How long does it take to become a Counselor Internship?

It takes 4 years of professional experience to become a counselor internship. That is the time it takes to learn specific counselor internship 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 7 to 9 years years to become a counselor internship.

How To Become A Counselor Internship: What It Is and Career Path

What is a counselor internship and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Juleen Buser Ph.D.,

Dr. Chantrelle Varnado-Johnson

Counselor internship performs and supervises individual and group counseling. As a counselor intern, you can work in schools and universities. Your work revolves around supervision, consultations, crisis intervention, and providing psychological assessment, appropriate referrals, and intakes. You are allowed to provide clinical supervision to a practicum student, maintain supervision notes, provide lectures and outreach workshops to the campus community.

You are also in charge of representing the department at public relations events, attend staff meetings, training seminars, and supervision weekly. As a counselor internship, you will be required to interact professionally with students and staff and participate in the training and supervision of students, with an open mind for growth. You must also utilize psychodiagnostic assessment procedures.

Strong knowledge of basic skills in counseling is essential for this role as well as the ability to communicate excellently well, remain calm in a psychological situation, stress management, and time management. The average salary of a counselor internship yearly is $28,000. The educational qualification is a bachelor's degree in psychology or other related disciplines.

What general advice would you give to a counselor internship?

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.

ScoreCounselor InternshipUS Average

Salary

3.6

Avg. Salary $45,500

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.4

Growth rate 14%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.38%

Asian 3.23%

Black or African American 11.28%

Hispanic or Latino 12.21%

Unknown 5.91%

White 67.00%

Gender

female 76.21%

male 23.79%

Age - 39

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 - 39

Stress level

8.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.8

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a counselor internship

Explore counselor internship education requirements

Most common counselor internship degrees

Bachelor's

68.6 %

Master's

19.5 %

Associate

8.1 %

Start to develop specific counselor internship skills

Skills	Percentages
Crisis Intervention	14.15%
Intake Assessments	13.64%
Substance Abuse Issues	9.76%
Mental Health Issues	8.91%
Group Therapy Sessions	3.97%

Complete relevant counselor internship training and internships

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

Research counselor internship duties and responsibilities

Conduct group check-in and co-lead group psychotherapy sessions to help clients identify and manage problems associate with psychiatric conditions.
Participate in weekly multidisciplinary team meetings and attend IEP meetings.
Create a rehabilitation plan of juveniles through the investigation of background history.
Work towards empowering juveniles and their families to support a positive lifestyle by providing strength base intensive intervention and rehabilitation services.

Prepare your counselor internship resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable counselor internship resume templates

Build a professional counselor internship 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 counselor internship resume.

Apply for counselor internship jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a counselor internship 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 counselor interns rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Counselor internship reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Pros

The (working) clients will always be the best part of this job. There are certain individuals who you can feel want to learn more about their conditions and to adopt healthier thinking patterns or lifestyles.

Cons

The insane amount of paperwork, the insurance/agency politics, the high expectations, the low amount of support. Burnout is very concerning for a profession where people in the frontline are the ones trying to make a difference. Individuals who work in this field need to have an incentive to keep pushing. I’m sorry but a kind heart and good intentions are not enough to sustain this type of career.

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.

Pros

Change agent when people are stuck and need support in the process of restoration. One on one and group processing is powerful.