13 Best Free Online Counselling Courses of 2022

If you want to become a counselor, you can enroll in any of these free online counseling courses in 2022. 

Best Free Online Counselling Courses in 2022
13 Best Free Online Counselling Courses of 2022

Counseling is simply a talking therapy whereby a trained therapist listens to you and helps you find ways to deal with your problems. It also includes various forms of emotional as well as professional support including academic advising, psychotherapy, art therapy, coaching, career counseling, psychiatry, school counseling, social work, and others. 

During a counseling session, a client and counselor explore difficulties which may include the stressful or emotional feelings of the client. The client is helped to see things from a different viewpoint. This can enable the client to focus on feelings,  behavior, and experiences, to facilitate positive change.

For successful counseling, confidentiality is very important. Professional counselors usually explain their policy on confidentiality. However, they may be required by law to disclose the information if there is a life and death situation.

13 Best Free Online Counselling Courses of 2022 

Below is a detailed list of the best free counseling courses in 2022. Both paid and free resources are included to help beginners, intermediate learners, as well as experts, learn Counselling online. 

  1. Top Counselling Courses (Udemy)
  2. Counselling Skills Certificate Course (Beginner to Advanced) (Udemy)
  3. Fully Accredited Professional Counseling Diploma Course (Udemy)
  4. Counselling Children & Adolescents – ACCREDITED CERTIFICATE (Udemy)
  5. Introduction to Psychology by University of Toronto (Coursera)
  6. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Practitioner Certificate (Udemy)
  7. Psychological First Aid by Johns Hopkins University (Coursera)
  8. Positive Psychiatry and Mental Health by The University of Sydney (Coursera)
  9. Free Counselling Certification (Digital Defend)
  10. The Arts and Science of Relationships: Understanding Human Needs by University of Toronto (Coursera)
  11. Counselling Programs and Certifications (Coursera)
  12. Psychology and Counselling (University of Oxford)
  13. Counseling and Psychology Courses (Online Learning College)

1. Top Counselling Courses (Udemy)

Udemy offers several top counseling courses aimed at beginners to set them on the path of becoming a general, drug, or couples counselor. No prior experience is required in this field

The top counseling courses on Udemy include counseling practitioner, dialectical behavior therapy, diploma course, understanding mental illness, psychological, relationship, and children counseling.

A deep understanding of common mental health issues and thoughts is crucial to be a successful counselor. Lectures, downloadable resources, articles, and full lifetime access to this course are also available. 

The certification provides equal emphasis on theoretical and practical approaches that show you how to handle real-world situations.

Sign up Here 

2. Counselling Skills Certificate Course (Beginner to Advanced) (Udemy) 

Duration: 45.5 Hours

Course Provider: Udemy

This counseling skills certification course is 45 hours of on-demand study material and over 250 downloadable resources and external links that teach the knowledge required to build the skills for becoming a good counselor.

The course is a best-seller on Udemy with more than 22,000 enrolments so far. It is an ideal course for anyone who wants to establish themselves as a counselor to help others in need. You will learn how to develop your self-awareness, build better relationships, and become a professional counselor.

In this course, you will

– Be introduced to the theoretical and practical sides of becoming a counselor

– Develop effective listening to sharpen your people’s skills for helping others through a positive influence 

– Become a part of an exclusive online group with like-minded fellow counselors and get your queries sorted 

– Adjust your learning times with your current schedule by accessing the MP3s of the course on-the-go

– Acquire certification to start practicing counseling to make people’s lives better 

Sign up Here 

3. Fully Accredited Professional Counseling Diploma Course (Udemy)

Duration: 1 Hour

Course Provider: Udemy

This accredited course is a short, crisp and comprehensive training program that will help students learn the important skills required to help others as a counselor. You will learn how to develop your listening abilities and understand people and their problems better to intervene with plausible solutions.

Additionally, a Diploma certification is offered to anyone who wants to sign up for practicing counseling. With this course, you can be able to figure out assessment tests for your clients to track their progress and make their lives better. 

In this course, you will 

  • Develop the necessary skills needed to become an efficient and influential counselor
  • Understand the roles and responsibilities of counselors and the processes to take care of these 
  • Help your clients deal with difficulties and conflicts in their life and relationships 
  • Obtain a professional counseling Diploma certification to make a creditable portfolio and establish your private practice or work with organizations to extend help
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Sign up Here

4. Counselling Children & Adolescents – ACCREDITED CERTIFICATE (Udemy) 

Duration: 2.5 Hours

Course Provider: Udemy

The counseling children and adolescents course is an accredited Udemy certification course that will enable you to practice children and adolescent counseling. This training covers therapeutic settings that you can devise as a counselor for children and teenagers.

Understanding children and teenagers isn’t an easy task, and providing counseling to them differs from that for adults. You will acquire the skills for talking with this age group to treat their psychological issues with the right language and methods

Upon completion of this course, you can establish your setup online or offline as a counselor to make a side living. 

