Anyone who wants to become a crisis counselor must learn the skills, practices and knowledge to trauma-based counseling. This means they must be prepared to successfully work with children, adolescents, adults and the elderly in various settings. The first step in becoming a crisis counselor is to earn a bachelor’s degree in a field like psychology, social work, counseling, divinity or human services.
Social Work Degree
The most professionally focused degree for crisis counselors is social work. These programs usually focus on clinical social work, which involves child welfare and children’s services, and social work policy, which teaches graduates how to champion change initiatives and tackle the root causes of social problems. There are also counseling and therapeutic concentrations that focus on helping individuals, families and groups. These degree programs will most likely include classes on human behavior in the social environment, which will help students develop culturally competent …show more content…
These degree programs will introduce the different professional roles and ethical responsibilities of counselors. Students will learn how to use individual information in conjunction with development theories and models to empirically examine their client. These programs teach students how to recommend client strategy approaches that are appropriate to diverse needs and life experiences. Students learn how to use evidence-based counseling practices for prevention and intervention purposes. After graduation, students will be able to apply essential counseling skills and techniques across multiple settings. A competent and confident crisis counseling professional with a background in psychology will know how to examine and mitigate the factors that put clients at risk for unsafe behaviors and mental health