Clinician vs mental health counselor

The differences between clinicians and mental health 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 mental health counselor. Additionally, a clinician has an average salary of $60,150, which is higher than the $49,471 average annual salary of a mental health counselor.

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

Clinician vs mental health counselor overview

	Clinician	Mental Health Counselor
Yearly salary	$60,150	$49,471
Hourly rate	$28.92	$23.78
Growth rate	9%	9%
Number of jobs	105,023	110,752
Job satisfaction	-	2
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
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 mental health counselor do?

A mental health counselor is responsible for helping patients deal with their emotional and mental disorders by developing treatment plans and conducting regular counseling to track the patient's progress and condition. Mental health counselors encourage active communication from their patients, provide coping strategies for triggering situations, seek advice from other health care professionals, and guide patients on doing other activities that would help them relax. A mental health counselor must have excellent knowledge of the mental health disciplines to assist patients in their healthy lifestyle development.

Clinician vs mental health counselor salary

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

	Clinician	Mental Health Counselor
Average salary	$60,150	$49,471
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $103,000	Between $34,000 And $70,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Longview, WA
Highest paying state	Nevada	Washington
Best paying company	Pace University	Family Life Counseling & Psychiatric Services
Best paying industry	-	Health Care

Differences between clinician and mental health counselor education

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

	Clinician	Mental Health Counselor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 58%
Most common major	Psychology	Psychology
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	California State University - Long Beach

Clinician vs mental health counselor demographics

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

	Clinician	Mental Health Counselor
Average age	45	41
Gender ratio	Male, 24.3% Female, 75.7%	Male, 31.4% Female, 68.6%
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 mental health 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.

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Mental health counselor example responsibilities.

Provide clinical consultation to consumers and clients regarding manage care services and other benefits available to them through their EAP programs.
Conduct group check-in and co-lead group psychotherapy sessions to help clients identify and manage problems associate with psychiatric conditions.
Certify in CPI (crisis intervention technique).
Assist with crisis intervention, (CPI) maintains treatment activities.
Provide mental health assessment and evaluation of detainees refer by facility staff or identify by pre-screening (booking or nursing).
Assess for special needs during booking process.

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Clinician vs mental health counselor skills

Common clinician skills

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

Common mental health counselor skills

Social Work, 17%
Patients, 16%
Crisis Intervention, 9%
Patient Care, 6%
Mental Health Issues, 5%
Rehabilitation, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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