A Behavior Therapist is a mental health professional whose job is to provide one on one or group client care, or often both. During their time with a patient, the Therapist is meant to work and progress on their issues involving their general conduct and habits or a more specific behavior pattern. These Therapists often believe that all behavior is learned and modified and unlearnt through strategies and work unique to the individual. A part of this role may also lead to providing education and training to other therapists and family members of patients and collaborating with other mental health staffers.

Generally, a candidate for this position must be attending a university or have already earned a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Psychology or a similar subject.

What Does a Behavior Therapist Do

There are certain skills that many behavior therapists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed listening skills, speaking skills and organizational skills.

Learn more about what a Behavior Therapist does

How To Become a Behavior Therapist

If you're interested in becoming a behavior therapist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 70.9% of behavior therapists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 16.7% of behavior therapists have master's degrees. Even though most behavior therapists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Behavior Therapist

Behavior Therapist Job Description

A behavior therapist is responsible for assisting patients with behavioral issues. Their duties include helping patients develop certain skills and habits, diagnosing patients, and maintaining neat documentation.

Learn more about Behavior Therapist Job Description

Behavior Therapist Career Paths

Average Salary for a Behavior Therapist

Behavior Therapists in America make an average salary of $36,864 per year or $18 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $49,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $27,000 per year.
Average Behavior Therapist Salary
$36,864 Yearly
$17.72 hourly

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Roles and Types of Behavior Therapist

The role of a behavior therapist includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general behavior therapist responsibilities:

  • Monitors trends in problem behavior. Designs
  • Be fun, energetic, and motivating for the children
  • Facilitate student s access to the classroom routine

There are several types of behavior therapist, including:

Therapist

Role:

A therapist is the keeper of secrets. Neither therapist nor client is likely to advertise what is going on during sessions. You might have pinned down therapists as doctors of psychology who try to help the weak and crazy among us.

Well, the truth is contrary: it is a humble and courageous gesture to seek the help of a professional, not only in moments of crisis, trying to deal with harmful mental patterns or toxic core beliefs, which cause suffering to the patient and his/her or her environment alike, but also on a preventive basis.

So, just as much as it is the job of therapists to diagnose mental health problems and propose and conduct treatments, it is also their responsibility to make sure a diagnosis will never be necessary.
  • Average Salary: $55,943
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Residential Counselor

Role:

Residential counselors work in social care facilities such as homeless shelters, rehabilitation centers, retirement homes, and the like. Their main responsibility is to maintain the structure of the environment or program and oversee the residents' daily activities.

Residential counselors are typically expected to have a degree in psychology, social work, or a related field. They keep an eye on the mental and emotional state of the people under their care and make sure everyone lives by the rules of the facility. They give a hand with transportation and come up with fun and engaging activities for the residents to do while spending quality time together.

As a residential counselor, your responsibilities do not revolve around generating profit, and this is reflected in the median annual salary of the position, which is $29,592. This is a bit less than half of what the average yearly living expenses amount to across the U.S. Caring for each other apparently is not the most lucrative business. It is, however, very rewarding on a personal level.
  • Average Salary: $34,117
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Mental Health Worker

Role:

A mental health worker provides care for people with mental health concerns or developmental disabilities. You will mostly work under the supervision of a registered nurse in psychiatric hospitals and residential mental health facilities. Some of your core job responsibilities include assessing and interacting with patients to develop treatment plans and strategies, administering therapeutic care, monitoring patients, leading individual, family, or group therapy to foster group support and growth. You will be involved in case management, brokerage services, pharmaceutical assistance, chart documentation, and other insurance concerns.

