Everyone when we need any service or product we look for two things: 1) Value for Money 2) Quality of service or product. As a customer and based on product or service we use various methods and yardstick to measure the quality. This is no different when it comes to counseling and coaching and may becomes even more important as it matters to one’s future!
Counselors come in various forms with different backgrounds, education and experience. In western countries there is a process and framework to ensure the quality of the counseling professionals. For example, in US, American Counseling Association recommends counselors to have a minimum of Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology, however Ph.D or Psy.D is recommended.
However education is not everything. In addition to masters degree, it is expected for the counselors to have a minimum of 3000 hours of experience and about 300 hours in a supervised training under a licensed counselor (for example LPC, LPCC or LFMT, more about this later). After acquiring qualifications, the counselor has to register with the state licensing body to get license to practice in the specific state, the licenses are transferable in most cases to other states. This ensures the quality and provides confidence to the clients when they consult counselors.
In our current scenario in India, very many counseling professionals don’t have required qualification and experience before they start practice. And as many of us know there is no licensing body in India in any of our states. This adds a complexity when it comes to deciding which counselor to meet other than recommendation from friends and family. This brings in the important question of how to establish the credibility in the eyes of clients, who need counseling and coaching.
The profile of the coaches and counselors must not only include above said minimum qualifications and experience but also social media profiles and blogs and videos. These articles and videos in various mediums act as a pseudo qualifications in the absence of strict guidelines in India. Therefore, any counselor in this digital age must have a website or micro-site offered by Google or FB or company like Talkaroo. It is also recommended to have either one or few of the social media accounts like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
We want to distinguish LinkedIn accounts from above 3 because as a professional counselor it is absolutely required to have a LinkedIn profile. The YouTube channel is also recommended where clients can view and hear your ideas, thoughts and experience.
Therefore we conclude that counselors should not only take time to describe about their qualifications, experiences in detail but also to create and maintain social profiles to be in touch with clients, to share their knowledge, skills and experience. This also allows them to improve their reputation and help the public during that process. Talkaroo platform also offers ways to have a micro-website to include all these informations, and also to publish articles, add your videos and audios. Please join Talkaroo in our mission to reach 500 million Indians in the next 5 years to make lives better!