How would you describe the corporate culture in the counseling field?

To the best of my knowledge, much counseling is done in non-profit and educational venues and NOT in corporate settings...

Every organization has it's own, unique culture. That culture is shaped by the person who sits at the top of the proverbial "food chain" (the CEO). Even if a counseling center were a part of a corporation, the culture would vary from location to location as a function of the person "in charge."

Hi Daniel,

This is an interesting question and I'm not sure what you are actually asking, but I'll do my best. If you go into the human organization and development branch of psychology (used to be called Industrial Organizational psychology), you would be potentially working in any type of corporation making things better for the employees. If you work for a large healthcare organization like Kaiser Permanente or the VA, you can expect to work a minimum 40-hr work week. There will be a stratified reporting system meaning you will have a supervisor who reports to a Director who may report to someone else. There will be fairly strict requirements regarding how many client/patients you'll need to see each week and what reports are due when. In essence, the larger the entity you work for, the more rules you'll have to follow. Some people like the fast pace of working for a large organization.

If you are asking about the chances of rising up from counselor to director yourself, generally, you'd find a job at a hospital, a large healthcare organization, or perhaps something like a community mental health center. You'd work for a few years as a counselor, then you might be promoted to being a counselor manager/supervisor. After a few more years, you might be promoted to a higher position.

If you are asking what it's like to be a counselor under a manager, in general, those in mental health go into the field because they want to help others, so the culture tends to be more supportive than the dog-eat-dog of corporate America.

Hope that helps.