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Job outlook for group therapists in the United States
Group therapist job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected group therapist job growth rate is 14% from 2018-2028.
About 9,100 new jobs for group therapists are projected over the next decade.
Group therapist salaries have increased 4% for group therapists in the last 5 years.
There are over 84,683 group therapists currently employed in the United States.
There are 113,813 active group therapist job openings in the US.
The average group therapist salary is $58,892.
Are group therapist jobs in demand?
Group therapist job and salary trends over time
Group therapist jobs over time
Group therapist job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 84,683 | 0.03% |
| 2020 | 83,425 | 0.02% |
| 2019 | 87,768 | 0.03% |
| 2018 | 85,696 | 0.03% |
| 2017 | 84,226 | 0.03% |
Average group therapist salary over time
Group therapist salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $58,892 | $28.31 | +3.5% |
| 2024 | $56,908 | $27.36 | --1.0% |
| 2023 | $57,459 | $27.62 | +2.7% |
| 2022 | $55,967 | $26.91 | --0.8% |
| 2021 | $56,403 | $27.12 | +1.2% |
Group therapist jobs by state
Most common states for group therapists
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 171 | 23% |
| 2 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 138 | 20% |
| 3 | Delaware | 961,939 | 179 | 19% |
| 4 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 344 | 18% |
| 5 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 955 | 17% |
| 6 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 226 | 17% |
| 7 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 179 | 17% |
| 8 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 1,159 | 16% |
| 9 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 505 | 16% |
| 10 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 981 | 15% |
| 11 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 1,482 | 14% |
| 12 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,212 | 14% |
| 13 | Missouri | 6,113,532 | 833 | 14% |
| 14 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 830 | 14% |
| 15 | Kansas | 2,913,123 | 411 | 14% |
| 16 | California | 39,536,653 | 5,147 | 13% |
| 17 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 1,144 | 13% |
| 18 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 740 | 13% |
| 19 | South Carolina | 5,024,369 | 658 | 13% |
| 20 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 535 | 13% |
Most common cities for group therapists
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carmichael | 1 | 2% | $68,264 |
| 2 | North Highlands | 1 | 2% | $68,253 |
| 3 | Davis | 1 | 1% | $68,675 |
| 4 | Vancouver | 1 | 1% | $55,634 |
| 5 | Sacramento | 2 | 0% | $68,450 |
| 6 | Saint Louis | 1 | 0% | $40,979 |
| 7 | San Francisco | 1 | 0% | $69,827 |
Group Therapist job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of group therapist experts
Northeastern Illinois University
Florida Institute of Technology
Loyola University New Orleans
SUNY College at Oswego
San Francisco State University
St. John Fisher College
Penn State College of Medicine
San Diego State University
University of Alabama in Huntsville
Boston College
Monmouth University
Augustana University
Springfield College
Freed-Hardeman University
Montclair State University
University of Nevada - Reno
Lindsey Nichols
Associate ProfessorWhat general advice would you give to a Group Therapist?
Lindsey Nichols: Your career path is a journey not typically a single destination. You will be exposed to professions, organizations, people etc. all the time and that networking and those relationships are so important. Unfortunately, social media, movies, etc. give a false impression to viewers about what counselors (of many specialty areas like school counseling, mental health, addictions, etc.) actually do. If you know licensed/certified counselors follow-up with them, ask them questions about their day-to-day activities, and volunteer or work so you can get more exposure to the helping professions, I think about the Boys-and-Girls Club, substituting in your local school district, organizations that provide helping services to people at all ages.
What will help Group Therapists increase their earning potential?
Lindsey Nichols: Usually people interested in counseling are not thinking about money, but with rising costs, home prices, daycare etc. making sure you are diligent about knowing counseling rates it the area you want to live and work is the first thing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is a great tool to give you a foundation and making connections with fellow counselors in your area. Starting your career, if you are preparing to be a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in your state (specialties like school counseling don't require additional training upon graduation, but you have to confirm you have met requirements from the state Department of Education.) you will have to do additional training and supervision. Once you become an LPC, opportunities open up like choices to go into private practice etc., it is a long process, but for most, it goes by quickly!
