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Direct care counselor education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
2 min read
Usually, direct care counselors don't need a college education. The most common degree for direct care counselors is bachelor's degree with 50% graduates, with only 18% direct care counselor graduates earning associate degree. Direct care counselors who decided to graduate from college often finish College of New Rochelle, The or University of Phoenix. Some good skills to have in this position include crisis intervention, autism and cpr.

Popular direct care counselor certifications include Medical Assistant, First Aid, CPR and AED Instructor, or Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS). To improve direct care counselor qualification and skills, we prepared some online courses to help in direct care counselor education paths.

What education do you need to become a direct care counselor?

What degree do you need to be a direct care counselor?

The most common degree for direct care counselors is bachelor's degree, with 50% of direct care counselors earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are associate degree degree at 18% and associate degree degree at 14%.
  • Bachelor's, 50%
  • Associate, 18%
  • High School Diploma, 14%
  • Master's, 8%
  • Other Degrees, 10%

What should I major in to become a direct care counselor?

You should major in psychology to become a direct care counselor. 23% of direct care counselors major in psychology. Other common majors for a direct care counselor include criminal justice and social work.

Best majors for direct care counselors

RankMajorPercentages
1Psychology22.6%
2Criminal Justice10.3%
3Social Work8.9%
4Liberal Arts8.6%
5Human Services7.8%

20 best online courses for direct care counselors

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1. Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care

coursera

This course presents basic principles of cancer survivorship to primary-care physicians. Developed by a team of experts in caring for cancer survivors, and narrated by a primary-care physician, this course provides practical tips and tools that can be easily integrated into medical practice. You will learn about the complex physical and psychosocial needs and concerns of the growing number of cancer survivors, along with the key role that primary care physicians have in guiding these patients...

2. Health for All Through Primary Health Care

coursera

This course explores why primary health care is central for achieving Health for All. It provides examples of how primary health care has been instrumental in approaching this goal in selected populations and how the principles of primary health care can guide future policies and actions. Two of the most inspiring, least understood, and most often derided terms in global health discourse are “Health for All” and “Primary Health Care.” In this course, we will explore these terms in the context...

3. The Key to Happiness: Self Care

udemy
4.6
(413)

Discover Self Care as a tool for creating positive change in your mental health, behaviours, and well-being...

4. Providing Trauma-Informed Care

udemy
4.7
(1,276)

Exploring psychological trauma and how to provide care and compassion to trauma survivors...

5. Palliative Care Always Capstone Course

coursera

The Palliative Care Always Capstone course is designed to let you test your knowledge about palliative and help others understand the value of palliative care, while showing your creative side. In this course, you will impact community awareness about palliative care, promote self-care and wellness, show-off your communication skills in a virtual environment, and finish the course off by proving your thoughts on ways to offer psychosocial support to a patient and family...

6. The Business of Health Care

coursera

This Specialization was designed to help you keep pace with the rapidly changing world of health and health care. Through partnership with Wharton and Penn Medicine, you’ll learn from experts in business acumen, health care management, and health care policy to develop the skills you’ll need to successfully navigate the quickly evolving landscape of this fast-growing field.* By the end of this specialization, you will have a strong foundational understanding of the American health care system,...

7. [Accredited] Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Counselor

udemy
4.3
(419)

Learn DBT in depth, start conducting sessions with ready to use templates, and set up counseling practice within weeks!...

8. Coping Skills and Self-Care for Mental Health

udemy
4.5
(443)

Essential skills to manage intense emotions and develop a self-care practice to promote mental health...

9. Traditional herbal medicine in supportive cancer care: From alternative to integrative

coursera

Please join us for an exciting and innovative journey, examining one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of the oncology setting: Traditional Herbal Medicine in Supportive Cancer Care. This course is presented with short lectures offering a wide range of issues related to the principles and practice of herbal medicine in cancer care. The course includes interviews with leading world experts from the field of Integrative Oncology, from the U.S. and Canada, as well as Europe, the...

10. Palliative Care Always

coursera

Palliative Care Always is a specialization for health care practitioners, patients and caregivers. We’ve designed this specialization to demonstrate how palliative medicine integrates with patient care, and to help you develop primary palliative care skills. Over the next five courses, you will develop skills in symptom management, goals of care and effective communication to improve the quality of life for patients and families suffering with serious illness. Our hope is that you feel...

