Peernovo
Other social welfare specialist professionals

How to become a Child Guidance Centre Counsellor

Also called: Family Counsellor, Child Psychologist (Child Guidance Centre), Child Welfare Officer

Gives advice at a child guidance centre on problems facing children and their families, drawing on expertise in psychology or social welfare, and investigates, advises and helps to solve them.

Workers in this job say university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.

How to become one

To work as a child guidance centre counsellor you must pass a local government public service exam. You need a university graduate level of education, specialist knowledge of psychology or sociology, and casework and counselling skills. It varies by prefecture, but child psychologists must be doctors with specialist knowledge and experience in mental health, or have majored in psychology at university. To be appointed as a child welfare officer you must, for example, have graduated from a school that trains welfare professionals, have completed set training, have majored in psychology, sociology or education at university, be a doctor, or have worked as a social welfare officer. You must also keep training after appointment. With five or more years as a child welfare officer you can become a senior child welfare officer. You need a strong interest in children and the drive and energy to solve problems. Because you work with other specialist staff, you also need to cooperate well and to gather, organise and weigh up information as a whole. You must also keep personal information strictly confidential.

Ways in

Pay · Job openings · AI and this job

Related jobs

Not sure this is for you? Take the 2-minute career quiz

Questions people ask

How do I become a Child Guidance Centre Counsellor?

To work as a child guidance centre counsellor you must pass a local government public service exam. You need a university graduate level of education, specialist knowledge of psychology or sociology, and casework and counselling skills. It varies by prefecture, but child psychologists must be doctors with specialist knowledge and experience in mental health, or have majored in psychology at university. To be appointed as a child welfare officer you must, for example, have graduated from a school that trains welfare professionals, have completed set training, have majored in psychology, sociology or education at university, be a doctor, or have worked as a social welfare officer. You must also keep training after appointment. With five or more years as a child welfare officer you can become a senior child welfare officer. You need a strong interest in children and the drive and energy to solve problems. Because you work with other specialist staff, you also need to cooperate well and to gather, organise and weigh up information as a whole. You must also keep personal information strictly confidential.

Do you need a degree to become a Child Guidance Centre Counsellor?

Not always. In this job's census occupation group, 42% of workers are university graduates. Ways in include: Social Work & Community degrees.

Will AI change the work of a Child Guidance Centre Counsellor?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.

Updated 4 October 2026