counseling specialist, you'll likely want to begin earning a bachelor's or master's degree in human services or a related field. However, some employers do accept applicants who hold an associate's degree.

The pay for this career varies depending on many factors, though the average salary of a counseling specialist is around $47,000 per year

What general advice would you give to a counseling specialist?

Dr. Javier Casado Pérez Ph.D.

Counselor Education, Portland State University

New professionals entering the mental health counseling professions must expect substantive differences in the client's needs and goals for the counseling process. The global pandemic has increased both stress and social isolation, making the counselor's job even more critical, as they are often the client's only non-work-related virtual interaction. With the global pandemic and widespread anti-racist demonstrations, counselors should anticipate clients' desire to discuss work stress and burnout, parenting and caretaker stress, culture, identity development, and racial trauma, virtual fatigue, and difficulties in social relationships.

ScoreCounseling SpecialistUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $44,061

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.0

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.62%

Asian 3.74%

Black or African American 10.64%

Hispanic or Latino 14.20%

Unknown 3.76%

White 67.03%

Gender

female 63.40%

male 36.60%

Age - 41

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 - 41

Stress level

9.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a counseling specialist

Explore counseling specialist education requirements

Most common counseling specialist degrees

Bachelor's

62.1 %

Master's

16.3 %

Associate

12.7 %

Start to develop specific counseling specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	24.78%
Mental Health	20.08%
Crisis Intervention	10.32%
HIPAA	7.43%
Substance Abuse	6.67%

Complete relevant counseling specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New counseling specialists 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 counseling specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real counseling specialist resumes.

Research counseling specialist duties and responsibilities

Manage assignments of paying medical bills limit in depth that include organizing and researching regulations as pertain to veterans eligibility.
Follow member verification process, ensuring member's HIPAA rights.
Provide HIV pre- and post-test counseling, and conduct confidential HIV testing using rapid OraQuick.
Coordinate housing efforts with HUD also, verify yearly rental and income checks with social security.

Prepare your counseling specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your counseling specialist 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 counseling specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable counseling specialist resume templates

Build a professional counseling specialist 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 counseling specialist resume.