What general advice would you give to a Group Therapist?
Dr. Vanessa Alleyne: It will be important to network and utilize professional organizations of which you are a member, such as the ACA (American Counseling Association), or the ASGW (Association for Specialists in Group Work), for example. Meet people, attend training for advanced skills in key areas, and present there when possible. Whether locally or nationally, these are valuable connections to make when starting out, and will also enhance your knowledge base as you begin and grow. Another valuable connection to be made can be found through your alma mater. Find professional affinity groups from your undergraduate program, and certainly maintain or build ties with your graduate program alumni. Finally, many people turn to social media such as Linkedin, which is fine, but can also be a bit overwhelming. Be deliberate in your choices about who to connect with, and don't get fomo! It's ok not to connect with everyone that pops up in your feed. Stay with one social media site at a time until you feel it's working the way you'd like, and then go on to another.
What Group Therapist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Vanessa Alleyne: Two of the most heavily sought out areas of expertise in the field today are trauma and substance use disorders. If you have taken courses in these areas as a grad student, bravo for you! The aftermath of the pandemic has left us in tremendous need of caring, coping strategies for trauma, as well as more evidence based, compassionate care for substance use disorders. The old tough love strategies aren't really effective in today's complex world. Sometimes students will say that they don't want to work with substance abuse, but it's shortsighted to think that you won't, even in a private practice. Many, if not most people seeking help are impacted by substances, either via someone they know or someone in the family. The emergence of legalized sports betting has also begun a new level of problematic gambling that will require a good skill set. Group work for these and other disorders will increase, so the ability to work well in groups will be in high demand. Additionally, we are at the early stages of successful use of psychedelic medicines for a range of mental health disorders. Learning about these possibilities will be important in terms of making appropriate referrals to psychedelic providers. Finally, I will mention a typically unmentionable or perhaps forgotten area that we need better skills in now more than ever. End of life counseling needs are rising as our elderly population in the US soars. We need to be able to support clients and their families through the processes and anxieties that come with these highly difficult experiences. I am beginning a summer course at MSU now in End of Life Counseling as an elective, and the class is FULL. Many of us want and need to explore this final stage of the lifespan, both professionally and personally, in order to be of maximal assistance to others.
What general advice would you give to a Group Therapist?
Dr. Pamela Fullerton: All the skills we need to do well in this field are important since we are dealing with people's lives and livelihoods. I believe anyone entering this field needs to recognize the significance and seriousness of our work. In the next 3-5 years, the ever-changing landscape of the population will require us to be continuously working on the competencies and ethical codes mandated through our identities as professional counselors. There is a wonderful counseling model by Ratts and Pederson (2014) called the Counselor-Advocate-Scholar model. I teach this to all my students and during my professional development workshops. This model highlights the three main areas in which we need to be constantly working on and growing in: (1) counseling work, skills, and competencies; (2) advocacy work, skills, and competencies; and (3) research to learn about best practices, recent scholarly innovations to the field, and adding more research to our field. This model can be used in the future as it adapts to whatever changes in the field and population may be occurring/prevalent in the future.
What Group Therapist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Mariana Juras Ph.D.: I believe multiple language and cultural knowledges and experiences are great assets to have, and also to integrate human specific and technology integration with the mental health field, by also considering ethics, culture, and humane relevancy. Neuropsychology is also a developing field and integration with mental health treatment is increasing.
What will help Group Therapists increase their earning potential?
Mariana Juras Ph.D.: In the mental health field I believe it is the interaction between humans and technology, particular to the advance of AI. Also to embrace diversity and cultural difference and how to collaboratively work with them.
