Counseling Psychologist: Role, Route and Pay

APA has recognized counseling psychology as a specialty since 1998. Its definition opens this way:

“Counseling Psychology is a generalist health service (HSP) specialty in professional psychology that uses a broad range of culturally-informed and culturally-sensitive practices to help people improve their well-being, prevent and alleviate distress and maladjustment, resolve crises, and increase their ability to function better in their lives.”

APA, Counseling Psychology (last updated May 2022)

APA says the specialty focuses specifically but not exclusively on normative life-span development, with a particular emphasis on prevention and education as well as amelioration, and that it has particular expertise in work and career issues. A counseling psychologist addresses individuals as well as the systems or contexts in which they function.

“Counseling psychologists serve persons of all ages and cultural backgrounds in individual, group (including couples and families), workplace, organizational, institutional, and community settings.”

APA, Counseling Psychology: Population served

Among the techniques APA lists are individual, family and group counseling and psychotherapy, crisis intervention with disaster and trauma management, and assessment techniques for the diagnosis of psychological disorders (APA). BLS describes the occupation, shared with clinical psychologists, as assessing, diagnosing and treating mental, emotional and behavioral disorders.

Both specialties practice psychotherapy, and APA puts the difference in who the work centers on:

“While both counseling and clinical psychologists practice psychotherapy, counseling psychology differs from clinical in that its practitioners tend to focus on overall well-being across the lifespan, compared to clinical clients who often are experiencing more severe symptoms of mental illness.”

APA, A Career in Counseling Psychology: Counseling Psychology Applied

BLS groups the two for pay and outlook, which is why one set of federal figures covers both. The clinical psychologist guide follows the same route with the emphasis on clinical work.

Counseling psychologists work in a variety of settings, providing various services to different client populations. APA lists employment in colleges and universities as teachers, researchers and service providers, including in university counseling centers, and independent practice that provides counseling, assessment and consultation to individuals, couples, families and organizations. Others work in community mental health centers, VA hospitals and other medical facilities, health maintenance organizations, rehabilitation agencies, and business and industrial organizations (APA).

Most psychologists work full time, but part-time work is common (BLS).

Counseling psychology asks for the doctorate outright. APA says:

“A doctoral degree is required for a career as a counseling psychologist.”

APA, Pursuing a Career in Counseling Psychology

The steps, in order:

1. Earn a bachelor's degree in psychology or a related field. APA's counseling guide describes the common path as an undergraduate degree, a master's degree and then a doctorate, and says specialized counseling psychology programs exist for students who enter a doctoral program directly after undergraduate study.
2. Complete a doctorate, a PhD or a PsyD. Clinical and counseling psychologists typically need a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in psychology or a Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) degree (BLS). Counseling psychologists complete graduate, doctoral-level training in programs that require four to six years of graduate study (APA). APA adds that counseling psychology programs are usually housed in departments of psychology or in colleges of education at major universities, and that most are accredited by APA (APA).
3. Complete the internship. APA says that to practice in clinical, counseling or school psychology you complete a one-year internship as part of your doctoral study. The APPIC internship guide explains the match.
4. Gain supervised experience. Most psychologists need supervised experience to qualify for licensure, which may include an internship or postdoctoral training (BLS).
5. Earn the state license. Clinical and counseling psychologists are licensed in every state (BLS). A PsyD is a degree, and the license is issued by the state. The licensure guide sets out the steps.

BLS reports counseling psychologists inside one occupation with clinical psychologists, Clinical and Counseling Psychologists (SOC 19-3033). The figure below is that occupation's, and it is the same one the clinical psychologist page prints.

The bands are percentiles of the wage distribution, not years of experience.

Highest-Paying States for Counseling Psychologists

BLS ranks these states by annual mean wage, and a mean is pulled up by the best-paid few, so each state also shows its median pay and the number of jobs behind the estimate. The relative standard error shows how precise the mean is, and a larger number means a less precise one. Ordered by median pay instead, the five states would sit in a different order.

“Demand for clinical and counseling psychologists is projected to increase as more people turn to psychologists for help with their problems.”

BLS OOH, Psychologists: Job Outlook, Employment

BLS projects 6 percent growth for psychologists as a whole from 2025 to 2035, faster than the average for all occupations, with about 11,300 openings a year. The job counts here come from BLS Employment Projections, which include self-employed workers, so they run higher than the 75,990 wage and salary jobs in the pay section.

APA accredits PsyD programs in counseling psychology, and 14 of the 117 ranked programs hold that accreditation, alone or in a combined area. See the PsyD programs accredited in counseling psychology or the APA-accredited PsyD programs ranked nationally. The methodology page explains the score that orders them.