You will learn

  • how to provide therapy to children and adolescents through different intervention methods 
  • Stress management, grief management, and conflict resolution for kids to help them handle their issues 
  • how to start your practice as a child/teenager counselor to have a side hustle and help people while doing so 

Sign up Here

5. Introduction to Psychology by University of Toronto (Coursera) 

Duration: 23 Hours

Course Provider: Coursera

This comprehensive introductory course on Psychology is offered by the University of Toronto on Coursera. It is 23 hours of course content that focuses on human nature, thoughts, feelings, and their impacts on behavior. It covers different modules including history, scientific methods, brain structure, and its processes, social psychology, mental illness, treatments, and the likes. There are bonus materials and lots of other external links for you to refer to outside this course for better understanding. Visit the website to know the deliverables in detail.

You will learn –

  • Gain insights into various mental illnesses, their symptoms, diagnostic methods, and treatments
  • The history and development of psychology and its scientific methods to understand its scopes and prospects 
  • Understand the brain and its structure and processes like perception, attention, memory, awareness, and attention to know how humans take inputs and their resultant behavior 
  • Use the knowledge of human psychology you gain from here in your daily life for yourself and to help others in need

Sign up Here

6. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Practitioner Certificate (Udemy)

Duration: 32 Hours

Course Provider: Udemy

This Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Certification teaches you the skills to help people deal with destructive thought chains and provide alternative growth options. You will also be able to help yourself too by becoming more self-aware. The course is created by the international best-seller Kain Ramsay and Archaeology, the Academy of Modern Applied Psychology.

It’s a best-selling course that has been taken by more than 131,000 students and has seen newer and better career horizons. For more information on the course curriculum, visit the website to know more.

In this course, you will 

  • Improve your people’s skills to influence the thought process of people you are helping
  • Understand the techniques and practices used in CBT to become a certified therapist 
  • Help people in becoming goal-oriented and focused on improving their overall mental wellbeing 
  • Develop a deeper understanding of human needs and behavior to improve your relationships 
  • Build your practice as a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist and make a living helping the society 

Sign up Here

7. Psychological First Aid by Johns Hopkins University (Coursera) 

Duration: 6 Hours 

Course Provider: Coursera

The Psychological First Aid program by Johns Hopkins University on Coursera is six hours and centers around handling psychological emergencies using the RAPID model – Reflective listening, Assessment of needs, Prioritization, Intervention, and Disposition. Each course module provides a detailed understanding of this technique to provide intervention at the right time. You will also learn to differentiate critical cases from less severe ones so that you can provide help regarding further mental support facilitation. 

This course is the most popular in the Psychology segment. You will acquire a deeper understanding of the RAPID model to deal with mental crises and emergencies provide first aid and can extend help in traumatic situations like natural disasters, bereavements, suicides, robberies, and other such events that have greater mental impacts on people, get practical hacks for reflective listening and also get measures for self-care in handling critical situations, and Prioritise and differentiate cases based on their severity and needs for high-end medical interventions 

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Sign up Here

8. Positive Psychiatry and Mental Health by The University of Sydney (Coursera)

Duration: 20 Hours

Course Provider: Coursera

This online free counseling course by the University of Sydney will help students develop methods for enhancing positive attitudes and boosting a healthy mental state in their clients.

Positive Psychology is about healing people mentally and imbibing a positive outlook toward everything in life. A specialty in this course is listening to the people who have gone through mental health issues themselves apart from the experts in this field. You will learn from their experiences to be able to devise better intervention methods and subsequent behavior changes.

In this course, you will understand positive psychology and its importance in our modern lives, learn about the interaction of body and mind to grasp various relaxation techniques and mindfulness methods, identify how work and relationships are the primary concern of any individual, and how any conflicts in these two can result in mental distress, and get insights about most common mental illnesses and their treatment procedures.

Sign up Here

9. Free Counselling Certification (Digital Defynd)

Digital Defynd provides a free certificate of completion for the tutorial you have been learning after finishing the counseling course. It is available for all learners, including beginners, intermediates, and experienced individuals.

There are no eligibility criteria or specific requirements to earn the certificate. It is available for every individual but you must complete any counseling course from any e-learning platform to achieve the certification. 

Once you finish the course, Digital Defynd will reward you with a professional certificate of recognition. This free counseling certificate will help you get recognition and display your credibility in the specified field. The certificate from five specified categories will be based on the number of courses you complete

Sign up Here

10. The Arts and Science of Relationships: Understanding Human Needs by University of Toronto (Coursera) 

Duration: 32 Hours

Course provider: Coursera

The arts and science of relationships course is a beginner-level program that teaches the framework of Strategies and Skills Learning and Development System for everyday social interactions. This model and real-life case studies will be used to implement the learned concepts in your daily life to better your social skills and relationships

It is the most popular program in the Personal Development section of Coursera and anyone can register for it. You will learn to deal with your relationships by understanding human psychology and handling conflicting situations better, learn hacks for improving your communication skills to become a better listener and express yourself clearly, understand the six domains of human life and their applications to your relations, and gain a direction and goal towards self-improvement and bettering your relationships. 

