Top 10 Counseling Jobs & Career Pathways

Counseling is a unique major in that it can equip you for a variety of careers, which means that counseling careers and opportunities are on the rise. Here are our predictions for the top ten counseling careers of 2010.

10. Genetic Counseling. This is the counseling job of the future. Thanks to advances in science, couples can now be pre-screened for genetic disorders. Genetic counselors advise couples on the probability of conceiving a child with the disorder and help them to plan to avoid or at least mitigate the condition.

9. Grief Counseling. The world we live in can be cruel at times. Fortunately, the stigma attached to sharing about one’s grief is fading and more people feel comfortable getting grief counseling.

8. Rehabilitation Counseling. Injuries can often be just as psychologically damaging as they are physically damaging. Rehabilitation counselors help people recovering from injuries to come to terms with their injury and how quickly they will be able to heal.

7. Dating Counseling. In an age where finding love on the internet is becoming commonplace, expect to see more people going to a professional for advice on how to handle the new territory of internet dating. This is another counseling job that will grow in popularity in the future.

6. School Counseling. The first counselor that most people see is a school counselor. There will always be a need for counselors to give advice to kids or even just be available to listen to them talk and show them that someone cares. This is one counseling job that will never go out of style.

5. Behavioral Disorder Counseling. There just aren’t enough qualified counselors trained to deal with the flood of patients being diagnosed with depression and other mood disorders. Demand for this counseling job is rising with every new diagnosis.

4. Marriage Counseling. Over half of marriages in the United States end in divorce. Given this statistic and the frequency with which it’s being mentioned in the media, couples are becoming more proactive about seeking out marriage counseling before the marriage is unsalvageable.

3. Relationship Counseling. Married people aren’t the only ones with problems. Every human relationship is bound to undergo some strain over time. People are becoming more to getting a professional evaluation of their relationships and how they can be improved.

2. Life Coaching. Some people are determined to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, and the number of determined people looking to life coaches to help them achieve these goals is growing. Sometimes, it just helps to get an objective opinion.

1. Career Counseling. With the economy in its current state, the unemployed are flocking in droves to get a professional opinion on how they can make themselves more marketable to companies or where they ought to look for work. Perhaps they should consider getting a counseling job.