How to Become a Counsellor in India?

To become a Counsellor in India, a candidate can pursue an undergraduate degree in Psychology, Counselling Psychology, or Clinical Psychology after passing class 12th in any discipline. In addition, pursuing a profession in Mental Health Counselling or Career Counselling after finishing a graduate degree in counselling will help a candidate become a professional Counsellor.

Getting appropriate Training or a Certification in Mental Health or Career Counselling will give an edge to a candidate's career. Check out the details given below to know more on how to become a counsellor in India. 

Who is a Counsellor?

Before we directly jump on how to become a counsellor in India? Let us first understand who is a counsellor. A counsellor is a professional person who acts as an intermediate between an individual and their problems. The job of a counsellor is to listen to the problems of an individual accurately to give proper guidance and give reliable solutions so that the individual can lead a consistent life by overcoming the difficulties and struggles by using certain strategies given by the counsellor.

Contrary to the popular misconception, Counsellors do not advise people; rather, they help and guide people to understand and resolve their problems.

Steps to Become a Counsellor in India

There are different steps to become a successful Counsellor in India. However, an aspirant at all times must not give up and have the right helping attitude to become a counsellor. 

Here are steps to become a Counsellor in India successfully:

• Step 1: Selecting Psychology in School
• Step 2: Pursuing a Graduation in Psychology
• Step 3: Pursuing a Master's Degree in Psychology
• Step 4: Pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Guidance and Counselling

Step 1: Selecting Psychology in School

The first step is to choose Psychology as a subject in classes 11 and 12. Again, psychology is an excellent place to begin regardless of which stream the individual is in. It should be noted, however, that this is not a required choice.

Step 2: Pursuing a Graduation in Psychology

A career in counselling requires knowledge in general Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Counselling Psychology, Personality Psychology, and Statistics. One should also try to do as many internships in counselling as possible to gain hands-on experience and see what a counsellor does daily. It will also show commitment to the field and perhaps lead to a promotion.

Major subjects in the bachelor's program to become a counsellor in India are:

• Introduction to Psychology
• Statistics
• Human Service Delivery
• Case Management in Human Services
• Interpersonal Communications
• Human Behaviour and Environment
• Prevention and Crisis Intervention

Step 3: Pursuing a Master's Degree in Psychology

A master's degree is required to develop practical knowledge in the industry and to specialize in counselling. Counselling theories, social and cultural diversity challenges in counselling, career development and counselling, research methodologies, and much more add to the fundamental basics on the road to becoming a professional Counsellor. 

Some of the master degree programs to become a counsellor are:

• Master of Science in Counselling Studies
• Master of Science in Professional Counselling
• Master of Arts in Counselling

Step 4: Pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Guidance and Counselling (Optional)

A one-year diploma in guiding and counselling is an additional step a candidate can take to further hone their counselling skills. Various institutions offer this course to help them refine their counselling skills and earn practical knowledge and certification in the field.

Top Colleges for Pursuing Counselling Career

Students who aspire to be counsellors can opt for Psychology courses in many colleges and universities spanning across India. The top colleges to become a counsellor in India are listed below:

• Amity University (Lucknow)
• Jain University (Bengaluru)
• Maharaja Sayaji Rao University of Baroda (Baroda)
• St.Claret College (Bengaluru)
• Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai)
• Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences (Noida)
• Delhi University, New Delhi
• Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi
• Ambedkar University, New Delhi
• Panjab University, Chandigarh
• Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
• Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
• Fergusson College, Pune
• Christ University, Bangalore

Process of Counselling

Counselling is practised by professionals in a sequential way involving different steps that may or may not be manipulated. Usually, the procedure involves certain predefined steps.

The different steps are as follows:

Step 1: Introduction to Each Other

It is the fundamental phenomenon where the introduction is first brought up to define the trust between two people. The proper introduction leads to proper interaction. So, it is highly essential when it comes to spending time with clients.

Step 2: Effective Attention and Listening Skills

For a counsellor, the most imperative thing is to have effective listening skills and hundred percent attention towards the client. Poor listening skills will not fetch anything towards client problems. Hence, high listening skills are needed to figure out the strategies and help develop a plan to navigate the client to success.

Step 3: Questioning the Client

Questioning the client does help because this makes the client aware of all the dimensions of problems in all margins of life. This also helps to make communication easier between client and counsellor, develops trust, and always encourages further development of rapport between the client and counsellor. 

The word to be used at the time of questioning is "why." It should be used in the middle of the sentence and not at the beginning of the sentence.

Step 4: Confrontation

This step in the whole process is required when the client is still preoccupied with fears and tensions. Confronting the problems by questioning how these thoughts affect your actions and help to put the client away from the fears as he tries to explain and that makes the client get crystal clarity of the situation he/she faced and the client itself will be able to figure out the mistakes that are made.

Step 5: Respecting

The reflection and reactions after listening to any problem, mistakes vary from one person to another person. Moreover, whatever may be the client's problem, it may be weird, awkward, and may feel strange. The counsellor has to respect the problem of the client and build belief in the client.

Step 6: Prioritization

In this process, the counsellor delivers the priorities to the client based on their respective life so that it helps clients to predict the important aspects of his/her life. It is the essential skill a counsellor should have and probably the critical step in the whole process of counselling.

