Dealing with grief can be an isolating and agonising experience. Do you feel for people grappling with the loss of life and want to make a meaningful contribution? If yes, then Grief Counselling could be one of the most exciting career paths for you. In this article, we will explore several aspects associated with grief counselling. Starting from the basics, we will find out how much money one can make as a grief counselor in the U.S. So, let’s get started.
What is a Grief Couselor?
A grief counsellor is a professional who works with people exposed to sorrow and grief. They could be terminally ill patients, family members of these patients, and family members of a person who had passed away. A grief counselor offers counseling both to individuals as well as groups.
Their main responsibility is to provide emotional support to people experiencing grief. The exact approach of counselling might differ from person to person and situation to situation, but developing and documenting patient assessments, treatment plans, and patient progress are usually the key constituents of their workflow.
Where Can You Work?
As a grief counselor, you can pursue a number of positions, such as mental health counselor, substance abuse counselor, funeral director, and law enforcement officer. You could also have the opportunity to work in different types of places, such as community agencies, churches, and other religious organizations. You could also contribute to funeral service businesses. Additionally, your private practice would always be an available option as an expert on grief counseling.
How Much Money Can You Make?
Becoming a grief counselor in the U.S. is a great way to open pathways to higher earnings. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, bereavement counselors received an average base salary of $51,500 in 2020. You can expect to earn more as you gain more experience. Adding certifications to your kitty as you progress would also improve your earning prospects.
Which Degree You Would Need?
There has been a growing need for bereavement support in America, which experts attribute to its aging population. Over two dozen universities across America now offer master’s degree programs specializing in grief counseling and therapy. While the titles of the programs could vary, relatively popular names include Master of Arts in Bereavement Studies, Master of Science in Grief Counseling, Master of Social Work with an emphasis on hospice care, and Master of Arts in Pastoral Care & Counseling.
The course curriculum of these programs can equip you to provide research-backed, compassionate guidance through individual, family, and group counselling settings, often involving supervised fieldwork. Core topics covered in the program include ‘emotional phases of grief’, coping strategies across different cultures, conducting therapy sessions for different types of losses, ethics of grief counseling, and self-care for counselors.
Let us also look at certification options in Thanatology. The Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) offers the premier certification program for professional thanatologists in the United States, Certification in Thanatology (CT).
As a CT, you could aim for career advancement across settings such as hospitals, hospices, funeral homes, and private consulting. As the demand for end-of-life specialists grows, Certified Thanatologists will play a leading role in the ongoing effort to demystify mysteries of death compassionately.
Future Outlook
There can be no denying that loss is a permanent part of life. Professionals will always be required to lead others out of their sorrows. Thus, the future outlook for grief counselors is extremely promising. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, there will be a 25% increase in the availability of jobs in this field between 2019 and 2029. At this rate, the growth rate in grief counseling jobs would exceed the growth rate in other job areas.
There exists solid backing to the theory that supports the growth in grief counseling. It is expected that the number of patients seeking mental health and addiction counseling will increase. Moreover, as the stigma surrounding counseling continues to fade, more and more people will seek assistance to treat their grief.
Final Glimpse
In this article, we have seen what it means to pursue a career as a grief counselor. A career in grief counseling holds great promise if you consider pacifying grieving people your top calling. It opens up opportunities for you in areas such as health and hospice care. We’ve seen how the prospects of grief counseling are expected to remain bright.
