A community health counselor typically provides health and welfare support to the disadvantaged members of a community. Their responsibilities revolve around devising strategies to reach out to community members, coordinating with schools and other institutions, and building positive relationships with the communities that they serve. They may also provide counseling sessions to individuals of all ages, conduct observations and assessments, perform interventions, and identify any signs of abuse or neglect, reporting to the authorities right away. Furthermore, they may refer families or individuals to other social services unit if necessary.

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Community Health Counselor Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real community health counselor resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • Provide group and individual therapy along with social service coordination for patients in short term stabilization psychiatric unit.
  • Train in medication administration, therapeutic holds and CPR.
  • Maintain cleanliness of home provide assistance with cleaning rooms and common areas.
  • Train in MNT, TCI, first aide and CPR with several other essential trainings.
  • Complete insurance verification information for Medicaid participants.
  • Maintain caseload paperwork in accordance with Georgia Medicaid requirements.
  • Provide resource information on medical and social services in order to help facilitate appropriate placement of patients upon discharge.
  • Facilitate working relationship between say agency and research organization to continue to work with and promote adolescent rehabilitation program.
  • Perform group facilitation for families, DUI and addiction education activities.
  • Help individuals work on and meet monthly ISP goals and objectives.
  • Complete written documentation observing HIPPA and other applicable laws and confidentiality.
  • Create behavioral and cognitive plans for adolescents with ADHD that monitor behaviors leading to academic success.
  • Provide behavior modification and social skills training to children and adolescents with ADHD and other behavioral and emotional disorders.
  • Organize and lead regular youth and college bible studies, teaching about prayer and promoting spirituality.

Community Health Counselor Job Description

Perhaps the hardest question to answer when deciding on a career as a community health counselor is "should I become a community health counselor?" You might find this info to be helpful. When compared to other jobs, community health counselor careers are projected to have a growth rate described as "much faster than average" at 11% from 2018 through 2028. This is in accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. What's more, is that the projected number of opportunities that are predicted to become available for a community health counselor by 2028 is 81,200.

Community health counselors average about $20.82 an hour, which makes the community health counselor annual salary $43,304. Additionally, community health counselors are known to earn anywhere from $29,000 to $63,000 a year. This means that the top-earning community health counselors make $28,000 more than the lowest earning ones.

Once you've become a community health counselor, you may be curious about what other opportunities are out there. Careers aren't one size fits all. For that reason, we discovered some other jobs that you may find appealing. Some jobs you might find interesting include a counselor/art therapist, behavioral health specialist, counselor internship, and mental health specialist.

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5 Community Health Counselor Resume Examples

Community Health Counselor Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 19% of Community Health Counselors are proficient in Social Work, Behavioral Health, and Patients. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Emotional skills, and Interpersonal skills.

We break down the percentage of Community Health Counselors that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Social Work, 19%

    Provided clinical social work services by implementing various evidenced-based theoretical frameworks.

  • Behavioral Health, 17%

    Facilitated direct admissions from the emergency department and other agencies to the behavioral health inpatient unit at DeKalb Medical Center.

  • Patients, 17%

    Provided resource information on medical and social services in order to help facilitate appropriate placement of patients upon discharge.

  • Crisis Intervention, 7%

    Conducted individual counseling sessions and group counseling sessions, monitored the therapeutic environment and provided emergency or acute crisis intervention services.

  • Rehabilitation, 4%

    Facilitate working relationship between said agency and research organization to continue to work with and promote adolescent rehabilitation program.

  • Discharge Planning, 3%

    Collaborated with treatment team regarding discharge planning.

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Community Health Counselor Resume

Some of the skills we found on community health counselor resumes included "social work," "behavioral health," and "patients." We have detailed the most important community health counselor responsibilities below.

