Clinician vs mental health clinician

The differences between clinicians 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 clinician and a mental health clinician. Additionally, a clinician has an average salary of $60,150, which is higher than the $54,359 average annual salary of a mental health clinician.

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

Clinician vs mental health clinician overview

	Clinician	Mental Health Clinician
Yearly salary	$60,150	$54,359
Hourly rate	$28.92	$26.13
Growth rate	9%	9%
Number of jobs	105,023	91,347
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 49%	Master's Degree, 49%
Average age	45	45
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 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.

Clinician vs mental health clinician salary

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

	Clinician	Mental Health Clinician
Average salary	$60,150	$54,359
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $103,000	Between $36,000 And $80,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Nevada	California
Best paying company	Pace University	City and County of Denver Government
Best paying industry	-	Education

Differences between clinician and mental health clinician education

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

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

Clinician vs mental health clinician demographics

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

	Clinician	Mental Health Clinician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 24.3% Female, 75.7%	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 clinician and mental health clinician 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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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.

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Clinician vs mental health clinician skills

Common clinician skills

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

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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Updated January 8, 2025

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