1, school counselor
It mainly includes full-time and part-time psychological counselors in colleges and universities, mental health education and consultation centers in primary and secondary schools, and psychological teachers in psychology departments. School psychological counselors generally undertake individual psychological counseling, psychological crisis intervention, mental health courses, lectures on psychological popular science knowledge, group psychological counseling, psychological tests and some administrative work, such as organizing psychological tests and arranging mental health publicity activities.
2. Psychotherapists in hospitals
Here, we should distinguish between two types of therapists in psychiatric hospitals or general hospitals. One is a psychiatrist, whose main job is diagnosis and medication, and is trained by clinicians. Most psychiatrists only do medication, not psychotherapy. The other is a psychotherapist, who usually has a psychological background, such as a student majoring in clinical psychology, or a doctor and nurse who has obtained the qualification certificate of a psychotherapist. They only do psychotherapy or physical therapy, not medication. Only a few psychiatrists are engaged in psychotherapy. Some psychiatrists look down on psychotherapists and think that psychotherapy is "useless" and "will only cheat money". They deify the role of drugs, but are unwilling to admit the important value of humanistic care. Psychotherapists in hospitals mainly do psychological measurement, individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, some also do physical therapy and engage in certain administrative affairs. Because most hospitals don't pay attention to psychotherapy (because the fees are low and they don't make money), psychotherapists are often in a marginal position, and the psychotherapy work is not worthy of the name and is not standardized enough. ?
3. Individual psychological counselor
Self-employed psychological counselors generally need to cooperate with social organizations, such as local psychological counseling institutions or online psychological counseling platforms, such as simple psychology, knowing yourself, a psychology and a spirit. And psychological counselors need to pay part of the consulting fees to the cooperation platform. Some self-employed psychological counselors will set up their own psychological studios and have stable customers through self-media, Baidu advertisements and peer recommendation. Individual psychological counselors mainly undertake individual counseling, group counseling, lectures, training, and writing popular science articles. For example, like me, there are two main tasks every week, one is individual psychological counseling and case sorting, and the other is the writing of popular science articles, forming a benign interaction. Psychological counseling provides inspiration and material for writing, and writing also gives me a steady stream of customers. Because survival mainly depends on the continuous payment of visitors, self-employed psychological counselors will participate more in consulting work, strive to grow up and constantly improve their ability and influence.
4. Psychological counselors in other institutions.
For example, counselors in the judicial and prison systems, counselors who do EAP services, and counselors who engage in psychological counseling in the community. Although psychological counselors in these institutions also do psychological counseling, the standardization of psychological counseling is not enough due to the limitations of conditions.