Step 7: Developing the Plan of Action

After figuring out the client's priorities, the counsellor should design a proper plan of action so that the client will not have any repetition of his earlier problems and allow the client to make decisions accordingly.

Step 8: Concluding the Counselling Session

This is the final step of the process. In this process, the counsellor has to conclude by summarizing the main points that he needs to remember and hope that the client can overcome the problems.

Types of Counselling

A counsellor helps clients deal with problems that can emerge in any area of their lives. As a result, a counsellor can work in different domains.

Some common types of counselling are:

• Marriage and Family Counselling
• Guidance and Career Counselling
• Rehabilitation Counselling
• Mental Health Counselling
• Substance Abuse Counselling
• Educational Counselling

Marriage and Family Counselling

Counselling is specially meant for families who are not comfortable with each other. It is also for recently married couples because, as we know that in some cases, it takes some time to develop their relationship to a mutually understanding level. However, due to the lack of understanding, comforts, and mental stress, the possibilities of conflicts are expected. In this case, the need for a counsellor is necessary.

Guidance and Career Counselling

It is very important to drive a person into the right path when it comes to the hands of a counsellor. However, few cases are like people following their inspirations to reach their desires; there are cases where students, for example, fall back on the wrong path when directing a career. For these people, proper guidance by a Career Counsellor is required.

Rehabilitation Counselling

This type of counselling is specially brought up for people with disabilities. The role of this counselling is to positively impact people with disabilities by applying different strategies such as motivation, support, encouragement, appreciation, and so on.

Mental Health Counselling

The people who appear to this type of counselling are the ones affecting mentally. It can be mental stress, depression, anxiety, and anger management issues. These counsellors act as a resource when it comes to providing support which falls back emotionally and psychologically.

Substance Abuse Counselling

This counselling is for people who are addicted to drugs and unable to have control over them. This counselling differs from other counselling when treating clients because not all clients suffer from similar addictions. The addiction varies from one to another depending on the addiction; customized treatment plans are made.

Educational Counselling

Students are the ones to heap into this type of counselling. This counselling is necessary for the students who are lazy enough to participate in academic and sports activities. These counsellors help the students who are on the verge of leaving education.

Specialization for Counselling

Specialization in a particular field is essential to enhance any person's skills, and it is also helpful to promote as a professional. Therefore, a professional counsellor will have the intensity and potential to solve problems people face and give proper solutions to precisely sustain their lives.

The five major specializations for counselling majors are :

1. School Counsellor
2. Career Counsellor
3. Mental Health Counsellor
4. Marriage Counsellor
5. Rehabilitation Counsellor

School Counsellor

The eligibility to become a School Counsellor is to attain a master's degree in School Counselling. The state of practice is also required to increase further credentials. School Counsellors are generally the one who helps students to excel in academics and sports. They also encourage students to participate in Co-curricular activities.

Career Counsellor

The eligibility to become a Career Counsellor is to attain a master's degree. A career counsellor's role is to give proper guidance to the necessary people by choosing the right path for their career. There are also career counsellors who operate in Private.

Mental Health Counsellor

The requirements to become a Mental Health counsellor are to have a master's degree and state license. Major clinical experience is also required. The mental health counsellor's job is to guide the patients to live with the disorders and help them build confidence in their precious lives.

Marriage Counsellor

The process to become a Marriage Counsellor is huge. To become a marriage counsellor, a person should have a master's degree in psychology, marriage therapy, family therapy, and a need to obtain a license in clinical practice and a passing grade on any of the exams conducted by the state for the requirement of intended practice.

The job of a marriage counsellor is to help couples resolve their divorce matters or marital problems. The average annual salary of the marriage counsellor is high when compared to the rest of the Counsellors.

Rehabilitation Counsellor

This Specialization is emerging and fast-growing compared to other specializations. To become a Rehabilitation Counsellor, a person should have a master's degree in rehabilitation and a certification in rehabilitation. The role of the rehabilitation counsellor is to assist disabled people to adjust to life with their disabilities.

Counsellor Jobs

The demand for counsellor jobs is generally high. Moreover, each job has demand concerning its field, like a school counsellor job has high demand in the educational field. Likewise, each job has a demand concerning that particular field.

Some major Counsellor Jobs are:

• School Counsellors
• Mental Health Counsellors
• Rehabilitation Counsellors
• Marriage Counsellors
• Depression Counsellors
• Addiction and Substance Abuse Counsellors
• Working with NGOs

Counsellor Salary in India

The salaries of all types of Counsellors are not the same. It differs from one type of counsellor to another type of counsellor.

Here are the average salaries of a counsellor in India.

Importance of Counselling

It takes a lot of effort, expertise, and persuasion to become an effective career counsellor. Nevertheless, this is one of the most gratifying careers available today in India. Unfortunately, for a youth population of 400 million, India has less than 5000 professionally trained career counsellors. This is a significant gap that must be bridged.

It tends to believe that no human being in this world is living life without any problems or downfalls. The problems may differ from one person to another, but the solution to overcome is by approaching a suitable person called a Counsellor.

Some of the problems that individuals encounter and are desperate to meet a counsellor are marital status, natural disaster, grief, anger management, depression, career issues, relationship conflicts, trust issues, addictive behaviours, alcohol, and drug dependency. To all these infinite problems, there is a finite solution called a counsellor.