You are also expected to facilitate communication between care, service, and support providers. Important skills for any mental health worker are crisis intervention, mental health, patient care, CPR, vital signs, and great verbal and non-verbal communication skills. The average mental health worker earns $17.72 per hour or $36,000 annually. Most of them have a bachelor's degree in psychology, social work, criminal justice, or other related fields.
  • Average Salary: $41,081
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Behavior Therapist Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active behavior therapist jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where behavior therapists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Behavior Therapist Jobs By State

Behavior Therapist Education

Behavior Therapist Majors

Behavior Therapist Degrees

Bachelors

70.9 %

Masters

16.7 %

Associate

8.1 %

Top Colleges for Behavior Therapists

1. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,798

Enrollment

31,503

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Psychology
Liberal Arts
Education
Social Work
Sociology

2. Hunter College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,182

Enrollment

16,205

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Education
Psychology
Social Work
Special Education
English

3. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,987

Enrollment

18,946

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Psychology
Education
Social Work
English

4. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Education
Social Work
Psychology
Criminal Justice
Elementary Education

5. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Liberal Arts
Business
Education
Social Work
Psychology

6. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Liberal Arts
Psychology
Education
Counseling Psychology

7. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$59,430

Enrollment

8,216

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Social Work
English
Sociology
Education

8. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,740

Enrollment

5,567

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Education
Business
Communication
Liberal Arts
Special Education

9. SUNY at Albany

Albany, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$10,011

Enrollment

13,434

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Education
Business
Psychology
Sociology
Social Work

10. San Jose State University

San Jose, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,796

Enrollment

27,125

Admissions
Most Popular Majors
Business
Education
Psychology
Criminal Justice
Social Work

Top Skills For a Behavior Therapist

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 19.1% of behavior therapists listed autism on their resume, but soft skills such as listening skills and speaking skills are important as well.

  • Autism, 19.1%
  • Applied Behavior Analysis, 17.6%
  • Behavior Analysis, 10.3%
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder, 6.8%
  • Behavior Analysts, 4.7%
  • Other Skills, 41.5%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Behavior Therapist Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Behavior Therapist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Behavior Therapist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Behavior Therapist Demographics

Behavior Therapist Gender Distribution

Female
Female
81%
Male
Male
20%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among behavior therapists, 80.5% of them are women, while 19.5% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among behavior therapists is White, which makes up 68.5% of all behavior therapists.

  • The most common foreign language among behavior therapists is Spanish at 66.9%.

Online Courses For Behavior Therapist That You May Like

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1. Creating Behavioral Change

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In this course you will learn about understanding and changing mental and physical health behavior. We will examine both the historical context and the current science. Major topics will include fundamental behavioral principles and basic elements of empirically supported individual treatments (e.g., motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapies). Lectures and examples will illustrate both the theory and the practice of evidence-based approaches to behavior change. You will engage...

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2. Introduction to Human Behavioral Genetics

coursera

Behavioral genetic methodologies from twin and adoption studies through DNA analysis will be described and applied to address longstanding questions about the origins of individual differences in behavioral traits...

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3. Health Behavior Change: From Evidence to Action

coursera

Humans often fail to make rational decisions that affect their health. This course seeks to heighten understanding of the social and behavioral factors that contribute to health decisions and behaviors, with an ultimate goal of learning how to utilize these factors in improving public health efforts. Through a set of experiential learning exercises, students will learn to apply the science of health behavior change in their own lives. The course is appropriate for students interested in health...

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Best States For a Behavior Therapist

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a behavior therapist. The best states for people in this position are Alabama, Illinois, Minnesota, and West Virginia. Behavior therapists make the most in Alabama with an average salary of $42,218. Whereas in Illinois and Minnesota, they would average $40,474 and $40,324, respectively. While behavior therapists would only make an average of $40,082 in West Virginia, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Illinois

Total Behavior Therapist Jobs: 2,601
Highest 10% Earn:
$54,000
Location Quotient:
1.12

2. Massachusetts

Total Behavior Therapist Jobs: 2,484
Highest 10% Earn:
$51,000
Location Quotient:
1.39

3. Alabama

Total Behavior Therapist Jobs: 677
Highest 10% Earn:
$57,000
Location Quotient:
0.79
Full List Of Best States For Behavior Therapists

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Top Behavior Therapist Employers

Most Common Employers For Behavior Therapist

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Cleveland Clinic$52,914$25.4424
2Wellspring$40,555$19.5026
3HMEA$38,881$18.6923
4ACES$37,711$18.1323
5Care.com$37,590$18.0726
6Trumpet Behavioral Health$36,104$17.3653
7Center for Autism and Related Disorders$35,928$17.27144
8RCS Learning Center$35,872$17.2526
9Florida Autism Center$35,855$17.2428
10Minnesota Autism Center$35,814$17.2298

Behavior Therapist Videos