  • Arguably the most important personality trait for a community health counselor to have happens to be communication skills. An example from a resume said this about the skill, "clients talk to social workers about challenges in their lives" Additionally, other resumes have pointed out that community health counselors can use communication skills to "increased communication skills during case management with consumers skills used first aid cpr aed nonviolent crisis intervention medication administration"
  • Another trait important for fulfilling community health counselor duties is emotional skills. According to a community health counselor resume, "social workers often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Here's an example of how community health counselors are able to utilize emotional skills: "helped individuals with substance abuse, stress management, problems with self-esteem, and issues associated with mental and emotional health. "
  • Another skill that is quite popular among community health counselors is interpersonal skills. This skill is very critical to fulfilling every day responsibilities as is shown in this example from a community health counselor resume: "social workers need to be able to work with different groups of people" This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "resolved personal, social, vocational, and interpersonal concerns through implementation of cognitive behavioral therapy. "
  • A community health counselor responsibilities sometimes require "organizational skills." The responsibilities that rely on this skills are shown by this resume excerpt: "social workers must help and manage multiple clients, often assisting with their paperwork or documenting their treatment." This resume example shows how this skill is used by community health counselors: "provide outreach and facilitate inter-organizational cooperation with community agencies, schools, county services, healthcare professionals, and community groups. "
  • Another common skill for a community health counselor to be able to utilize is "problem-solving skills." Social workers need to develop practical and innovative solutions to their clients’ problems. A community health counselor demonstrated the need for this skill by putting this on their resume: "utilized various treatment modalities including cognitive behavioral therapy and short-term solution focused therapy during sessions. "
  • See the full list of community health counselor skills.

    We've found that 60.9% of community health counselors have earned a bachelor's degree. Furthermore, 22.9% earned their master's degrees before becoming a community health counselor. While it's true that most community health counselors have a college degree, it's generally possible to become one with only a high school degree. In fact, one out of every nine community health counselors did not spend the extra money to attend college.

    Those community health counselors who do attend college, typically earn either psychology degrees or social work degrees. Less commonly earned degrees for community health counselors include criminal justice degrees or sociology degrees.

    When you're ready to become a community health counselor, you might wonder which companies hire community health counselors. According to our research through community health counselor resumes, community health counselors are mostly hired by State of Georgia: Teachers Retirement System of Georgia, Eating Recovery Center, and Ascension Michigan. Now is a good time to apply as State of Georgia: Teachers Retirement System of Georgia has 27 community health counselors job openings, and there are 24 at Eating Recovery Center and 21 at Ascension Michigan.

    If you're interested in companies where community health counselors make the most money, you'll want to apply for positions at Apple, Sandia National Labs, and Cook Children's Medical Center. We found that at Apple, the average community health counselor salary is $81,819. Whereas at Sandia National Labs, community health counselors earn roughly $63,701. And at Cook Children's Medical Center, they make an average salary of $61,690.

    View more details on community health counselor salaries across the United States.

    If you earned a degree from the top 100 educational institutions in the United States, you might want to take a look at CampCo, Private Practice, and Ymca. These three companies have hired a significant number of community health counselors from these institutions.

    The three companies that hire the most prestigious community health counselors are:

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    What Counselor/Art Therapists Do

    A counselor/art therapist is responsible for conducting art sessions as part of patients' therapy treatments, letting them express their human nature and emotions through artistic discovery. Counselors/art therapists guide the patients throughout their recovery process, identifying their needs and conditions by analyzing their crafts. A counselor/art therapist coordinates with other medical professionals to deliver quality care services for the patients, monitor their progress, record observations, and instructing patients in art activities to discover their maximum potential.

    In this section, we compare the average community health counselor annual salary with that of a counselor/art therapist. Typically, counselor/art therapists earn a $36,113 higher salary than community health counselors earn annually.

    Even though community health counselors and counselor/art therapists have vast differences in their careers, a few of the skills required to do both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require social work, behavioral health, and patients in the day-to-day roles.

    These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A community health counselor responsibility is more likely to require skills like "rehabilitation," "direct patient care," "cpr," and "therapeutic milieu." Whereas a counselor/art therapist requires skills like "diagnosis," "patient care," "substance abuse issues," and "therapeutic services." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

    The education levels that counselor/art therapists earn is a bit different than that of community health counselors. In particular, counselor/art therapists are 21.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a community health counselor. Additionally, they're 1.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    What Are The Duties Of a Behavioral Health Specialist?

