MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELLING
Here in this post, we are providing ‘Mental Health Counselling‘. You can discuss more your concerns about mental health in our community, and we will provide you with tips and solutions in a short time. Keep visiting Mental Health.
Overview
Counseling generally refers to help people in solving their emotional, social person, and interpersonal issues by themselves. In old times it was thought that counseling means advising, and counselors solve people’s problems and find solutions for them but it’s not true actually counselors guide clients to solve their problems by themselves without depending on the counselor.
The counselor shows different perspectives of the client’s situation and helps them to know their potential and failings without being judgmental. Moreover, Counselors help to explore the problematic environment and also analyzing situations that are supportive and objective.
Clients during counseling also find solutions to their problem and identify alternatives that may help them to solve their problem. Counselors help them to learn strategies for coping with stress, disruptive thoughts, feelings, and problematic behavior.
Mental health counselor
Mental health counselors are professionals who help clients and counselee to come out of a problematic situation that causes a deficit in their occupational, academic, and day-to-day life by using different strategies and psychotherapies.
The increase in mental issues demands more professional counselors to diagnose and treat mental health problems and issues. Researches demonstrate that the economic burden causes only due to major depressive disorder is $210.5 billion every year.
Where do mental health counselors work?
A Mental Health counselor is one person who deals with people’s cognitive, behavioral, and emotional problems. Counselors deal with single individuals, and sometimes families, groups, communities, and associated groups to treat mental health problems and psychological wellbeing. Mental health counselors work for the betterment of people and societies such as:
- Clinics
- Schools/Colleges/Universities
- Hospitals
- Community health centers
- Correctional facilities
- Business
- Social service agencies
- Government agencies
Counselors usually deal with people suffering from psychological illnesses such as depression, anxiety, phobias, and mood disturbance. Counselors also help people who have problems in marital relations. They also boost people’s self-esteem and help them realize their self-worth.
Responsibilities of mental health counselors
Mental Health counselors had to perform a wide range of responsibilities they perform on regular basis. There are:
- Making assessment and diagnosis of a client passing through traumatic experiences.
- Provide mental health treatment to the client.
- Repo building so that client shares their experiences, emotions, and issues.
- Talk to clients in groups and also with their families to find the actual problems.
- Helping clients to set their goals, make a treatment plan,s and giving them an insight into their problem through treatment.
- Enabling clients to identify their problem that is interfering with their recovery and wellbeing.
- Identifying social issues that are affecting their mental health like peer pressure, bullying, addiction, stereotypical thinking of people, prejudice, environmental stress, workload, economic pressure, financial issues, and health-related problems.
- Connecting clients to other people such as support groups, community social services, job services.
- Counselors are not working on disorders rather they are focusing on dysfunction and focuses on overall wellbeing. Counselors help clients to see problems optimistically, resiliently and encourage their healthy behavior and work on them to make healthy relationships.
Training of Mental Health Counselors
Training mental health counselor must have
Mental Health counselors first complete their bachelor’s degree in the human services field or social sciences such as
- Psychology, Sociology, or social work.
- Then requires an undergraduate degree in counseling Before a master’s degree.
- Then he requires a master’s degree in counseling and at least two to three years of supervised practice under a licensed professional. To be a professional counselor a counselor must also have to pass a state licensing exam.
- In many states counselors have to pass a test administered by the National Board of Certified Counselors, to be licensed counselors. But it varies from country to country.
- “Mental health counselor” is a protective title used for counselors who have met the requirements required to be a licensed mental health counselors.
Skills of Mental Health Counselors
Mental Health counselors are licensed professionals who practice their services legally. They must have some skills to become successful and effective in their career. Some of them are:
- Solid knowledge of psychology, therapy, and counseling
- Active listening
- Abstract and critical thinking
- Good judgment
- Problem-solving
- Outstanding observation
- Emotional intelligence
- Solitude
- Empathetic behavior
- Non-verbal communication abilities
Income of mental health counselors
Mental Health counselors work for the well-being of humanity not for earning luxurious life. According to a U.S survey, a mental health counselor’s income was $47,660 in 2020.but this income varies from state to state and according to their geographic location and area of practice.
But in Pakistan scope of mental health counseling is negligible. Mental health counselors earn Rs/10,000 in government hospitals and institutes, but in private agencies, schools, and hospitals their income is lesser.
Mental health counseling in Pakistan
Mental Health counselors are working in many cities in Pakistan such as Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad. Due to the increase in traumatic events, addiction problems, and career concerns need for counselors has been emerged. Counselling has many types, in Pakistan career counselors are most common.
This field needs more efforts to help our youth carefully select their career and be a proactive part of society. Pakistan is blessed with talented people but due to stereotypical thinking of spiritual healing, “peers” and Sufism people more beliefs on religious healing rather than counseling.
If counselors work with spiritual healers then they can treat mentally ill clients. Pakistan is working on these issues and according to a survey of Bauru of Labor Statistics, it is estimated that in 2022, jobs of mental health counselors will be increased by 11% due to increases in mental health issues in Pakistan.
Most influential mental health counselors in the world
Mental Health counseling is growing day by day and gaining popularity. Mental health counselors renowned in the world for their services in counseling are :
- Albert Bandura-most cited counseling psychologist-was awarded by Grawemeyer award when he was 82 years old still alive. -influential mental health counselor counseling.
- Roy Baumeister- Francis proffer of psychology at University of Florida state university-author of 6 books-known for remarkable work on erotic plasticity.
- Carol Dweck-professor at Sandford university-worked on motivation and social psychology-published book on Mindset in 2006-got a distinguished scholar award in 2013for the society of personality and social psychology.
- Hans Werner Gessmann- German counseling psychologist famous for work on dyslexia and psychodrama field, publish 140 articles-founder of psychotherapeutic institute Bergerhausen-trained 1500psychotherapists.
- Susan Carey-Harvard university graduate and professor of the department of psychology at ◊ Harvard-language acquisition expert-world renowned counselor- first women won the Rumelhart Prize in the 2009-publish book “conceptual changes in childhood” reconciled by Piaget’s research on animism.
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