By: The Capella University Editorial Team
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Helping people professionally takes more than good intentions. It takes the right degree, real fieldwork and a license to back it up.
A counseling career typically means choosing a specialty, earning the right degree, completing supervised practicum and internship experience and meeting your state’s specific licensure requirements. This overview touches on the education, supervised experience, exams and state-specific rules most prospective counselors will need to navigate.
Program length depends on the counseling specialty, course load, transfer credits and state licensure requirements. As a general benchmark, marriage and family therapy programs typically require about 48 semester hours (72 quarter credits), while school counseling and clinical mental health counseling programs typically require around 60 semester hours (90 quarter credits).
Accreditation is an outside check on quality. To earn accreditation a program must demonstrate that it meets standards for curriculum, faculty qualifications, student support and more.
Capella’s master’s degrees in mental health counseling and school counseling carry CACREP accreditation (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs). The marriage and family therapy master’s degree is accredited by COAMFTE (Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education), and the school counseling program also holds CAEP accreditation (Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation).
Joining a professional counseling association as a student is a smart early move. It’s a way to connect with peers and practicing counselors, stay on top of developments in the field and start exploring specialties before committing to one. Before joining, compare what each association offers (student benefits, educational events and focus areas) to find the one that best fits the career path you’re pursuing.
Options worth considering include the American Counseling Association (ACA) and its many divisions, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), and state-specific counseling associations. Most offer ongoing educational events alongside their networking and professional development opportunities.
Site-based learning is a required part of professional counseling programs, designed to prepare students for supervised clinical practice. It’s where theory turns into practice, under the close supervision of counseling faculty and site supervisors. Practicum typically starts with 100 supervised clock hours, followed by at least two quarters of internship with an additional 600 supervised clock hours.
Most students move through site-based learning as a cohort, keeping the same faculty supervisor throughout. At community sites like behavioral health clinics, an assigned site supervisor provides day-to-day guidance. Faculty and site supervisors stay in regular communication throughout, so each student gets the support needed to make the experience a success.
Start early. Securing a practicum or internship placement takes preparation. Joining a state professional counseling association is a strong first step for networking and learning what’s available regionally. Beyond that, visiting potential sites directly (counseling centers, private practices, schools, hospitals, churches and correctional facilities) can turn up options you wouldn’t find otherwise. Most counseling programs also provide faculty advisors and other resources to help with the search.
Licensure requirements differ by state, so your state licensing board is the definitive source for what you’ll need to do. After graduating, most paths require accruing supervised counseling hours under a site supervisor in your community, with the exact number depending on your state. Most states also require you to pass an exam. Depending on the state and license type, this may be the National Counselor Examination (NCE), the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination (NCMHCE) or an exam through the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards (AMFTRB).
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