How to become a Residential Psych Counselor?

How does one become a certified rehab. counselor in the state of MD? I am a recent sociology/social psychology graduate (received my B.A) and would like to pursue counseling as a career. Can I become a counselor without my master's degree?

• Answer:

  Rehab as in drug rehabilitation? Are you really sure you want to do that? In most rehab places I have seen you have 'professional - I went to school to be a psychologist' counselor types and then you have the 'unprofessional - I did drugs to excess and learned through experiences what its like to get clean and sober' type. Frankly the first do not get as good results as the second. Its a simple matter of been there done that so you can relate to the person on that level. Also you may want to cool your heels and not pursue a masters in anything at the moment. Unless you have personally been through rehab, I would strongly urge you to seek out an 'education' program that includes your getting some real experiences in the the rehab setting as a volunteer - yes you are not paid, but you get to see what it is like inside and get to understand the daunting task. Its great that you want to get into the social services type of line of work, but are you cut out for it? I hate to bring doom and gloom but most of those who do enter into that line of work with high hopes and great expectations discover that most homeless people (as one example) WANT to be homeless and are not wanting to work for more or to go through hoops to become homeful. You also learn that most drug addicts require more than one try to get it right. In AA/NA program you learn the word 'retread' - basically a person who got clean and sober, went back out, got clean and sober again - it can be (and is in many circumstances) a life long process - short periods of clean time broken up by periods (short or long) of drug using/drinking. Service - social service - type professions may seem like the ideal 'giving to society' type profession, but I fear that such professions usually mean you get to see a side of humanity that is not pretty, is always heart breaking and the sheer size of these sorts of problems can numb your brain and your heart. Thus depression is a big problem with professional therapists, being jaded and hard becomes common for nurses, doctors, drug rehab counselors and the like. Many will ultimately 'give up' and go someplace else, many have their little hearts crushed one too many times and might pick up the bottle just to make it through the tears. So this is what you should do. Call around at the local rehab centers ask what kind of volunteer programs they have. Explain that you are wanting to get some experience that will help you to define where you take your education and your present BA. since you have attended school recently you have the 'evidence' to show that you are working toward 'something'. I bet you will find a lot of professionals out there who will be more than willing to hire you as a volunteer or at least point you in the right direction on how to get some practical experience before you potentially waste thousands of dollars on a masters that is 'no good' for you because you cannot handle the darker side of humanity. If possible (time and money wise) work on the 'needed' credits toward the masters degree without picking a major - you can do that for the short haul - your still working at a goal, even if you do not have that goal fully defined. This is a bit of hard won advice I give you free of charge - I went down the road of service related profession and discovered that my heart couldn't handle the grief of the human condition.