Counseling Certification

What are the best professional certifications?

One of the key things to remember about counseling certification is that professional certifications are not the same as a certificate in counseling. Although you can take counseling certification courses, you will not be certified until you have applied with the state certification board and taken either the National Board of Certified Counselor’s National Counselor Examination (NBCC/NCE) or the National Clinical Mental Health Counselor Examination (NBCC/NCMHCE).

There are some certifications that are necessary in order to practice as a professional counselor in specific areas. Most states require a combination of education and national testing in order to get certified as either a Certified Professional Counselor or a Certified Marriage and Family Therapist. Certification as a professional counselor or as a marriage and family therapist typically requires a combination of education and passage of a national test, but they allow you to work as a certified professional counselor with individuals or as a family, marriage and group therapist.

Certifications can be valuable to your career, making you accessible to a variety of client populations and expanding your job prospects. Certification as a master addictions counselor will make you a more attractive candidate at treatment centers and for social welfare jobs, as it prepares you to work specifically with addiction clients. If you earn certification as an international gambling counselor, you can help treat patients with a variety of gambling addictions.

What organizations offer certification?

While there are many organizations that offer counseling certification, it is best to look into certificates offered by the most reliable organizations. One of the most trusted organizations is the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC). Created by the American Counseling Association, this independent agency has over 48,000 counselors with NBCC certification, and has been accredited by the (ICE) since 1982.

Another notable member of ICE is the National Association of Forensics Counselors (NAFC), which offers counseling certification programs for people who want to be clinically certified forensics counselors and clinically certified sex offender treatment specialists among others. The NAFC has been providing certification since 1994 in the very specialized field of criminal justice counseling.

There are several organizations that provide certification for drug and alcohol counseling, with a few offering online counseling certification. The International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) is one of the broadest organizations specializing in credentialing addiction specialists. The IC&RC represents almost half of the substance abuse certifications in the U.S., and specializes in working with online certification programs like the one provided by University of South Dakota.

If you are interested in school counseling, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is an organization from which you can seek counseling certification. This board has specialized in teacher certification since 1987, and offers school counseling certification in early childhood through young adulthood.

Can I earn a certification online?

If you have already completed either a master degree, you are probably qualified to earn a counseling certification online. Most counseling certification programs require that you have completed at least a masters degree to be able to participate in their program, although there are a few that don’t require any previous schooling. Make sure you check your state’s certification guidelines to verify the validity of the program you are planning to attend, as well as your certification agency.

Some certification programs are more widely available online than others. Getting a national board approved drug and alcohol abuse counseling certification online is relatively easy, while finding a professional mental health care provider certification online is much more difficult. The best choice for finding an accredited online certification program is to work with a college that has a brick-and-mortar campus, but that also offers partially or fully online certification classes.

When you have found a program that provides the counseling certifications you want, be aware that the online program will differ slightly from those offered at traditional campuses. Although most certificate programs focus on completing approximately 15 to 25 course hours, board certification usually requires some kind of practicum. Online certificate programs have difficulties providing these practicum hours, so it is imperative that you check with the field experiences coordinator at your college to ensure you can complete this requirement.