Clinician vs licensed professional counselor

The differences between clinicians and licensed professional counselors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a clinician and a licensed professional counselor. Additionally, a licensed professional counselor has an average salary of $94,675, which is higher than the $60,150 average annual salary of a clinician.

The top three skills for a clinician include social work, patients and patient care. The most important skills for a licensed professional counselor are patients, social work, and LPC.

Clinician vs licensed professional counselor overview

	Clinician	Licensed Professional Counselor
Yearly salary	$60,150	$94,675
Hourly rate	$28.92	$45.52
Growth rate	9%	6%
Number of jobs	105,023	153,612
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 49%	Master's Degree, 48%
Average age	45	41
Years of experience	4	4

What does a clinician do?

A clinician specializes in providing diagnosis, treatment, and direct care to patients with different illnesses. A clinician's duties mainly revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis, providing medical care through various therapies, and improving one's overall health condition. Furthermore, a clinician must obtain and analyze a patient's complete medical history, provide diagnostic tests, always monitor the effects of treatment on a patient, provide prognosis and consider the overall impact on a patient's health and well-being.

What does a licensed professional counselor do?

A licensed professional counselor is a healthcare professional who specializes in providing therapy and counseling to patients with emotional and mental health issues. They listen to their patients and utilize various techniques to address concerns and help through the healing procedures. Their duties entail conducting interviews and evaluations, performing research and assessments, studying the patients' medical histories, providing consultations, and developing treatment plans that suit every patients' needs. Additionally, a licensed professional counselor monitors and records their patients' progress, adjusting treatments and medications as necessary.

Clinician vs licensed professional counselor salary

Clinicians and licensed professional counselors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Clinician	Licensed Professional Counselor
Average salary	$60,150	$94,675
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $103,000	Between $73,000 And $122,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Nevada	New York
Best paying company	Pace University	Bloomberg
Best paying industry	-	Real Estate

Differences between clinician and licensed professional counselor education

There are a few differences between a clinician and a licensed professional counselor in terms of educational background:

	Clinician	Licensed Professional Counselor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 49%	Master's Degree, 48%
Most common major	Psychology	Psychology
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	Northwestern University

Clinician vs licensed professional counselor demographics

Here are the differences between clinicians' and licensed professional counselors' demographics:

	Clinician	Licensed Professional Counselor
Average age	45	41
Gender ratio	Male, 24.3% Female, 75.7%	Male, 28.8% Female, 71.2%
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, 11.3% Unknown, 5.9% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 3.2% White, 67.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	15%	15%

Differences between clinician and licensed professional counselor duties and responsibilities

Clinician example responsibilities.

Perform thorough substance abuse assessments incorporating instruments such as ASAM, SASSI and urine drug screens; provide individual therapy.
Spearhead the development of rehabilitation programs serving adults with chemical dependency and mental health diagnoses with the manager.
Follow all ethical CARF standards when treating the residential client.
Facilitate stabilization, assessment, care and compassion for those in critical need.
Provide CBT and motivational interviewing for individual and group therapy to clients' who are on methadone.
Used motivational interviewing to lead recovery and therapy groups for IOP and PHP programs in the evenings and on weekends.

Licensed professional counselor example responsibilities.

Conduct group check-in and co-lead group psychotherapy sessions to help clients identify and manage problems associate with psychiatric conditions.
Provide clinical supervision to LPC candidates, contract clinicians and counseling psychology practicum/internship students.
Assign, direct, and provide supervision of screening assessment complete by LPC and LCSW.
Conduct intakes and assessments on new admissions and recommend placement into services base on ASAM criteria.
Coordinate with the patient's family, attending physician, other hospitals and agencies following HIPAA standards.
Specialize in OCD and animal assist psychotherapy.

Clinician vs licensed professional counselor skills

Common clinician skills

Social Work, 26%
Patients, 14%
Patient Care, 4%
Individual Therapy, 4%
Mental Health, 4%
Mental Illness, 3%

Common licensed professional counselor skills

Patients, 13%
Social Work, 12%
LPC, 10%
Real Estate, 10%
Individual Therapy, 8%
Crisis Intervention, 6%

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Clinician
Clinician vs Licensed Professional Counselor

Updated January 8, 2025

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