What is a Clinical Counselor?

The clinical counselor conducts assessments, develops a treatment plan, and directs facility therapy for groups, individuals, and families. He/She evaluates patients through detailed conversations, interviews, and observations to employ the appropriate treatment plan. He/She diagnoses the mental and emotional disorders of the patient. Furthermore, he/she develops and implements effective treatment plans, including counseling, medication, or other services. Similarly, he/she creates coping mechanisms to help patients survive tough situations. Asides from that, he/she documents the progress of the patient and changes their treatment plan when needed.

Applicants are required to have at least a bachelor's degree in counseling, psychology, social work, or a related discipline. You must possess a minimum of three years of experience in a similar role. Skills such as communication, time management, interpersonal, and people skills are essential for this role. These professionals earn an average gross salary of $47,488 annually. This varies from $32,000 to $70,000.

What Does a Clinical Counselor Do

There are certain skills that many clinical counselors 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 detail oriented, dexterity and physical stamina.

Learn more about what a Clinical Counselor does

How To Become a Clinical Counselor

If you're interested in becoming a clinical counselor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 55.0% of clinical counselors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 35.7% of clinical counselors have master's degrees. Even though most clinical counselors have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Clinical Counselor

Top Clinical Counselor Jobs Near You

Clinical Counselor Career Paths

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of case manager you might progress to a role such as clinical supervisor eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title clinical director.

Top Careers Before Clinical Counselor

Internship (51,064 Jobs)

15.7 %

Counselor (77,536 Jobs)

11.5 %

Case Manager (84,959 Jobs)

8.8 %

Top Careers After Clinical Counselor

Therapist (159,770 Jobs)

11.7 %

Counselor (77,536 Jobs)

10.6 %

Case Manager (84,959 Jobs)

9.3 %

Average Salary for a Clinical Counselor

Clinical Counselors in America make an average salary of $54,191 per year or $26 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $67,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $43,000 per year.

Average Clinical Counselor Salary

$54,191 Yearly

$26.05 hourly

$43,00010%

$54,000Median

$67,00090%

See More Salary Information

What Am I Worth?

Roles and Types of Clinical Counselor

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

Primary poc and shift lead for counselors performing work in an onsite shelter environment. Conduct
Alpha therapists provide therapeutic counseling, and substance abuse counseling all wayne county clients are seen in their homes or dhhs/foster care offices therapists manage their own schedules
Conducts patient assessments and establishes therapy treatment goals. Administers individual

There are several types of clinical counselor, including:

Counselor

Role:

While there are several different types of counselors, in general they spend their time helping people overcome and understand specific problems. Although, not every counselor is going to have a couch, as depicted by TV, most do work in private office settings.

The scope of the types of counselors seems to be never-ending. From school counselors to family and marriage counselors, and even mental health counselors, people who go into this field have a range of what area they want to focus on.

Average Salary: $36,225
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

Substance Abuse Counselor

Role:

Substance abuse counselors are mental health professionals who support people struggling with alcoholism, drug addiction, or other kinds of self-destructive behavioral problems, like eating disorders. Substance abuse counselors provide therapy, create treatment plans for their patients, and follow them through their recovery processes.

Substance abuse counselors work with people who have recognized their problem and, with the patients' families, who are seeking help for their loved ones. They meet clients to evaluate their problems and help to create recovery goals. They teach clients effective coping mechanisms and encourage them along their rehabilitation process toward a functional life. They help them secure a job and assist them in creating and maintaining relationships.

Counselors often specialize in working with a certain age group or area of substance abuse. Holding a Master's degree in counseling or social work will increase your job opportunities, but this is not an exclusive requirement everywhere. Substance abuse counselors often work in hospitals or outpatient mental health centers, but running a private practice is also common.

Average Salary: $43,069
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Clinical Counselor Jobs

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

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Clinical Counselor Jobs By State

Rank	State	Number of Jobs	Average Salary
1	California	3,935	$54,636
2	Florida	2,978	$48,648
3	Texas	2,649	$43,796
4	New York	2,467	$60,111
5	Pennsylvania	2,125	$53,320
6	Illinois	1,900	$55,482
7	Massachusetts	1,881	$58,074
8	Washington	1,592	$61,869
9	Georgia	1,550	$46,935
10	New Jersey	1,430	$49,563
11	Ohio	1,201	$53,721
12	Virginia	1,201	$52,725
13	Arizona	1,192	$62,204
14	North Carolina	1,153	$43,141
15	Minnesota	1,059	$52,787
16	Maryland	1,043	$63,702
17	Michigan	1,033	$59,391
18	Colorado	959	$54,110
19	Indiana	894	$52,658
20	Tennessee	791	$45,160
21	Oregon	786	$57,122
22	Wisconsin	776	$45,311
23	Connecticut	772	$51,397
24	Missouri	706	$59,550
25	South Carolina	589	$42,603
26	Louisiana	490	$42,964
27	Iowa	481	$48,236
28	Utah	408	$46,173
29	Kentucky	395	$53,349
30	Oklahoma	375	$43,753
31	Maine	368	$62,352
32	Kansas	361	$56,180
33	Alabama	357	$51,273
34	Arkansas	346	$43,392
35	New Mexico	318	$44,938
36	Nebraska	293	$50,426
37	Nevada	268	$49,039
38	Idaho	234	$46,668
39	Rhode Island	220	$58,715
40	Montana	215	$45,893
41	Mississippi	210	$44,635
42	West Virginia	196	$53,155
43	Delaware	181	$49,528
44	Hawaii	169	$48,613
45	Alaska	164	$46,846
46	South Dakota	155	$55,341
47	North Dakota	143	$55,587
48	New Hampshire	132	$52,462
49	Vermont	116	$54,692
50	Wyoming	76	$45,203

Clinical Counselor Education

Clinical Counselor Majors

Psychology

28.3 %

Social Work

13.4 %

School Counseling

9.3 %

Clinical Counselor Degrees

Admissions

Most Popular Majors

Business

Social Work

Political Science

Rehabilitation Science

Social Sciences

Top Skills For a Clinical Counselor

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, 36.1% of clinical counselors listed social work on their resume, but soft skills such as detail oriented and dexterity are important as well.