Kevin Foose
Professor of PracticeLoyola University New Orleans
Rehabilitation And Therapeutic Professions
What Group Therapist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Kevin Foose: As our graduates enter the field of counseling and psychotherapy, the guidance that I provide is generally threefold. First I suggest that they develop a niche practice which they are passionate about. I encourage them to specialize rather than 'generalize' their practice. Towards that end I advise that they find a clinical supervisor and mentor with whom they share a theoretical and philosophical foundation. I encourage them to surround themselves with talented, experienced and inspiring professionals. And to follow their curiosity and cultivate the capacity to become highly competent clinically and theoretically with a specific population and modality of treatment (such as working with couples & relationships, adolescence, social justice & advocacy, play therapy etc).
What Group Therapist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Jodi Mullen PhD LMHC RPT-S: The bulk of the work a mental health counselor does is clinical, meaning you meet with clients and provide counseling. There is also record keeping, preparation, and administrative responsibilities. New and seasoned counselors alike spend some time in supervision and consultation with other counselors. Supervision is a time to discuss cases with a more experienced professional where there are opportunities for growth professionally and personally. Consultation involves either meeting with others connected to your clients, like parents of children clients, or with professionals in mental health and other fields that can help the counselor sort out a challenge. In that case it may be an attorney or a trauma specialist.
What will help Group Therapists increase their earning potential?
Jodi Mullen PhD LMHC RPT-S: There are so many opportunities for mental health counselors entering the field. The need for our services is at an all time high. Recently, there has been a great deal of focus on self-care for professional counselors to ward off compassion fatigue. There is much more being offered for counselor self-care than when I entered the field three decades ago.
What general advice would you give to a Group Therapist?
Elif Balin: As we have witnessed since the pandemic, there is a fast transition to virtual mental health counseling practices. Beyond the virtual/video setting, counselors now have the option to collaborate with multiple stakeholders and networks to deliver their services. Some of these systems are more structured and expect counselors to shape their practices according to their delivery modalities (e.g., text messaging, online chat, learn and use a specific evidence-based therapy/counseling framework), while others involve counselors in the creation of new modalities (e.g., psychoeducational programs, phone applications). Thus, counselors should consider developing skills to understand and navigate changing technologies, devices, and program designs. They will need more skills to set and maintain boundaries against dysfunctional multitasking with new demands for availability/accessibility. They will also need to keep their own career planning and job application skills updated in case they need more transitions between jobs, roles, and settings due to the unpredictable nature of changes to their settings.
What Group Therapist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Elif Balin: Being informed and realistic about what kind of employers or sectors offer your desired salary levels is important. For example, a counseling position at a public university (which is not a research university or R1) or non-profit organization system will likely remain underpaid (unless there is a prominent political economy shift in the country). If your passion and values are grounded in such a setting, you can still do your research about the salaries (which are usually publicly available) and understand what you want to negotiate for based on your experience. Learn about salary negotiation skills, practice with people who have experience in hiring or at least salary negotiation, and especially reflect on your values around money and what you need the money for, as well as any potential internal or socially imposed biases on talking about money. You can also negotiate for extra benefits such as professional development funds and inquire about the possibility of additional work (e.g., a side job in private practice or paid consultant roles) according to your job contract. If you need a higher salary and open to explore alternative sectors or settings than what you initially considered, then educate yourself about the salary ranges in those settings and ask for tips from more experienced people. In any setting, identify the strengths and unique value you bring to a potential employer and negotiate for a higher salary by clearly articulating those strengths and values you will add.
What will help Group Therapists increase their earning potential?
