Clinical externship vs mental health clinician

The differences between clinical externships and mental health clinicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a clinical externship and a mental health clinician. Additionally, a mental health clinician has an average salary of $54,359, which is higher than the $35,831 average annual salary of a clinical externship.

The top three skills for a clinical externship include patients, mental health and patient care. The most important skills for a mental health clinician are social work, patients, and mental health.

Clinical externship vs mental health clinician overview

	Clinical Externship	Mental Health Clinician
Yearly salary	$35,831	$54,359
Hourly rate	$17.23	$26.13
Growth rate	9%	9%
Number of jobs	63,061	91,347
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Master's Degree, 49%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	4	4

What does a clinical externship do?

A clinical externship is a short medical student program directly mentored by professionals within their chosen career path in healthcare. Clinical externs work in various settings such as hospitals, a doctor's office, or clinics and work directly with patients to apply the knowledge and skills they acquired in the classroom. They will be graded and must pass the program to be able to graduate from medical school. Externs must request a letter of recommendation from their site supervisor when applying for jobs.

What does a mental health clinician do?

A Mental Health Clinician provides psychotherapeutic and rehabilitation services for patients with mental health problems. They manage the treatment of clients and help them to obtain stable physical health.

Clinical externship vs mental health clinician salary

Clinical externships and mental health clinicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Clinical Externship	Mental Health Clinician
Average salary	$35,831	$54,359
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $51,000	Between $36,000 And $80,000
Highest paying City	Alameda, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Genentech	City and County of Denver Government
Best paying industry	Education	Education

Differences between clinical externship and mental health clinician education

There are a few differences between a clinical externship and a mental health clinician in terms of educational background:

	Clinical Externship	Mental Health Clinician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Master's Degree, 49%
Most common major	Psychology	Psychology
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	California State University - Long Beach

Clinical externship vs mental health clinician demographics

Here are the differences between clinical externships' and mental health clinicians' demographics:

	Clinical Externship	Mental Health Clinician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 25.8% Female, 74.2%	Male, 24.3% Female, 75.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 3.1% White, 74.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 3.1% White, 74.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	15%	15%

Differences between clinical externship and mental health clinician duties and responsibilities

Clinical externship example responsibilities.

Set up and manage new medical transcription department.
Manage large scale TMF inventory/file cleanup projects in preparation for FDA and EMA inspections.
Manage difficult or emotional patient situations, with compassion and professionalism.
Participate in multiple studies managing CTM activities for various therapeutic areas simultaneously including oncology, urology, transplant, and immunology.
Monitor EKG's, assess blood pressure, palpate heart rates, safely progress patients in exercise.
Perform manual data entry in CTMS, TMF, CRF imaging and various departmental databases.

Mental health clinician example responsibilities.

Work with children with autism and developmental impairment, providing weekly therapeutic sessions.
Provide individual and group psychotherapy for adult population with goal of rehabilitation and community reintegration.
Meet productivity standards comply with all DMH documentation standards and participate in on call crisis intervention rotation.
Provide psychotherapy with empathy and concern as indicated by supervisory observation and feedback from patients, family and fellow team members.
Provide clinical therapeutic services to patients, including individual and group therapy and coordination of treatment for participants with co-occurring disorders.
Assess, diagnose, provide psychotherapy and rehabilitation for seriously mentally ill adults, children and adolescents with severe emotional disturbance.

Clinical externship vs mental health clinician skills

Common clinical externship skills

Patients, 32%
Mental Health, 7%
Patient Care, 5%
Crisis Intervention, 4%
Vital Signs, 4%
Substance Abuse, 4%

Common mental health clinician skills

Social Work, 28%
Patients, 15%
Mental Health, 5%
Discharge Planning, 3%
Community Resources, 3%
Rehabilitation, 2%

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Clinical Externship vs Mental Health Clinician

Updated January 8, 2025

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