Sign up Here 

11. Counselling Programs and Certifications (Coursera)

Duration: Self-paced

Coursera offers over 25 other counseling programs and certification courses that provide the knowledge to start a career in counseling in various aspects of health and disorders. These courses include an introduction to psychology, the moralities of life, autism spectrum disorder, philosophy and the sciences, schizophrenia, major depression in the population, introduction to human behavioral genetics, and how music can change your life.

The classes are categorized based on beginner, intermediate and advanced levels of difficulty. All the concepts are explained with appropriate demonstrations and examples. You will understand the issues and problems from the very core and learn how to deal with them, explore the principles of medicine and social science to prevent the occurrence of mental and behavioral disorders, and attempt the quizzes that follow the modules to measure your grasp on the topics covered, learn the best practices and gain advice from the experts in this field.

You will earn a certificate of completion after completing the graded assessments. 

Sign up Here

12. Psychology and Counselling (University of Oxford)

Duration: Self-paced

Course Provider: University of Oxford

The University of Oxford offers a psychology and counseling course that 

introduces a range of theories, skills, and techniques to allow you to understand the human mind and its functions. 

Along with that, you will also gain an appreciation for our thinking process both collectively and as individuals. You will also learn through theory and skills and reflect on your personal learning in order to gain self-awareness

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Additionally, there are options to progress your studies to postgraduate levels after completing this course. Topics covered in this course include an introduction to existential therapy, essentials in organizational behavior, workplace psychology, philosophy and psychiatry, cognitive behavioral therapy, and more. 

The lessons are concise and each concept is covered at a perfect pace in an elaborate manner. Many of the options are eligible for credit. A Series of resources and reading materials are suggested to supplement the learning experience.

Sign up Here

13. Counselling and Psychology Courses (Online Learning College)

On this website, you can delve into this very subject so that you can learn counseling techniques as well as understand the deep psychological workings of the brain. These programs are great for those who want to gain a new qualification to become a counselor or those seeking new skills in the complex science of psychology. Explore the different levels of options in different subcategories like mental healthcare, counseling skills, child psychology, criminal psychology, and cognitive behavioral therapy among others.

Key USPs-

– Complete guidance is provided throughout the course along with doubt clarification.

– The complex topics are broken down into simpler subparts.

– Give your grey cells an extra push with various exercises.

– Develop the skills and intelligence to understand your clients better.

-The emphasis on the practical sessions using the various tools and methods makes the course more interactive.

Duration: Self-paced

Rating: 4.3 out of 5

You can Sign up Here 

14. Counselling Degrees & Certificates (Capella University)

Duration: Self-paced

This course has been discontinued

The Capella University counseling degree and certificate course focus on gaining knowledge in topics like addiction, mental health, school counseling and marriage, and family therapy. It will help you turn your zeal to help others into a career dedicated to creating meaningful change. 

The lessons are taught by professionals with years of experience in this field and it will allow you to develop your clinical, teaching, research, and leadership skills with coursework and field experiences, tackle coursework on your schedule with 24/7 online access to your course room anytime, anywhere and on any device, and reach your goals with the help of the support teams—including those dedicated to licensure and fieldwork requirements.

There are options for both master’s and doctoral degrees as well as certifications.

FAQs

What are the requirements to become a counselor?

There are no set entry requirements to become a counselor. Counseling is a profession that benefits from many skill sets. Most people become counselors and apply a broad range of skills and experience after being motivated by their own challenges to help others.

What are the best counseling courses of 2022

  1. Top Counselling Courses (Udemy)
  2. Counselling Skills Certificate Course (Beginner to Advanced) (Udemy)
  3. Fully Accredited Professional Counseling Diploma Course (Udemy)
  4. Counselling Children & Adolescents – ACCREDITED CERTIFICATE (Udemy)
  5. Introduction to Psychology by University of Toronto (Coursera)
  6. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Practitioner Certificate (Udemy)
  7. Psychological First Aid by Johns Hopkins University (Coursera)
  8. Positive Psychiatry and Mental Health by The University of Sydney (Coursera)
  9. Free Counselling Certification (Digital Defund)
  10. The Arts and Science of Relationships: Understanding Human Needs by University of Toronto (Coursera)
  11. Counselling Programs and Certifications (Coursera)
  12. Psychology and Counselling (University of Oxford)
  13. Counseling and Psychology Courses (Online Learning College)

Conclusion

Counseling is simply a talking therapy whereby a trained therapist listens to you and helps you find ways to deal with your problems. It also includes various forms of emotional as well as professional support including academic advising, psychotherapy, art therapy, coaching, career counseling, psychiatry, school counseling, social work, and others. 

During a counseling session, a client and counselor explore difficulties which may include the stressful or emotional feelings of the client. The client is helped to see things from a different viewpoint. This can enable the client to focus on feelings,  behavior, and experiences, to facilitate positive change.

This detailed list of best free and paid counseling courses in 2022 is included to help beginners, intermediate learners, as well as experts, learn counseling online.

If you have any questions on any of these free online counseling courses, let us know in the comments below.

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