Job Responsibilities
I share my time between working for a health and wellness
corporation serving the corporate sector doing counselling and
consulting - and running my own business in coaching/educating.
At my job my eight hours includes consulting with managers of
large corporations re: management of staff, re-organization,
working with individuals, team-management, assisting troubled
employees, coaching. Counselling clients include clinical work -
such as speaking with clients who are currently experiencing
issues of stress of various kinds - ranging from mild to severe.
Examples would include issues regarding family/marriage/child
rearing, to addiction problems (alcohol/gambling/drug
abuse/workoholism), risk of self harm (historically or in the
moment), work related issues (performance/stress management/work-
trauma/accident), depression/anxiety/trauma, abuse issues and
more. Clinical work also includes various risk assessments (risk
of self-harm to self/others, symptoms of depression/anxiety,
ability to provide for certain responsilities e.g parenting, work
duties), assessing for risk related to alcohol/drug consumption.
I mainly work with adults ranging in their 20's to late 50's.
Administratively, forms need to be filled with date, client
information and case notes (the exchange that took place between
the client and myself) and if any further services were provided
or referred. There are also mundane duties (faxing reports etc).
Personal business is very different. I am able to choose my
clients, have a greater field of options regarding the type of
groups I can work with. I do spend quite a bit of time needing
to research and market - but with a network (leverage) the work
is greatly reduced. I create my own coaching courses. I contact
all customers/clients directly and have the ability to work
within both corporate and non-profit sectors. Coaching is very
different from counselling, and I spend most of my time here
coaching and providing seminars. This requires creating programs
on Power Point or some other presentation medium, as well as
writing/photocopying hand outs, creating address lists and
regular e-mails for continuous contact.
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Job Requirements
To be hired as a coach/counsellor for a corporation - normally a
Master's Degree as well as membership in a accreditting
professional association is required - and usually experience in
the field.
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Uppers
Best parts are that I work with other counsellors and coaches - and so the
people are great to work with! We are able to communicate openly with each
other, motivate each other, problem solve as a team, are compassionate,
empathetic and always focused on personal growth!
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Downers
There are some restrictions around the clinical work. For
example, corporations outline a particular medium of service, so
if as a coach/counsellor/consultant you have a particular style -
you may need to cater that to the contract of services by the
company. So in my case, I find that I am restricted in my
creativity with the clients.
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Lifestyle
Hours tend to be full-time with lots of breaks (for self-care) if you are with a
GOOD company. If the company drives you to see clients without breaks or staff
support/staff development, you are going to burn out! If you are provided with
clients out of the area - then there is a lot of travelling and you may be
on-call. The up-side is that you'll get paid well for that, the down-side is
that it can be hard work. Social events include other staff besides those in
your field. Dress code: everything (in the corporate sector) is very
professional. If you are working in non-profit or social services that are not
corporate - dress code is much more relaxed. Usually diversity is great - and if
not diversity one would hope a raised consciousness - this is a human services
field!
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Compensation
Compensation varies - at the low low end (without a Master's
degree) you can start anywhere from $9-$18/hour as far as I have
seen / or $25000+/year. With a grad degree - its starts in the
$20+/hour or $35000-$70 000/year.
If you are working out of your own business, as a
counsellor/coach rates go from $50/hour (low end-sliding scale),
average $80/hour and up to $300/hour. Coaching seminars with
groups $100/person/hour depending on the size of the group - or
$4000-$20000 a day (if you are really really really big and have
really really really big clients) - again - hard work and
research but it is definitely possible.
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Advice to Jobseekers
Do what you love and nothing else. If you don't love this work,
DON'T DO IT!
The great thing about the work is that there are so many fields
to specialize in and a broad spectrum of work you can do
(educating, counselling in different fields, coaching
individuals/groups, working in many types of organizations,
writing, creating courses, teaching workshops, and much more)
And lastly - there is a great turn over in theis field and burn
out - so SELF CARE IS REALLY REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT!
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