Elif Balin: As prospective counselors, it's essential to recognize that your career journeys begin when you start exploring and applying for training programs. The curriculum, faculty expertise areas, availability of training opportunities (e.g., internship sites), diversity of an active alumni network, and other aspects of these programs will significantly influence your career readiness and transition to jobs. After graduation, I strongly suggest you stay connected to your training programs, mentors, and alumni networks. This will help you access the hidden job market (e.g., potentially upcoming job openings and priorities for hiring criteria) in your areas of interest or work settings and make you feel supported and part of a community. In case you think your training program did not adequately prepare you for the job market, keep searching for mentors, which can be a one-time meeting or email exchange to learn about what helped them find employment or a longer-term connection that provides you with more insight and feedback about your ongoing areas of growth. Remember that your first job is most likely the first stepping stone toward the following opportunities. Even if you feel discontent with some aspects of a first job, it can lead to meaningful connections and happenstances to create future opportunities. Be aware of your most important needs and values that you can’t sacrifice for your physical and mental well-being, and aspire for a job that gets you what you need to continue growing and making connections toward more desirable next steps. When possible, self-advocate and seek additional resources (e.g., family, community, local or regional professional development grants, additional jobs) that may help you get started with some meaningful first experience and sustain your ongoing career planning.
What general advice would you give to a Group Therapist?
Donna Sheperis PhD, LPC, NCC, CCMHC, ACS, BC-TMH: The combination of the increased need for mental healthcare following a global pandemic, as well as the increased advocacy for mental health awareness to defeat the stigma that has always surrounded treatment, means that there is a lot of work to be done to provide the services that we need. If you or someone you know has tried to get an appointment with a counselor lately, you have probably encountered some pretty lengthy wait times. It seems that every practice is full and there’s practically no way to get seen quickly. We need more practitioners and more efficient ways to serve some clients who are struggling with some really pressing concerns.
What will help Group Therapists increase their earning potential?
Donna Sheperis PhD, LPC, NCC, CCMHC, ACS, BC-TMH: When I talk to my former students as well as my friends and colleagues in the profession, they all tell me how richly rewarded they are providing a service to people who struggle with aspects of mental health. Being part of someone’s treatment, watching them find their way through trauma that has been burdening them, helping people leave behind a pass that no longer serves them, helping them find a way through genetically predisposed illness, or to overcome thoughts of death or suicide… These are all remarkable journeys to embark on with clients. To have the privilege to be part of healing when people are in crisis and pain and at their most vulnerable is really an awesome honor. Those experiences keep us hopeful and.buoyed throughout our career. When working in such an interpersonally intense profession, carrying that weight can be challenging itself. Some of the more routine tasks of the work that we do can also be burdening. As mental health counselors, we find ourselves making sure that we seek to do our own work in order to be able to do this work for others.
What Group Therapist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Catherine Lounsbury Ed.D., LCPC: Hello Alex, Attached please find my answers to your questions. Please let me know if anything else would be helpful. Thank you, Cathy
John Kiweewa Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorSt. John Fisher College
Wegmans School of Nursing
What skills stand out on Group Therapist resumes?
John Kiweewa Ph.D.: There is widespread consensus within the mental health counseling field that counseling is much about the skills and techniques as it is about the dispositions or qualities that enable counselors to provide meaningful and effective services to clients. Therefore, responding to the question of what skills stand out on Mental Health Counselors' resumes requires an articulation of attributes, characteristics, variables, or qualities that an ideal mental health counselor would possess. Indeed, there is a copious body of counseling literature describing effective counselor variables. I have highlighted some of the most salient of these variables.
1. Respectfulness of & Responsiveness to Others, Including Diverse Populations: The ability of mental health professionals to provide effective and meaningful services to individuals from diverse backgrounds is of vital importance. More culturally responsive mental health providers tend to produce better outcomes with their clients. Such cultural competence of responsiveness is most evident when a practitioner consistently conveys an attitude of respect, in both verbal and non-verbal communication, for the capability and worth of others and seeks to understand them in terms of what makes them different. It means honoring individual differences such as culture, race, ethnicity, family structure, gender, age, socioeconomic status, and other individual differences without needing to always agree with what others do or say based on these differences.
