Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between community health interns 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 community health internship and a mental health counselor. Additionally, a mental health counselor has an average salary of $49,471, which is higher than the $32,586 average annual salary of a community health internship.
The top three skills for a community health internship include patients, mental health and public health. The most important skills for a mental health counselor are social work, patients, and crisis intervention.
| Community Health Internship | Mental Health Counselor | |
| Yearly salary | $32,586 | $49,471 |
| Hourly rate | $15.67 | $23.78 |
| Growth rate | 12% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 113,667 | 110,752 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 2 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A community health intern is responsible for assisting the community staff with the health services and responsibilities for the citizens. Community health interns should help in identifying health opportunities, provide solutions for community health problems, and inform citizens of health issues. They also suggest programs promote a healthy environment, research and create reports on health education, and communicate with health departments for health services. A community health intern must have excellent communication and organizational skills, as well as time-management and the ability to multi-task to perform duties in a fast-paced environment under minimal supervision.
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.
Community health interns and mental health counselors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Community Health Internship | Mental Health Counselor | |
| Average salary | $32,586 | $49,471 |
| Salary range | Between $23,000 And $44,000 | Between $34,000 And $70,000 |
| Highest paying City | Anchorage, AK | Longview, WA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Washington |
| Best paying company | City of Baltimore | Family Life Counseling & Psychiatric Services |
| Best paying industry | Government | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a community health internship and a mental health counselor in terms of educational background:
| Community Health Internship | Mental Health Counselor | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Psychology |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | California State University - Long Beach |
Here are the differences between community health interns' and mental health counselors' demographics:
| Community Health Internship | Mental Health Counselor | |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 24.5% Female, 75.5% | Male, 31.4% Female, 68.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.8% Unknown, 6.4% Hispanic or Latino, 18.1% Asian, 7.2% White, 55.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3% | 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 | 21% | 15% |