44 Counseling Preparatory Programs in North America

Build a meaningful career from your passion as a special care counsellor providing professional and emotional support. The DCS in Special Care Counselling prepares you for appropriate interventions and teaches you to work with a range of professionals through hands-on workshops and professional internships.

The Human Services (HSERV) program prepares students for employment in a broad range of social service agencies. Typical job titles include substance use disorder treatment professionals, residential treatment workers, case managers, and outreach and community workers. The program has a core of courses that all students must complete for the Associate in Applied Science Degree, AAS with either a Generalist or Substance Use Disorder Counseling emphasis. By their second quarter, students determine which HSERV emphasis they will pursue.

Learn to build relationships that focus on promoting the resiliency and well-being of children, youth and families in Lakeland’s Diploma in Child and Youth Care Counsellor. Our program prepares you to support children and youth, as well as their families.

Learn more about how best to engage in informed counseling methods to engage with students of all backgrounds through the University of West Alabama's Education Specialist in Counseling. In the program, you'll cover topics including leadership, educational research, family counseling, adolescent counseling, substance abuse counseling and more.

Help people break free from the grip of substance abuse. In this rewarding career, you will work with a team of health and social services professionals to provide alcohol and other drug abuse (AODA) treatment services. Through classroom, laboratory, and internship experience, you’ll develop skills in counseling, diagnosis, treatment planning, group facilitation, and crisis management.

The Associate of Christian Counseling (Online) is a faith-filled launchpad for men and women who feel called to walk beside hurting people with the hope of Christ. In a flexible online format, this associate program builds a strong biblical and counseling foundation in just two years, empowering you to grow spiritually while you study around work, family, and ministry commitments.  

Trauma-informed care aims to establish a secure and nurturing environment conducive to healing for trauma survivors. This course provides a thorough overview of trauma-informed care principles, imparting essential knowledge and techniques for applying these practices effectively. By course completion, you will possess the understanding and abilities to assist individuals in their journey towards healing from trauma-related issues.

The two-year Addiction Counselling program will provide learners with comprehensive knowledge and preparation for a career in the addiction field. This program prepares learners to integrate theory and practical skills to work with individuals, families, groups, and communities. In addition to foundational skills, learners reflect on their beliefs and values to develop relevant professional skills to work with a diverse clientele, including multicultural and Indigenous populations.

Complete your Addiction Studies, Associate in Applied Science (AAS). This program's competencies can be attained through an extensive array of educational courses offered. The program contains classes suggested to begin internships in chemical dependency agencies in the public and private sectors and fulfill chemical dependency professional status in accordance with current certification requirements. Course content includes counseling, case management, psychology, sociology, ethics, law, and physiology as well as internships in a variety of work environments. Students are encouraged to begin the program in either the fall or winter quarter.

Complete your Addiction Studies, Associate in Applied Science-Transfer (AAS-T). This program's competencies can be attained through an extensive array of educational courses offered. The program contains classes suggested to begin internships in chemical dependency agencies in the public and private sectors and fulfill chemical dependency professional status in accordance with current certification requirements. Course content includes counseling, case management, psychology, sociology, ethics, law, and physiology as well as internships in a variety of work environments. Students are encouraged to begin the program in either the fall or winter quarter. The AAS-T option may improve the transferability of Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degrees to some four-year programs.

Do you have the aptitude required to become a counsellor or psychotherapist but seek the skills? This course on the basics of counselling and psychotherapy delves into the world of mental health and the evolution of treatment options since the early days of the ‘talking cure’. We trace the relationship between counselling and psychotherapy and explore the works of renowned psychologists like Sigmund Freud to train you in the use of both methods.

Some people may find it hard to make sense of loss and come to terms with those painful feelings. Did you know that people might take up to a year to recover from grief? This grief therapy course introduces you to the basic concept of counselling people to help them accept the reality of loss and adjust to life without their loved ones. We go through the stages of grieving to show you how different types of losses can affect mental health.

Learn about counselling and its applications in resolving emotional and psychological issues in this free online course.

The Addiction Counseling program is designed for career opportunities in entry-level positions in the field of Addiction Counseling. The program articulates with Metropolitan State University's Baccalaureate degree in Alcohol and Drug Counseling.

Stenberg’s Counseling Therapist Diploma program provides students with the stepping stones to help others overcome challenges, achieve goals and better lives. Students learn to approach and resolve real-life situations, proper self-care, ethical decision making, strengthen relationships and other applicable soft skills.