Counseling Skills & Techniques
What Is Counseling?
According to the American Counseling Association (ACA), professional counseling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals.
Professional counseling encompasses a range of practice settings, modalities, and theories. Common types include:
- Individual counseling, the most common type, focuses on an individual’s growth and mental health.
- Couples or marriage counseling focuses on helping couples overcome conflict and build a stronger relationship.
- Family counseling focuses on complex family dynamics and how they affect both individuals and the group.
- Group counseling focuses on treating an individual in a group environment to facilitate growth.
As you progress through your career as a licensed mental health counselor, you may engage in one or more of these counseling approaches. You may also choose to specialize in working with a particular group, such as children, individuals with addiction, the LGBTQ+ community, or members of the military.
The program cards/tables featured on this page were last updated in March 2026. For the most current program information, please refer to the official website of the respective school.
Northwestern University
The Family Institute at Northwestern University
Master of Arts in Counseling
Earn a CACREP-accredited master’s in counseling online from top-7 ranked1 Northwestern University.
1U.S. News & World Report: 2026 Best National University Rankings
- CACREP Accredited
- Earn your MA in Counseling from Northwestern in as few as 18 months
- Accelerated full-time, traditional, or part-time tracks available
New York University
NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
master of arts in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness
NYU Steinhardt’s online master of arts in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness prepares students to work with diverse clients to create lives of health and meaning.
- Prepare to become a mental health counselor
- Accredited by the MPCAC
- As few as 21 months to complete
- GRE not required
The Process of Counseling
Counseling doesn’t have a fixed set of stages that apply to every client situation. However, there are common elements that they generally share.
1. Building rapport
This is an opportunity for you and your client to get to know one another. How you establish this relationship will set the tone for your future sessions.
2. Assessment
This is where you begin to understand your client. Ask questions and practice active listening to understand their concerns, establish goals and set expectations.
3. Goal setting
This involves working with your client to define specific, measurable, achievable goals you will work toward during counseling.
4. Intervention
This is the process of choosing appropriate counseling techniques to encourage your client’s growth.
5. Evaluation
This is a collaborative assessment between a counselor and their client. Review progress and adjust goals and strategies if needed.
6. Termination
This occurs when a client’s needs have been met, thereby concluding the counseling process. Summarize your client’s progress and provide additional resources.
Counseling Skills
Earning a master’s degree in counseling can help you practice different techniques for working with and helping clients. However, building strong and trusting relationships with clients requires both technical and interpersonal skills. As such, a counselor should possess the following skills and qualities:
Listening and observation skills: To fully comprehend clients’ needs and devise an appropriate treatment plan, counselors must have strong active listening and observational skills.
- Attending: Staying present for your client requires giving them your undivided attention, making eye contact, mirroring body language, and demonstrating your understanding. These behaviors demonstrate to your client that you hear and recognize their concerns.
- Active listening: Using all your senses to listen to your client means more than just hearing what they say. According to the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), active listening builds trust, fosters respect, and strengthens working relationships.
Ability to ask the right questions: Counselors learn about their clients by asking questions. It’s important to understand the psychology behind question order and type to set the right tone for your relationship.
- Closed questions can be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. Because they do not encourage deeper exploration, they can provide limited information and should be used sparingly.
- Open questions cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and require a client to reflect on an answer. Open questions should be intentional and aimed at helping a client explore their feelings.
Communication: Interpreting verbal and nonverbal cues, explaining research and treatment to clients and filling out reports are all important aspects of being a counselor. Communication techniques that you may need to employ include:
- Reflections: Clients may not always be able to put their feelings into words. Counselors can help them identify the emotions they express in their statements or nonverbal cues.
- Restating/rephrasing: Counselors can validate and clarify their clients’ statements by rephrasing them during a session.
- Affirmations: Building a client’s self-confidence can help to eliminate harmful thought patterns and increase their propensity toward positive life choices.
Empathy: Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes shows you understand your client’s experience and associated feelings.
Genuineness: When your actions and words match your feelings and thoughts, you are operating from a place of authenticity. Remaining authentic is an important part of your relationship with clients.
Unconditional positive regard: Making your client feel accepted for who they are can bring warmth and respect to your sessions and help them feel more comfortable opening up.
Counselor self-disclosure: This can be tricky to navigate, as each client scenario is unique and may warrant different levels of disclosure. However, it can be helpful in building rapport and trust between a counselor and client.
Counseling Theories
Counseling theories can provide helpful context when working with different clients. As you become familiar with each one, you can determine which approaches you will use in your own sessions.
- Psychoanalytic Theory: Developed by Sigmund Freud, this theory holds that unconscious mental processes — including repressed memories, emotions, and desires — influence human thought and behavior.
- Person-Centered Theory: Developed by Carl Rogers, this theory operates on the assumption that every human being has the ability to fulfill their potential. In person-centered therapy sessions, counselors act as a supportive guide.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Developed by Aaron Beck in the 1960s, CBT is based on the principle that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected. CBT helps clients identify and challenge unhelpful or distorted thought patterns and develop more adaptive thinking and coping strategies.
- Family Systems Model: Developed by Murray Bowen, this theory states that the family is the primary source of emotions and personality. It is often used in marriage and family counseling sessions.
Becoming a counselor allows you to promote client welfare and build strong relationships that empower them to obtain mental health and fulfill their goals. Start building the skills you need to empower your clients.
Information last updated: March 2026