2. Ability to Balance Multiple Life Expectations and Commitment to Wellness: Mental health professionals work in an environment that demands the ability to balance multiple responsibilities and life expectations. This work-life balance is often most challenging for new professionals, often leading to high rates of burnout. Agencies or organizations will look for a mental health counselor who is able to recognize and accept their capacity to handle multiple life responsibilities such as family, school, work, and avocational pursuits. This includes being realistic in setting limits on time spent in various roles, adjusting schedules to accommodate changes in responsibilities, eating healthily, and getting adequate sleep and exercise in order to function effectively.
3. Empathy, Genuineness, Warmth, and Caring: Empathy can be described as the ability to consistently communicate, in words and actions, an accurate understanding of what others feeling or thinking; when a professional counselor is truly "in tune" with others through verbal and nonverbal actions and reactions, and try to know what it is like to be in the other person's shoes. It includes the ability to consistently convey warmth, caring, and concern for others in interactions with them. Empathy, genuineness, and caring (unconditional regard) are considered the foundational skills and orientations in mental health counseling. In fact, these have long been described as a trio of qualities that are necessary, though insufficient, for positive therapeutic outcomes.
4. Effective Interpersonal Communication: There is broad consensus within the counseling field that effective communication is the cornerstone of successful client/counselor relationships. Broadly defined, interpersonal communication involves the ability for the mental health professional to elicit and appreciate client concerns, to provide a rationale for treatment decisions, and engage the client in the process of shared decision-making and goal setting. Such skills may be both verbal and non-verbal and include micro-level skills (active listening, paraphrasing, questioning, summarizing) and macro-level skills (crisis intervention, assessment, documentation, case conceptualization, use of self, immediacy, etc.). Employers are constantly looking for mental health counselors with the ability to maximize their communication skills and knowledge of human development to enhance their clients' growth and development.
5. Professional Integrity: This quality is most evident when a mental health professional is consistently honest and trustworthy in dealing with others and admits to shortcomings and limitations in knowledge and skills. More importantly, professional integrity requires that a mental health counselor abides faithfully by established professional codes of conduct, as well as agency policies and practices. Such professionalism manifests itself in the ability to set healthy boundaries with clients, as well as communicate clearly the nature and limits of the counseling relationship.
6. Capacity for Organization: The world within which a mental health professional operates has become more complex, and such increasing complexity has necessitated demonstrated capacity for organization. This skill is most evident when a mental health counseling professional is consistently planful and orderly in thinking about and performing tasks. They can prioritize efficiently and are disciplined and task-oriented. They impose the right kind of structure on themselves to be productive without being unreasonably obsessive about things.
7. Commitment to Excellence: Growing both personally and professionally requires openness to new learning and examining one's beliefs, values, assumptions, and effectiveness. When a gap in knowledge is discovered, or a deficit in a personal quality is uncovered, a mental health professional will take the initiative to acquire new information, improve and change. To be committed to excellence requires, in part, a great deal of self-reflection, an awareness that they are one of the primary instruments/tools in counseling.
8. Trauma-informed Care: The ability to appreciate the widespread and complex impact of trauma on clients' lives and develop and integrate trauma-responsive skills, knowledge, and awareness into one's practice has become essential to providing effective counseling services. Employers are, thus, keen on mental health counseling graduates with crisis and trauma intervention skills such as mindfulness techniques, breathing techniques, relaxation methods, grounding strategies, and other knowledge of trauma-specific treatment approaches (e.g., EMDR TF-CBT, animal-assisted therapy, etc.).
9. Assessment and Diagnostic skills: The ability to work collaboratively with a client to determine presenting concerns, desired goals and objectives, and therapy process is a core component of what mental health counselors do. To do so requires skills in selecting and administering assessment tools, formulating diagnostic/clinical impressions, and developing treatment plans/or strategies. Prospective employers, therefore, usually look for candidates with strong assessment and diagnostic skills, particularly knowledge of the DSM-V and/or ICD-CM and use of primary assessment instruments (e.g., Mental Status Exam, PHQ-9).
10. Technology Skills: Digital media and resources (e.g., email, smartphone apps, online forums, