What Does a Marriage Counsellor Do?
Learn about the key requirements, duties, responsibilities, salaries and required skills that should be in a job description.
Job designation: - Marriage Counsellor
A marriage counsellor’s duty is to engage with people who are married or about to get married in the future, to help resolve issues in their lives. They are mostly neutral towards couples and avoid taking sides so as not to cause any form of partiality or unfairness.
Duties and responsibilities of a Marriage Counsellor
A marriage counsellor’s responsibility is extremely high because dealing with people’s life is not an easy task. Without taking any sides, they are bound to help couples bring an end to ongoing issues or marital problems between a pair of individuals. They offer very less or rather zero opinions about who is right or wrong but create a solution to settle down matters quickly.
Counsel married couples on their marital life
Find out the causes of a specific problem in a couple’s marriage
Try to resolve minor issues to major issues between married couples
Advice married couples to be with each other and spend time together
Counselling couples to keep their marriage fulfilling and rock-solid.
Diagnosing the root cause behind the issues of married couples
Researching on mental disorders caused by distancing between couples
Coming up with practical solutions to solve issues between married/unmarried couples
Creating short-term resolutions for problematic couples
Researching on modern problems happening in married lives
Places of employment for a Marriage Counsellor
Courts at district level, state level and central level
NGOs (Non-government organization)
Hospital and clinics (both government and private)
Psychiatric care centres (both government and private)
Community centres in various localities
Counselling organizations (both government and private)
Rehabilitation and recovery centres (both government and private)
Work schedule of a Marriage Counsellor
Generally, a marriage counsellor’s duty hours are from 9AM to 5PM or 40 hours per week. Some even have their own practising chamber and even attend clients on weekends or on evenings as well.
Qualifications required to become a Marriage Counsellor
A degree in psychology or social sciences is required to become a marriage counsellor and for higher posts and income, a post graduate or master’s degree is required alongside with relevant work experience because this job is almost the equivalent or similar to a psychologist. In some cases, a license from the Rehabilitation Council of India is mandatory to start practice marriage counselling on a clinical or a therapeutic level.
Under-graduate courses to become a Marriage Counsellor
B.A./B.Sc in Psychology or Applied Psychology
Eligibility to pursue the course: -
Any stream with 50 to 60 percent in Class 12th exams from a recognised board (Science mostly preferred with PCB)
Merit-based admission or entrance exams as per some institutes
Entrance-exams to be taken to pursue the course
DUET (Delhi University Entrance Test)
JMI Entrance Exam (Jamia Millia Islamia)
BHU ET (Banaras Hindu University Entrance Test)
MU-OET (Manipal University Online Entrance Test)
CUCET (Central University Common Entrance Test)
JUET (Jammu University Entrance Test)
GSAT (GITAM Science Admission Test)
MET (Manipal Entrance Test)
SAAT (Siksha “O” Anusandhan Admission Test)
Institutes which are offering these courses
Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi
Gargi College, New Delhi
Ferguson College, Pune (Maharashtra)
Indraprastha College for Women (Delhi)
Kamala Nehru College (Delhi)
St Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad (Gujarat)
Loreto College, Kolkata (West Bengal)
Bethune College, Kolkata (West Bengal)
St Xavier’s College, Mumbai (Maharashtra)
D.A.V. (Dayanand Anglo Vedic) College, Chandigarh
Presidency College, Chennai (Tamil Nadu)
Christ University, Bangalore (Karnataka)
Post-graduate courses for a Marriage Counsellor
M.A./M.Sc in Psychology/Applied Psychology/Counselling Psychology
Eligibility to pursue the course: -
50% to 60% during graduation with any stream (science mostly preferred)
Merit-based admission or entrance exams as per some institutes
Internships and dissertation work is necessary to earn the degree
Entrance-exams to be taken to pursue the course
TISSNET (TATA Institute of Social Sciences National Entrance Test)
DUET (Delhi University Entrance Test)
BHU PET (Banaras Hindu University Postgraduate Entrance Test)
JNUEE (Jawaharlal Nehru University Entrance Exam)
OUCET (Osmania University Common Entrance Test)
IPU CET (Indra Prastha University Common Entrance Test)
BITSAT (Birla Institute of Science and Technology Admission Test)
Institutes which are offering these courses
Delhi University, Delhi
JMI (Jamia Millia Islamia),Delhi
Osmania University, Hyderabad (Telangana)
Punjab University, Patiala (Punjab)
IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University),Delhi
BHU (Banaras Hindu University),Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)
Calcutta University, Kolkata (West Bengal)
Key/Technical skills
Empathic towards the marital problems of couples
Neutral, fair and unbiased counselling on marital issues
Effective communication for impartial judgement
Clear judgement without taking sides
Convincing couples to resolve issues as soon as possible
Being friendly and professional at the same time
Salary expectations
Average salary: - Rs. 5.8 lakhs to Rs. 6 lakhs per annum
Entry level salary (less than 1 or 3 years of work experience): - Rs. 4 lakhs per annum
Experienced-level salary (more than 8 to 20 years of work experience): - Rs. 7 lakhs per annum or above
Process of getting the job of a Marriage Counsellor
There are numerous ways of getting a job as a marriage counsellor
Placement from colleges, universities and other recognised institutions
Job searching on LinkedIn or Indeed for marriage counsellor posts
Checking out any medical institution’s profile and requirements for a marriage counsellor
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