Children's Counsler

Sorry, Seed...I can't help....but I am interested in your decision.

"Counsellor"...are you planning to study for a psychology or social work degree?

Where do you live? In the U.S. a person with a Master's in Social Work can work in many areas, as well as having a private practice, where he/she can bill insurance. In order to do the same in psychology, you need a Ph.D, which involves a lot more years of study. Another thing. Ph.D programs in psychology are notoriously difficult to get into.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos060.htm

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos056.htm

http://socialworkschool.tripod.com/links.html

I think that dlowan hits on a good point. Social Work may be a good start or career. Counseling would be more involved. How about being a school psychologist?

Definitely a good field for job security. The Austin Children's Hospital calls T about once a year, on average, to see if she's ready to go back to work for them.

Be careful choosing a program, especially if you want to actually counsel people. Some programs focus almost exclusively on research, with very little hands-on training in counselling.

I can definitely recommend the Clinical Psychology program at Texas Tech.

Actually, my point is likely the opposite.

I am not sure re where Seed is, but here, there are Mickey Mouse "counselling" courses that allow people to hang out a shingle, but are extremely sub-standard, and do not allow for employment in places where a professional qualification is demanded.

Thus, people are paying good money for a seeming "short-cut" that ends up getting them nowhere.

I would argue that, if this is also the case where Seed is, that he bites the bullet, even though it is likely to mean 6 years of training for either profession.

There are shortcuts here, too.

I would argue that if one is going to put in the work to get a social work degree, that one might as well bite the bullet and get a Psychology degree.

I am definatly willing to put in the work. I dont know if i would go into social work. I am the kind of guy that would want to bring my work home with me. I would be better off as a foster parent then a social worker lol. I definately want one on one with the children though. I want to help them through their problems. to help them open up, to be the person that you didnt think was there as a kid

I guess what it really boils down to is I want to impact and change their lives. And I know that I can only do that if they are as willing as I am.

Part of the heartbreaking part of working with kids is that it ain't always up to the kid.

Seed...can you tell us more about what work, exactly, you wish to do?

We may be more able to make reasonable suggestions if we know exactly what you want.

I want to be the one that listens to the children when others dont believe them or give them the chance to talk. i dont know if that falls into any one catergory. I have had to many kids tell me it didnt matter what they said, they mother or father didnt believe them that someone was doing something to them.

Er.....that potentially falls into a number of categories, or none.

Talk more later...

haha yea I know confused myself