Crisis worker vs clinician

The differences between crisis workers and 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 crisis worker and a clinician. Additionally, a clinician has an average salary of $60,150, which is higher than the $33,805 average annual salary of a crisis worker.

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

Crisis worker vs clinician overview

	Crisis Worker	Clinician
Yearly salary	$33,805	$60,150
Hourly rate	$16.25	$28.92
Growth rate	9%	9%
Number of jobs	99,201	105,023
Job satisfaction	4	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	4	4

What does a crisis worker do?

A crisis worker is a mental health professional specializing in providing counseling and support services to individuals under emotional distress often caused by mental and behavioral issues, conducting interventions as needed. They are usually assigned in institutions or medical facilities, sometimes working for crisis hotlines where they must answer phone calls from clients, remain calm and rational during conversations, offer advice, and refer them to other support agencies to prevent them from taking drastic measures. A crisis worker engages with clients of all ages, requiring them to be proactive at all times.

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.

Crisis worker vs clinician salary

Crisis workers and clinicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Crisis Worker	Clinician
Average salary	$33,805	$60,150
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $49,000	Between $34,000 And $103,000
Highest paying City	Portland, ME	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New York	Nevada
Best paying company	Northwestern Medicine	Pace University
Best paying industry	Hospitality	-

Differences between crisis worker and clinician education

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

	Crisis Worker	Clinician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 61%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Most common major	Psychology	Psychology
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	California State University - Long Beach

Crisis worker vs clinician demographics

Here are the differences between crisis workers' and clinicians' demographics:

	Crisis Worker	Clinician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 25.4% Female, 74.6%	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 crisis worker and clinician duties and responsibilities

Crisis worker example responsibilities.

Find placements for patients needing inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations, and provide community referrals to those requiring lower levels of care.
Conduct psychiatric screenings in hospital settings to determine if patients meet the criteria for involuntary/voluntary commitment as mandated by state laws.
Coordinate care with community providers for follow up if patient are discharged, prepare documentation for admission to inpatient psychiatry unit.
Complete MDS assessments to determine mood and cognitive functioning, relaying information to interdisciplinary team and families.

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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Crisis worker vs clinician skills

Common crisis worker skills

Patients, 21%
Social Work, 18%
Mental Health Crisis, 5%
Compassion, 5%
CPR, 3%
Rehabilitation, 3%

Common clinician skills

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

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Updated January 8, 2025

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