The Benefits of Becoming a Counselor as a Parent

Shifting your career as a parent can be challenging, especially if your kids are young and require a lot of full time care. There are plenty of benefits to doing it, though, especially when choosing a career like counseling. 

If you have always dreamt of being in a career that helps people, then counseling has more than likely crossed your mind. So, why not bite the bullet and go for it? Whether you're a new mom/dad or your kids are already in their teenage years, here are the benefits of becoming a counselor as a parent. 

You Can Study Online 

One of the biggest concerns about changing careers when you have kids is the lack of time on your hands. Luckily, you don't have to travel to and from a university to get qualified, as you can pursue an online counseling degree. 

By doing an online counseling degree rather than traditional in-class learning, you ensure you don't miss too much time with your children. You can study from home, on your breaks at work, and in the coffee shop after you've dropped the kids off at school. It's one of the best ways for busy adults to enter a counseling career without having to uproot their entire lives. 

You Can Work with Children 

If you've realized that you have a knack for working with children after becoming a parent, then good news - you can choose to work with children as a counselor. By doing so, you can make the most of your parenting skills by using them to help other kids who may be struggling. 

Of course, if you have enough of working with children with your little ones running around, you can work with adults instead. There are plenty of options when it comes to a counseling career!

Your Parenting Skills Transfer 

As a parent, you learn many new skills, many of which transfer well to counseling. Just some of these include:

Patience 

Counselors must be patient with their patients, as they are there to help, not to rush them. As a parent, you will already have extensive experience with this - think of all the times you've had to wait far too long for your little one to tie their shoelaces or finish eating their greens. 

Empathy 

Many parents experience an increase in empathy once they have children. That is because you are no longer the most important person in your life - your child is. By already having this high level of empathy, you'll find caring for your patients much easier. 

Time Management 

Getting your kids out of bed, doing the school run, and ensuring everyone is well fed doesn't just take energy; it also takes excellent time management skills. That transfers very well to counseling, as you'll need to stay on top of your workload and be highly organized in order to manage your patients well. 

Crisis Management 

Every single parent has had to deal with a crisis at some point - small or large. Whether that crisis has ended in laughter or the hospital, over the years, you'll have become better at managing it. You'll be glad of this experience when you start work as a counselor, as you might have to deal with several emergencies throughout your career.  

So, by simply being a parent, you already have some skills that'll help you become a successful and helpful counselor. 

You Can Work Around Your Family Life 

Work-life balance is a huge priority for many parents. After all, you don't want to miss out on precious time with your children and partner. Luckily, with counseling, you have the opportunity to work around your other obligations - it's not always a simple nine until five workdays. That means you can often pick your kids up from school, take them out during the holidays, and be at home when it is most important. That's not just with the career, either - that includes when doing your online counseling degree, too. 

You Can Impact Future Generations 

As a counselor, each day, you positively impact the world, including future generations. By counseling young people, you have the opportunity to shape the minds of the future. You get to help them work through their emotions, understand their feelings, and become better people overall. It means that when you retire from your counseling career, you'll know it's not just your own children's future you've positively impacted - it's many. 

It's a Career Your Kids Can Look Up to 

Every parent wants their kids to look up to them, and with a counseling career, they are sure to do just that. By helping people every day, your children will look up to you as kind, helpful, and even world-changing. Not only will they see you in a more positive light, but it might even inspire them to pursue a healthcare career in their own futures. 

You'll Learn a Lot About Yourself 

Working as a counselor greatly broadens your perspective. After all, you get to work with a large number of different people, all with different views, opinions, and lifestyles. You'll understand just how different and unique everyone is and how that doesn't affect genuine human kindness. You won't only learn about others, though - you'll also learn about yourself. You'll learn how you deal with emergencies, how you work best with people, and what your world views really mean. 

You See Real Improvement Due to Your Efforts 

When pursuing your online counseling degree, you'll see improvement in your knowledge. Once you become a qualified counselor, you'll see real improvements outside of yourself - in the form of your patient's mental health progression. That's not something you can say about every career! You'll watch a patient laugh after weeks of barely a smile, a patient who rarely utters a word lead a conversation and a patient who's improved so much they no longer need your services. It's a highly rewarding and satisfying career. 

