Clinician vs licensed social worker

The differences between clinicians and licensed social workers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a clinician, becoming a licensed social worker takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a clinician has an average salary of $60,150, which is higher than the $57,005 average annual salary of a licensed social worker.

The top three skills for a clinician include social work, patients and patient care. The most important skills for a licensed social worker are social work, patients, and home health.

Clinician vs licensed social worker overview

	Clinician	Licensed Social Worker
Yearly salary	$60,150	$57,005
Hourly rate	$28.92	$27.41
Growth rate	9%	9%
Number of jobs	105,023	66,130
Job satisfaction	-	2
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	4	2

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 social worker do?

Licensed Social Workers are duly and legally recognized to carry out activities related to social work. They identify individuals or groups of people in need and assess what kind of help they require. They may assist these people in connecting to agencies that would cater to their needs. Licensed Social Workers also help people cope with their challenges. They are responsible for crafting treatment plans or well-being improvement plans for the individuals they help. They may also be called on during times of crisis to provide emotional support to the individuals involved.

Clinician vs licensed social worker salary

Clinicians and licensed social workers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Clinician	Licensed Social Worker
Average salary	$60,150	$57,005
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $103,000	Between $41,000 And $78,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Sacramento, CA
Highest paying state	Nevada	Alaska
Best paying company	Pace University	Favorite Healthcare Staffing
Best paying industry	-	Health Care

Differences between clinician and licensed social worker education

There are a few differences between a clinician and a licensed social worker in terms of educational background:

	Clinician	Licensed Social Worker
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Most common major	Psychology	Social Work
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	University of Pennsylvania

Clinician vs licensed social worker demographics

Here are the differences between clinicians' and licensed social workers' demographics:

	Clinician	Licensed Social Worker
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 24.3% Female, 75.7%	Male, 16.1% Female, 83.9%
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, 19.9% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 3.3% White, 58.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	15%	13%

Differences between clinician and licensed social worker 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.

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Licensed social worker example responsibilities.

Foster self-determination of patients by evaluating for vocational rehabilitation that includes employment, volunteering, or education opportunities.
Evaluate and provide psychotherapy services to patients diagnose with serious and persistent mental illness and/or chemical dependency within an inpatient setting.
Provide clinical supervision to MSW students.
Supervise and train MSW students during their final concentration practicum.
Plan and facilitate trainings that address trauma exposure and the impact of compassion fatigue on administrative staff.
Provide medically relate social services to residents in a sub-acute, short term rehabilitation unit.

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Clinician vs licensed social worker skills

Common clinician skills

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

Common licensed social worker skills

Social Work, 29%
Patients, 13%
Home Health, 11%
Rehabilitation, 5%
Substance Abuse, 5%
Crisis Intervention, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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