Social Work, 36.1%

Patients, 7.7%

Foster Care, 6.6%

Independent Living, 5.6%

Child Abuse, 3.6%

Other Skills, 40.4%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Clinical Counselor Resume templates

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

Clinical Counselor Demographics

Clinical Counselor Gender Distribution

Female

72%

Male

28%

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

Among clinical counselors, 71.6% of them are women, while 28.4% are men.

The most common race/ethnicity among clinical counselors is White, which makes up 67.0% of all clinical counselors.

The most common foreign language among clinical counselors is Spanish at 70.7%.

Online Courses For Clinical Counselor That You May Like

Advertising Disclosure

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2. Essentials in Clinical Simulations Across the Health Professions

This 7-week course provides you with key strategies to help understand the foundation of Clinical Simulations. During each module, you will learn about 7 key components of Clinical Simulation Across the Health Professions and its' impact in your current position as a healthcare professional. Please utilize all of the Resources provided by each of the modules to support and enhance your understanding of each concept. You will learn about the following topics in this course: Module 1: Getting...

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3. Clinical Epidemiology

Evidence forms the basis of modern medicine. Clinical research provides us with this evidence, guiding health professionals towards solutions to problems that they face in daily practice. Transferring existing problems in medical practice to a research setting is a challenging process that requires careful consideration. The practice of clinical epidemiology aims to address this through the application of established approaches for research in human populations, while at all times focussing on...

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Best States For a Clinical Counselor

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a clinical counselor. The best states for people in this position are Maryland, Maine, Arizona, and Washington. Clinical counselors make the most in Maryland with an average salary of $63,702. Whereas in Maine and Arizona, they would average $62,352 and $62,204, respectively. While clinical counselors would only make an average of $61,869 in Washington, 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. Maine

Total Clinical Counselor Jobs: 368

Highest 10% Earn:

$77,000

Location Quotient:

1.82

$62,352

Avg. Salary

View 368 Clinical Counselor Jobs In ME

2. Arizona

Total Clinical Counselor Jobs: 1,192

Highest 10% Earn:

$81,000

Location Quotient:

1.33

$62,204

Avg. Salary

View 1,192 Clinical Counselor Jobs In AZ

3. Washington

Total Clinical Counselor Jobs: 1,592

Highest 10% Earn:

$76,000

Location Quotient:

1.43

$61,869

Avg. Salary

View 1,592 Clinical Counselor Jobs In WA

Full List Of Best States For Clinical Counselors

How Do Clinical Counselor Rate Their Jobs?

Top Clinical Counselor Employers

Most Common Employers For Clinical Counselor

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	University of Illinois Springfield	$62,318	$29.96	15
2	Community Education Centers	$62,281	$29.94	9
3	CVS Health	$57,145	$27.47	11
4	Horizon Services	$55,477	$26.67	14
5	ComPsych	$54,608	$26.25	8
6	The Bridge	$53,320	$25.63	8
7	University of Wyoming	$50,873	$24.46	6
8	VIP Community Services	$50,352	$24.21	8
9	Miami Bridge	$49,617	$23.85	7
10	Lakeview Center	$48,642	$23.39	11

Clinical Counselor Videos

A Day in the Life of a School Counselor

Exploring Careers in Clinical and Counselling Psychology - Feb 4, 2013

Mental Health Counselor, Career Video from drkit.org

Updated February 6, 2023

What is a Clinical Counselor?

What Does a Clinical Counselor Do

How To Become a Clinical Counselor

Clinical Counselor Career Paths

Top Careers Before Clinical Counselor

Top Careers After Clinical Counselor

Recent Job Searches

Average Salary for a Clinical Counselor

Roles and Types of Clinical Counselor

Counselor

Residential Counselor

Substance Abuse Counselor

States With The Most Clinical Counselor Jobs

Number Of Clinical Counselor Jobs By State

Clinical Counselor Education

Clinical Counselor Majors

Clinical Counselor Degrees

Top Colleges for Clinical Counselors

1. California State University - Long Beach

2. Hunter College of the City University of New York

3. University of Pennsylvania

4. Boston University

5. New York University

6. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

7. Northwestern University

8. SUNY at Albany

9. San Jose State University

10. Columbia University in the City of New York

Top Skills For a Clinical Counselor

Choose From 10+ Customizable Clinical Counselor Resume templates

Clinical Counselor Demographics

Clinical Counselor Gender Distribution

Online Courses For Clinical Counselor That You May Like

Best States For a Clinical Counselor

How Do Clinical Counselor Rate Their Jobs?

Top Clinical Counselor Employers

Most Common Employers For Clinical Counselor

Clinical Counselor Videos

Clinical Counselor Related Careers

Clinical Counselor Related Jobs

What Similar Roles Do

Resume For Related Jobs