What is a Youth Correctional Counselor?

A youth correctional counselor is a government employee whose job it is to assist in the rehabilitation and counseling of juvenile delinquents and youth offenders. Through vital behavior training and college courses, youth correctional counselors acquire the skills necessary to help adolescents get their lives back on track. Youth correctional counselors provide counseling and treatment planning services, and they continuously supervise and evaluate the offenders to ensure they stay on target.

Youth Counselor Job Description

Youth correctional counselors work within national or state governments to assist young offenders in becoming productive citizens in their communities, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They work with these individuals in groups and individually, and counselors are responsible for leading the rehabilitation of the offender as well as his or her transition back into a normal life. Depending on the circumstances, a youth correctional counselor may interact with offenders on a weekly or daily basis at a predetermined location or at a live-in facility. In the latter case, the counselor would be much more involved in the offender’s supervision and everyday activities.

Counseling and Planning

Counselors are responsible for counseling juvenile offenders individually as well as in group sessions. Like other types of adolescent counseling, these sessions involve discussing the individual’s feelings and personal life, though in the case of corrections, emphasis is placed on one or more specific deviant behaviors. Although typical issues such as family relationships and self-image are discussed, the youth correctional counselor must also be prepared to handle extreme behaviors and situations that may involve sexual, drug or alcohol abuse as well as dangerously criminal tendencies.

Youth correctional counselors are not limited to counseling. Rather, the ultimate goal is to rehabilitate the juvenile in question. Counselors are responsible for acting as go-betweens with parole officers, medical professionals, teachers and family members as well as anyone else involved with the case. As a team, these individuals work to plan and structure a therapeutic program designed specifically for the child in question. These plans may include a series of well-established objectives and goals as well as a firm set of rules to govern the adolescent’s behavior.

Supervising and Evaluating

The youth correctional counselor must also monitor and evaluate offenders in order to build a case that will be presented to court officials or parole officers. Counselors continuously use activities and tests as determined by the rehabilitation program to determine the individual’s progress as well as the likelihood of a repeat offense. Youth correctional counselors must also be able to change their strategies, if needed, while working with the other parties involved. By incorporating evaluation results into future treatment plans, the entire team can ensure that the offender’s counseling continues to meet his or her needs. In extreme cases like if a correctional counselor is employed by a live-in correctional facility, his or her duties may also include monitoring most of the offender’s daily activities as well as restraining juveniles or preventing them from escaping, if necessary.

Related Resource: What is a Paralegal?

Youth correctional counselors monitor and evaluate young offenders and juvenile delinquents, providing counseling services to the individual and reports to court officials or parole officers. Working to rehabilitate adolescent offenders, youth correctional counselors must have strong communication skills and be adaptable to extreme situations. Job opportunities for probation officers and correctional treatment specialists, including the youth correctional counselor, are expected to grow slower than average over the next 10 years.