Training and Education Required to Become Gerontologist

With high rise in services for aged people, demand for educated professionals has increased in the field of gerontology. Various top accredited online colleges and universities offer range of education programs from certification to degrees in gerontology science. Students and human services professionals may earn any degree or certification from on-campus or online degree programs that fulfill their employment needs. Following are the major degrees available in the field of Gerontology.
• Associates Degree in Gerontology
• Bachelor’s Degree in Gerontology
• Master’s Degree in Gerontology
• Professional Certification in Gerontology



Associates Degree in Gerontology
At very initial stage individuals who are willing to join this profession can join community colleges to study specific courses to learn basic skills of gerontology. These courses make students eligible to join Associates Degree in Gerontology or complete four year degree program in college or university. Students possessing professional certification in human services find entry level jobs. Associates degree holders further continue their degrees to bachelor’s, masters or even doctorate level for career advancement.
Bachelor’s Degree in Gerontology
Several top accredited universities and colleges also offer bachelor’s degree in Gerontology or special certification programs. In addition some universities and colleges also offer some minors and majors, relevant to this field that help students to join this profession. Graduate degree holders can find jobs from entry-level to mid-level in local and state organizations dealing in providing services for old people, where they can work as planner or practitioner.
Master’s Degree in Gerontology
This is considered as a field of specialization, many other majors and degrees like psychology, social work and human services allows students to earn master’s degree in Gerontology. Number of universities offers this degree. After pursuing this degree students will get jobs in administration department as planner and professional. Few specializations also allow students to further continue their education in clinical studies about aging.
Professional Certification in Gerontology
Professional certification in gerontology is a specialization. It gives students essential knowledge and skills to work with old age group individuals in efficient manner. After pursuing this certification students gain multidisciplinary knowledge of this field. This certification enhances professional skills and competencies. Moreover, it also fulfills educational needs of professionals, who are willing to continue their education for further career advancement and career upgrade.
End Note:
Irrespective to level of education, every degree in Gerontology provides specific multidisciplinary knowledge and skills to work with old age people. Degree holders will be able to join work positions from entry level to administrative and higher positions. They will work as gerontologist or geriatric practitioner in social work and health care organizations.

Job Duties of Rehabilitation Counselors

As we know rehabilitation counseling is one of specializing field for counseling students. After earning basic on-campus or online counseling degree individuals may pursue specific training and education in the field to join profession of counseling as rehabilitation counselor. Qualified professionals will work on individuals having mental, emotional and physical disorders. They help such people to live independent life at home and on the work place.
Job Description of Rehabilitation Counselor
Rehabilitation counselors are well trained to counsel individual persons suffering from birth defects, illness, accidents and daily life stress. They guide them to enhance their capabilities to spend life independently with good employment. They also work in collaboration with health care facilities to treat patients in more efficient way that not only improve health conditions rather it also gives them courage to live normal life. Rehabilitation counselors assess individual client needs to design and apply rehabilitation activities like personal and vocational counseling, training and job placement options.
Primary Job Responsibilities and Duties of Rehabilitation Counselor
One third of the rehabilitation counselors may find jobs listed in state and federal service bulletins and get employed in public service organizations. Moreover, working as volunteer rehabilitation counselor will improve your chances to get permanent job with good salary. Individuals with higher degrees can become self employed consultants and director/in-charge of rehabilitation programs. Now day’s government and private sectors get more interested to support disable people offering them jobs to become productive member of society. This trend is directly improving employment opportunities for rehabilitation counselors.

Following are few important job responsibilities and duties of rehabilitation counselors.

•They assess individual client’s needs and capabilities by analyzing data collected from other consultants and diagnostic evaluations. They also interview patients and use their medical and educational records to design proper strategy for treatment.
•To better understand and assess client’s needs to develop rehabilitation plan, these professionals also arrange physical, mental, vocational and academic evaluation plans.
•After designing rehabilitation plan for individual clients, they also coordinate with client’s families for successful implementation of plan that covers behavioral, social, and residential and employment goals of clients.
•They talk with clients about their available options and goals to create rehabilitation plans to fulfill current needs.
•After developing rehabilitation program rehabilitation counselors also communicate with physicians, occupational therapist, psychologists and other related professionals to successful apply rehabilitation program.
•They also develop and sustain relationship with community organizations like schools and community groups and develop rehab plan that best fits on client’s abilities, education and physical abilities and career goals.
•Directing allowance for case service and acting as an authority to decide case expenses and payments.
•In order to resolve job placement problems and to assess satisfaction level of the candidate, rehab counselors maintain close contacts with clients during the whole job training and final appointment. Besides, they also monitor and document progress of clients to verify that rehabilitation plan was successful and all the goals and objective are met.
•Preparing and maintaining all case files, documents like client’s personal and educational information, work experience, client’s contact data and all other relevant correspondence record.
•Professionals also arrange on-site job training and helping devices like specially designed and equipped wheel chairs that support handicap persons to go to adjust to work and school environments.
•They also work in association with various agencies in communities to setup programs and facilities to help disable persons.
•They keep on doing research to develop improved diagnostic procedures to find out client’s needs and problem issues.
•They also locate hurdles in client’s way to get job and also formulate strategies to remove these problems. Most common barriers are rigid schedules, unreachable work sites and transport issues.
•Rehabilitation counselors also develop jobs and residency programs by contacting prospective employers. They provide complete guideline to get job and evaluate success of these employed clients.





Conclusion:
After reading this post we are able to conclude that a qualified rehabilitation counselor is capable to carry out all essential responsibilities to formulate rehabilitation counseling programs and activities to improve the life quality of handicap and disable citizens. They provide complete counseling and training to these individuals and their families and help them to face problems of life.

How to Choose a Top Accredited College for Online Human Services Degree Programs?

