What Must I Do To Become A Counselor, and What Could I Earn?
The field of mental health is broad and the education, supervision, experience, and governmental requirements vary depending on the particular specialty and geographic location of your practice. The following applies to the state of Arizona at the time of this writing. Other states have differing criteria for certification, and most now have licensing in one form or another. Arizona has recently instituted licensure.
If you limit your work to chemical addictions, licensure is available in Arizona and has its own requirements, minimally a high school degree. Because each state's requirements might be different, you need to consult their respective regulating agencies. In Arizona, you can go to the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners web site and review the current requirements. Employment opportunities have been abundant for Licensed Substance Abuse Counselors (LSAC), but the salaries have typically been quite low, as low as double the minimum wage.
If you desire to be licensed in the state of Arizona, a Masters degree with an approved curriculum in a mental health related field is needed, along with supervised experience requirements specific to your educational background, and the passing of an approved competency test. The test is quite comprehensive, and live seminars and guided home study preparation programs are available from private vendors. Again, because regulatory requirements differ from state to state, and over time, check with the agency in the state you intend to work. For Arizona, visit the web site for the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners for the latest offerings and requirements.
Regarding education options, I suggest you attend the school with the highest accreditation and the best reputation. Doing so substantially increases your job prospects and tends to make it easier for you to find a qualified supervisor willing to take on the liability of supervising you. For years, the University of Phoenix held the top position with its CACREP accreditation in Arizona, and now Arizona State University has obtained the same accreditation level. Some Bible colleges might offer a degree in which counseling is a major emphasis which qualifies you for certification or licensure.
The typical time frames for the various levels looks like this. Earning a basic college degree, such as a BA or BS, takes three to four years. Add another three years for a masters degree. Add to the education time needed, any supervised training requirement for the certification or licensure you desire, and you can calculate a rough estimate of the total time needed. Some states might set a time limit within which their requirements must be met. You will probably find that true with colleges also, so be sure to gather all that information in your search.
You should know at the outset, whether obtaining a degree that qualifies you for the certification or license that you seek also requires that you work as an intern and if so, for long. Some intern positions offer modest pay, most do not. The path is long, tiring, and can test your mettle.
Compared to other master level degreed fields, counseling is among the lowest paid, with average hourly wages ranging from $16 to $27 for agency work (cir. 1998). So, be certain this is what you want and can afford to do. I can only speculate as to what self-employed practitioners earn, but published articles suggest a rule of thumb is 40% to 60% of the hourly rate they charge, depending on their monthly case load. The fewer client sessions held, the higher the proportion of gross income needed for overhead. In addition to the time spent directly with the client, self employed counselors tend to spend a minimum of 25% more time maintaining records, managing the business side of their practice (e.g. billing and advertising), preparing for the session, and gaining additional education. If the counselor relies on insurance for fees, some income will likely go to pay an employee to manage that end of the business. Based on the current average fees charged of $50 - $65 per hour (cir. 1998) in Arizona, and using the above income/revenue percentages, and carrying what this industry considers to be a "full-time" weekly case load of 20 client hours, a self employed counselor might have a take home pay of $1600 - $3100. All things considered, their final income per hour can drop to the level earned by those working for an agency, especially when you consider any perks that the agency might offer such as health insurance.
Charles Jennings, M.C., LPC