Counsellor (General)
What the work is
Provides counselling services to individuals, families and groups to assist in overcoming difficulties and improving overall quality of life through a range of therapeutic interventions.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Provides individual and group counselling sessions to clients to address emotional and psychological challenges
- Assesses clients' counselling needs and requirements including conducting risk assessments and screening
- Assists with the understanding and adjustment of attitudes, expectations and behaviours
- Facilitates referrals to Health Professionals or community resources
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a community counselling service with small, quiet rooms and a busy front desk. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A client who struggled to speak in the first session laughs about something in the fifth
- Someone leaves with a plan and a small, real sense of relief
- A referral you made connects a person with exactly the help they needed
Hard days
- Carrying other people's heavy stories home in your head after a long day
- A client stops coming and you never learn how things turned out
- A full caseload, a waiting list and a person who needs more time than you have
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 261131, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.