The short answer
A genetic counselor is a trained professional who helps people understand inherited cancer risk. Before testing, they review your personal and family history, weigh the benefits and downsides, and explain what results could mean for you and your relatives. After testing, they help interpret results and plan next steps. Counseling is generally recommended before any genetic testing for inherited cancer risk.
A genetic counselor is trained to help people understand inherited cancer risk.
Counseling is generally recommended before any genetic testing for inherited cancer risk.
Before testing, they review your history and weigh the benefits and downsides.
They explain what a positive, negative, or uncertain result would mean.
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The simple version
This page is for people who have been offered genetic counseling, or who wonder whether cancer runs in their family. It explains what happens before and after a genetic test.
A genetic counselor is a trained professional. They help people understand whether cancer risk may run in their family. They explain whether genetic testing makes sense, what the different results could mean, and what any result would mean for a person's relatives.
According to the National Cancer Institute, genetic counseling is generally recommended before any genetic testing for inherited cancer risk.
A counselor helps you decide whether testing is right for you — and helps you understand the answer if you test.
Before a test: sorting out whether to test
Much of a counselor's work happens before any sample is taken. In this part, a counselor usually:
- Reviews your personal and family medical history, to judge how likely an inherited risk is.
- Discusses whether testing is appropriate, and its possible harms and benefits.
- Explains what a positive, negative, or uncertain result would mean for you.
- Talks through the emotional side of learning a result.
- Reviews the chance of passing a change to children, and the effect on the wider family.
- Explains which specific test might be used and how accurate it is.
This helps a person make an informed choice, rather than testing without knowing what the results could bring.
Informed consent
Written informed consent is obtained before a genetic test is ordered. A person signs a form confirming that they were told about the purpose of the test, and understand it. The form also covers the medical implications, the risks and benefits, possible alternatives, and privacy rights. Consent means the choice to test is yours, made with clear information.
After a test: making sense of the result
Counseling can also happen after testing. That is common when a positive result is found and a person needs to know what it means for them. In this part, a counselor may:
- Help you understand what your specific result means.
- Discuss options for risk reduction and enhanced screening, where relevant.
- Provide referrals to support groups and other resources.
- Offer emotional support as you take in the news.
Results can carry information for blood relatives. A counselor can help you think through how to share what you learn with family.
Who provides genetic counseling
Genetic counseling should be done by a trained genetic counselor. Another health care professional experienced in cancer genetics can also do it — for example, a clinical geneticist or a certified genetic nurse. A doctor or other provider can give you a referral.
What a counselor helps you weigh
A counselor's job is not to push a person toward testing or away from it. It is to lay out the full picture, so the decision fits the person. That picture often includes how a result could affect feelings and relationships. It includes what a result might mean for children. It also includes how much a result would actually change medical care.
They also explain the limits of testing. A negative result does not always rule out risk, and some findings are uncertain. By naming these trade-offs plainly, a counselor helps a person choose with clear eyes. The aim is a decision the person understands and feels settled about, whichever way it goes.
A calm way to think about it
Meeting with a genetic counselor is not a commitment to be tested. Whether you test or not, you leave with clear information from someone trained to explain it. That way, your next steps can match your own risk and values.
Common questions
What does a genetic counselor do?
A genetic counselor is a trained professional who helps people understand whether cancer risk may run in their family, whether genetic testing makes sense, and what results mean. According to the National Cancer Institute, counseling is generally recommended before any genetic testing for inherited cancer risk.
What happens before a genetic test?
Before testing, a counselor assesses how likely it is that an inherited risk is in the family, discusses whether testing is appropriate and its harms and benefits, explains what positive, negative, and uncertain results would mean, and reviews the risk of passing a change to children and the impact on the family.
Do I have to give consent for testing?
Yes. Written informed consent is obtained before a genetic test is ordered. You give consent by signing a form confirming that you were told about, and understand, the purpose of the test, its medical implications, its risks and benefits, possible alternatives, and your privacy rights.
What happens after a test?
Counseling may also happen after testing, especially if a positive result is found. A counselor helps you understand what the result means, may discuss risk-reduction and enhanced screening options, provide referrals to support resources, and offer emotional support.
Who is qualified to provide genetic counseling?
Counseling should be done by a trained genetic counselor or another health care professional experienced in cancer genetics, such as a clinical geneticist or certified genetic nurse. A doctor can provide a referral.
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Last updated: 2026-08-10Next planned review: 2027-07-14
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Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Source checked — This page was written with AI assistance and then compared with the sources listed on it, looking for statements those sources do not back up. That check is not a sentence-by-sentence record and can miss errors. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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