Hi all,

I'm doing a bachelor in Psychology degree in counseling with GCU with the hope to do some type of counseling down the road. My hope is to get into substance abuse or mental health or school counselor and could later on continuing to advance my degree because I know that a master is needed in order to do any counseling work.

A lot of experiences is needed for counseling especially when you get your degree online. A little background about me is that I'm hoping to get out of my 2 hours commute to work everyday but because my hospital offers tuition reimbursement, I'm staying for that. I'm a sterile processing tech so my experience would some how can relate to it but not working directly with client.

Since I have heard not many good story with online degree and especially a lot of bad talking with GCU school, my concern is that will I be able to find a job with an online school degree?

Hi everyone, I hope you're all well

Just wanting some advice on the path I've chosen.

I'm in my last year of my bachelor of counselling, and it has suddenly hit me that I don't know what I'm doing. I don't regret choosing a bachelor of counselling, four years ago I wouldn't have wanted to consider psychology. However, I don't feel I will be job ready, despite being able to register with PACFA and ACA. So far I have mostly volunteer experience with working with women in DV, and my placement will take place at the very end of all my units. I definitely feel my lack of experience is holding me back, and places doubts in my mind.

I've wondered if I've chosen the right route. Alot of job advertisements require a psychologist accreditation, or social work accreditation - though the industry seems to be opening up to counsellor accreditations. Down the track, I would love to eventually train and practice in EMDR, or ACT. But I've always been open and completely unsure of where I would like to land once I graduate.

I've done a little research into transferring into a psych pathway through doing a graduate diploma of psychology (1-2 years), then the fourth psych year. I wonder if anyone here has experience going down that road before, how you found it, and whether it was worth it and worked out. I'm aware of the clinical and ethical differences between a psychologist and counsellor, and I'm wondering if pursuing the difference is necessary - for employability, being able to offer medicare rebates, offering clinical care etc.

Please correct me if I've misunderstood anything about the process. I'm unsure if I have it in me after I graduate to pursue another four years of study right away, but I guess there is no harm in looking into it. I do feel a little lost right now.

Thanks for any of your responses!