11. Cat Behavior Rectification & Cat Health Care: 2 courses in 1

udemy
4.2
(330)

1. Common Cat Behavior Issues and training methods to rectify them 2. Tips for better healthcare of your cat...

12. Self-Care Life Coach Certification (Boundary Setting)

udemy
4.6
(466)

Empower Your Life Coach Your Clients to Develop Self-Care, Self-Love, Boundary Setting and How to Say No...

13. Health Care Delivery in Healthcare Organizations

coursera

Have you ever needed health care and thought that there must be better ways to get or deliver health care? For example, have you found yourself thinking that there should be a way to get a diagnostic test or treatment at home? Or do you work in a healthcare organization and find yourself thinking that there must be better ways to deliver health care? If you have, this course is for you. Course content includes an overview of health care delivery including healthcare consumerism, the patient's...

14. Thinking About Care

coursera

Although all humans require care to develop and thrive, it is rarely the focus of academic studies. This course enriches learner’s understanding of this critical yet underappreciated facet of their lives by addressing such questions as: What is care? Who has traditionally provided it? How valued is care work? Does money take the care out of care work? In addition to advancing learner’s knowledge of the place of care in modern society and controversies surrounding it, Thinking About Care will...

15. Pain Management: Easing Pain in Palliative Care

coursera

In this course, you will be able to develop a systems view for assessing and managing pain in the palliative care setting. By the end of the course, you will be able to: 1) Describe the pain problem in the palliative care setting; 2) Assess a person’s pain, 3) Explain the benefits of integrative therapies and pharmacologic strategies to manage pain...

16. Trauma Emergencies and Care

coursera

Welcome to Trauma Emergencies and Care. In this course, you will learn about some of the mechanics and physics of trauma on the human body, and how this can cause injury. You will continue to expand your new vocabulary with medical terminology, and learn how to describe the different injuries you may see. You will also learn about the trauma system itself- and when it is important to transport patients to a trauma center. Then we will dive into specific injuries based on what part of the body...

17. Newborn Baby Care

coursera

A newborn baby is an amazing beautiful life filled with hope. Unfortunately, many babies die or experience preventable harm even in 21st century. It is imperative that babies who are born healthy get off to a healthy start in the first month of life. There are some easy tenets of care to implement that help ensure that babies and families get off to a healthy start no matter where they are in the world. In this specialization learners will acquire the skills necessary for newborn baby care to...

18. Health Care IT: Challenges and Opportunities

coursera

A strong argument can be made that the health care field is one of the most information-intensive sectors in the U.S. economy and avoidance of the rapid advances in information technology is no longer an option. Consequently, the study of health care information technology and systems has become central to health care delivery effectiveness. This course covers the modern application of information technology that is critical to supporting the vision and operational knowledge of the health care...

19. Emergency Care: Pregnancy, Infants, and Children

coursera

Welcome to the final course of lectures in your quest to master EMT basics. In this course, we will cover some of the highest-stress patient populations: pregnant patients and kids, also known as pediatrics. To wrap up your EMT knowledge we will end this course with information about hazmat situations, extricating patients from tight spots and finally how you write a note about your patient care. You will learn to ensure it communicates what your assessment of the patient was, what...

20. Addiction Treatment: Clinical Skills for Healthcare Providers

coursera

This course is designed with a singular goal: to improve the care you provide to your patients with substance use disorders. By delving into a model case performed by actors, seven Yale instructors from various fields provide techniques to screen your patients for substance use disorder risk, diagnose patients to gauge the severity of their use, directly manage treatment plans, refer out to treatment services, and navigate the various conditions that may limit your patient’s access to treatment...

Average direct care counselor salary by education level

According to our data, direct care counselors with a Master's degree earn the highest average salary, at $36,149 annually. Direct care counselors with a Bachelor's degree earn an average annual salary of $35,518.
Direct care counselor education levelDirect care counselor salary
Master's Degree$36,149
High School Diploma or Less$34,040
Bachelor's Degree$35,518
Some College/ Associate Degree$35,109

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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