The Chance for Continuous Growth 

Once you finish your online counseling degree and attain your first role, your growth doesn't have to stop, as there are plenty of other ways to expand your skills and qualifications as a counselor. You can earn new certifications, such as a licensed mental health practitioner, or you could even work toward setting up your own practice! Even if you choose to stick to your first counseling role, your personality will continue to grow. With counseling, your journey never truly ends. 

There Are Plenty of Available Roles 

When doing an online counseling degree, you don't have to worry about an absence of jobs at the other end, as there are plenty available. This is only going to continue to grow, too, due to the increasing number of people requiring mental health assistance. Knowing that there's a career waiting for you at the other end can lift a huge weight, especially when you have small mouths to feed. 

The Range of Career Settings 

There isn't one single setting for a counselor. Some work in offices, some in schools, while others work in common healthcare settings like clinics and hospitals. Luckily for you, that means that you have a choice of where to work when you become qualified. You might have always liked the idea of working with kids in school, or maybe you'd rather work in a comfortable private practice. Whichever it is, an online counseling degree will help get you there. 

The Learning Doesn't End 

Some people think that the majority of their education comes from school, but that isn't true. In fact, you'll learn far more from actually being a counselor than you ever could from a classroom or textbook. This is a good thing, as it means your brain will never stop growing, and by the end of your career, you'll be wise in ways you could never have imagined. 

You'll Always be Around People 

Counseling is anything but a lonely job. Often, you'll be working with other healthcare workers to deliver the best quality care possible, and even on the days you're the only counselor in the clinic, you still have the company of your patients. With how much conversation is necessary for counseling, you'll never have a chance to grow lonely or bored. Of course - you might wish for a hint of loneliness once you go home to a busy house! 

It Gives You a Goal Away from Home 

As a parent, you likely have goals at home. You might be planning to renovate the kitchen, get your kid into a great high school, or spend more time with the family. It's important and healthy to also have goals away from the household. By doing an online counseling degree and striving toward a new career, you create an exciting but attainable goal for yourself that won't just affect your life, but will positively impact your family's, too. 

You Can Teach Your Kids What You've Learned 

While you might not need to teach your kids in-depth psychology at a young age, there are some lessons that you'll pick up over the years that you can pass on to them. Most importantly, though, you'll teach them the importance of looking after your mental health and how it is OK to ask for help when necessary. By doing an online counseling degree and working with mental health patients, you'll ensure your kids grow up in an open-minded and loving home. 

You will Make a Real Impact

Some jobs are just that - jobs. Others, however, allow you to use your time for the improvement of society, and counseling is certainly one of those. As a counselor, you can go to work each day knowing that you will positively influence someone's life. Not only is that great for your patients, but it also ensures that you feel proud of what you do. 

What are the Steps to Becoming a Counsellor?

While there are many benefits to becoming a counselor as a parent, you still have the climb of attaining your qualifications. Here's how you do it:

1. Choose Your Specialty 

Do you want to work with mental health patients? Perhaps you would like to focus on marriage counseling? Before starting your education, it's a good idea to decide which area of counseling you want to go into. Keep in mind the setting you want to work in, which areas have the most projected growth, and the kind of salary you're looking for. 

2. Education 

Before becoming a counselor, you must attain a bachelor's degree. If you don't already have one, a degree in a relevant subject like psychology would be beneficial, but if you do, you can always go on to do a counseling course or masters. An online counseling degree will get you on the right track for your new career! 

3. Training 

Before becoming a licensed counselor, you'll need to spend a number of hours training with a qualified supervisor present - the amount differs depending on which state you are in. Fortunately, work experience is often a required part of your counseling degree, so you can fit the hours in during your studies. 

4. Get Your License 

A license means you can legally counsel patients, so this is a crucial step. You'll need to have completed many hours of work experience to attain this, so make sure you don't miss step three. You can earn additional licenses, too, such as a CFT (certified family therapist) depending on the counseling path you want to take - you can always attain these later on in your career. 

5. Keep Expanding Your Skills 

Throughout your counseling career, you'll have opportunities to expand your skillset and grow your resume, so take these opportunities. If you want it to be, counseling can be an exciting, ever-evolving career that'll teach you just as much about yourself as it will about the patients. 

As long as you are passionate, motivated, and willing to put in the hours, then becoming a counselor as a parent will be one of the best decisions you ever make.