Introduction
On-campus and online human services degree programs prepares students to work with public and common people. They will become capable to help doctors, social workers, teachers and health-care professionals to better serve patients. Human services degree programs specifically teach students about techniques to identify and rectify problems. At advance students will become qualified enough to prevent occurrence of problem situation and improves life’s quality. The coursework of human services degree programs enhances basic characteristics like patience, empathy and desire to help others that are considered essential to become successful professional.
Reasons to join Online College for Human Services Degree
Sometimes students, who have passion to join human services profession, find it difficult to complete primary coursework from a traditional on-campus program. Some professionals working full-time in other professions like teaching and health care departments are also taking interest to pursue this degree to improve their performance and job options in the industry. But it is almost impossible for them to take out time to go back to college to earn degree in traditional setting. For such individuals online education provides a good pathway to complete their education. It also saves their time that a common on campus student spend in traveling to attend classes at university campus.
How to Choose a Top Accredited Online College for Online Human services Degree Programs?


Earning any relevant degree from an associates and a bachelors to masters level via on-campus or online degree programs is an essential prerequisite to get enter in this specific field. It is of core importance that college or university you are going to get enrolled must possesses good reputation among top colleges of your state along with accreditation by leading accrediting bodies, at regional and national levels both. Other things you should observe about the college of your choice are financial stability and degree programs available in your required subject area. As there is no official system to rank human services degree programs, you should be careful while selecting online college to earn this degree. Accreditation of the degree program and college is very important to ensure its reliability. But it is also not always essential that a degree is worthless in case a college does not possess any of one these accreditation. Sometimes colleges own other specialized accreditation for specific degree programs that make the degree worthwhile.
Important Concerns while choosing College for Online Human Services Degree Programs
After checking and ensuring about college accreditation, you should also check that what resources a college is offering for students in the form of internships and career options. Some colleges and programs offer networking options that will offer a permanent working position to work as human services professionals. On the other side some offers career mentoring programs that prepare fresh students to get relevant job in their field. A degree program that offers these resources will prove beneficial for students and display the concern of college to set a good career path for its students.
Degree Levels
Besides accreditation, degree level is also an important point of consideration for students. Commonly Associates, Bachelors and Masters Degrees are available for students. Many online schools also provide on-site training in the form of internships to give practical experience to the students of master’s degree programs. You need to determine which online college best fulfills educational and career needs.
Flexibility
Almost all online colleges allow students to set their own study hours and let them work at their own pace. Along with freedom to attend classes some colleges also permit students to participate in social work activities in local organizations and work settings. On the other hand communication and assignment submissions will be exclusively online. Online colleges also provide online instructors to help students. End Note:
Online Human Services Degree Programs are suitable for students who have more social responsibilities to support their families and are not able to attend traditional classes at university campuses. They are equally beneficial for professionals who need to upgrade their careers to get promotion. Accreditation of college is also important to get work license or counselor certification after completing education. Once you have decided to earn your degree via Online pathway from any top accredited online college, it is good to consider such factors like specializations areas, faculty, faculty’s profile, reputation of the instate and available facilities. You can contact with current students and faculty via email to get more specific information about college and the available degree programs.

Online Counseling Degrees Course Work

Primary Course Work for Online Counseling Degrees Although counseling is highly practical field and needs lot of interaction with other people to complete necessary practical work to complete degree program, it is possible to earn degrees of all level from associates to bachelor’s level via online counseling degrees offered by leading top accredited universities. After earning any online counseling degree students have diverse option to specialize in any specific field. Additionally, there are number of different careers where counseling degree is considered helpful to work in efficient manner.
Major Online Counseling Degrees
Following are some major online counseling degrees offered by almost all top accredited universities in United States of America.
• Online Associates Counseling Degree
• Online Bachelor’s Counseling Degree
• Online Master’s Counseling Degree
Coursework information of Online Associates Counseling Degree
Very few online degrees are available at associate’s level in the field of counseling. It is a two year degree program that prepares students to get higher education. Degree holders can not start working as professional counselors rather they need further higher education to become professional. Students will focus to learn introductory theory and principles of psychology and counseling along with concentration in abnormal and social psychology. Common courses taught in associate’s level degree include foundation courses of psychology, personality theories, human development, social and cultural diversity, human relationships, career development, professional identity and program evaluation and research techniques.

Coursework information of Online Bachelor’s Counseling Degree
As we know counseling categorized under specialization instead as major subject. Due to this fact few universities offer bachelor’s level degree in counseling. After completing this degree you will be eligible to work as professional counselor under supervision of licensed counselor. You will be able to understand and resolve mental and emotional problems of your clients. Courses are designed to teach students primary skills of helping others. Students will become competent to handle problems of other people and organize group activities and suggest best solution to every individual person. Basic coursework include sociology, general psychology, interpersonal communication, child development, human development and human behavior, family dynamics, multicultural aspects of counseling and chemical dependency.

Coursework information of Online Master’s Counseling Degree
Master’s level degree makes you eligible to work as licensed professional counselor. Common subject areas covered include psychological medication, behavior management, counseling techniques and mental health issues. Students are required to complete theoretical course work along with practical field work in the field. You will learn to diagnose problems related to personality, education and family. Essential coursework for master’s level consist of courses on counseling techniques for groups and individuals, mental health, counseling laws and professional ethics, strategies of behavior modification, couple and family counseling, drug abuse assessment, sexual dysfunction counseling, multicultural patient’s counseling and chemical dependency (alcohol).
Conclusion:
Coursework for online counseling degrees is specially designed to give you essential knowledge to work as counselor. It will prepare you to specialize in any specific field like school counseling, marriage counseling, rehabilitation counseling, child therapist and drug therapist and various others.