Career as Student’s Counselor

Many times when children don’t score good in their exams,don’t study well or act rebellious sometimes, parents and teachers think that it’s just a phase of their life. And just like that they unknowingly ignore the problems that children may be facing, the pressure of doing well academically, the fear about their futures, peer pressure and sometimes family issues. When students have all such things going on in their minds, it’s difficult for them to be able to focus on anything,let alone on their studies. That’s why to help students and guide them mentally and emotionally, nowadays schools, colleges and educational institutes are giving importance to student counseling. And for this purpose they look for great and dedicated student’s counselors for the betterment of their students.

Who is a  Student Counselor and What do they do?

A Student Counselor is a professional, whose main job is to guide students & help them to deal with their social and academic life in the right way. They are there for students to help them find emotional and mental stability at their difficult times.

The daily routine of a student counselor includes talking to students, listening to their problems. But it’s not the only thing they have to do, there are many things involved in this job, let’s know about the responsibilities one has to fulfill as a student counselor.

• The first and foremost thing that a student counselor has to do is to listen to student’s problems or issues they are facing, keeping their minds open.Ask them different questions like how their online education is going, are they getting along with their friends and family etc. and observe their behaviour.
• When the counselor gets to know about the cause of a student’s problem, then they need to work with them to find solutions.
• It’s the job of a student counselor to provide students with guidance regarding their mental health, future choices, career prospects etc.
• It’s important for them to communicate and work along with students’ parents and teachers to help students in a better way, and make their parents and teachers aware about the student’s issues.
• Student Counselors also have to develop courses and activities like meditation, mindfulness and other creative activities to keep the emotional and mental state of children on track.
• And if they think, things are getting out of hand or the problems of students are being ignored. It’s their responsibility to inform the issue to any higher authority and seek help for the students.

How to become a Student Counselor?

As the job of student counselor is very important for a student’s well being,it is important that the person who counsels the student is well educated and knows what he/she needs to do.

The first step towards becoming a student counselor is to complete your Undergraduate degree preferably from Psychology, education or sociology. After that you have to do your Master’s in psychology which takes 2-3 to complete, and when you have completed your Master’s then you have to undergo a training session of 1-2 years as student counselor under Professional counselor. During this session you will learn many things, like how children behave, how to observe slight changes in them, early signs of mental or emotional issues, how to find solutions to different problems etc.

Skills needed for Student Counselor

Listening skills: It’s important for student counselors to be able to sit and listen to whatever the students have to say, patiently. Rather than just speaking and giving them advice.

Work ethics: It’s important for a counselor to keep the personal information of their clients confidential, and work according to their code of conduct and ethics.

Computer skills: Counselors must know how to work on computers, with everything going online, schools and colleges use the best app for online teaching and also to connect & counsel students virtually. Providing them support whenever & wherever they need.

Open-minded: While listening to students, counselors need to keep their minds open & shouldn’t be judgemental towards them.So that they can give honest and right advice to students.

Problem- solving skills: It’s important for counselors to solve student’s problems, for which students come to them.