    Typically working for clinics and learning institutions, a behavioral health specialist is in charge of counseling and treating patients with behavioral issues. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting initial assessment through interview and observation, maintaining records and data, developing treatment plans, and referring patients to other support services when necessary. Moreover, a behavioral health specialist must communicate with the patient's families or guardians, discuss conditions, and provide advice on taking care of them. Aside from treating patients, it is also essential to continuously monitor their behavior while building positive relationships with them.

    Next up, we have the behavioral health specialist profession to look over. This career brings along a higher average salary when compared to a community health counselor annual salary. In fact, behavioral health specialists salary difference is $1,504 higher than the salary of community health counselors per year.

    Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Community health counselors and behavioral health specialists both include similar skills like "social work," "behavioral health," and "patients" on their resumes.

    While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that community health counselor responsibilities requires skills like "direct patient care," "therapeutic milieu," "mental health disorders," and "behavior modification." But a behavioral health specialist might use skills, such as, "substance abuse," "patient care," "direct care," and "support services."

    On average, behavioral health specialists earn a higher salary than community health counselors. There are industries that support higher salaries in each profession respectively. Interestingly enough, behavioral health specialists earn the most pay in the insurance industry with an average salary of $53,632. Whereas, community health counselors have higher paychecks in the health care industry where they earn an average of $41,674.

    On the topic of education, behavioral health specialists earn similar levels of education than community health counselors. In general, they're 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    How a Counselor Internship Compares

    When it comes to Counselor Internship, among the primary responsibilities is to assist in dealing with various activities such as preparing and verifying necessary documentation, observing consultations and outreach programs, guide clients and help develop multiple helpful strategies, and provide assessments. Furthermore, one can conduct counseling and consultation only under supervision. It is also essential to track the information gathered and coordinate with assigned personnel to adhere to the company's regulations and policies.

    The counselor internship profession generally makes a higher amount of money when compared to the average salary of community health counselors. The difference in salaries is counselor interns making $2,196 higher than community health counselors.

    Using community health counselors and counselor interns resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "crisis intervention," "discharge planning," and "community resources," but the other skills required are very different.

    Some important key differences between the two careers are a few of the skills necessary to fulfill responsibilities. Some examples from community health counselor resumes include skills like "social work," "behavioral health," "patients," and "rehabilitation," whereas a counselor internship might be skilled in "substance abuse issues," "psychosocial assessments," "relapse prevention," and "intake interviews. "

    Interestingly enough, counselor interns earn the most pay in the finance industry, where they command an average salary of $51,629. As mentioned previously, community health counselors highest annual salary comes from the health care industry with an average salary of $41,674.

    Counselor interns are known to earn similar educational levels when compared to community health counselors. Additionally, they're 3.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    Description Of a Mental Health Specialist

    A mental health specialist is responsible for evaluating a patient's mental health condition and develop appropriate treatment plans to help the patients cope up with their mental difficulties. Mental health specialists provide counseling to the patients, listening to their situation, and responding with the utmost consideration. They also create regular progress reports and medical charts to monitor ongoing medication, updating treatment plans as needed. A mental health specialist must have excellent communication and organization skills, helping the patients deal with their mental stress and return to a healthy lifestyle.

    Mental health specialists tend to earn a higher pay than community health counselors by about $4,017 per year.

    While their salaries may vary, community health counselors and mental health specialists both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "social work," "patients," and "crisis intervention. "

    Each job requires different skills like "behavioral health," "eating disorders," "mental health disorders," and "medication education," which might show up on a community health counselor resume. Whereas mental health specialist might include skills like "substance abuse," "therapeutic relationships," "autism," and "mental health care."

    Now, let's take a closer look at the financials in each career. The government industry tends to pay more for mental health specialists with an average of $47,531. While the highest community health counselor annual salary comes from the health care industry.

    The average resume of mental health specialists showed that they earn similar levels of education to community health counselors. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 2.1% less. Additionally, they're less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.7%.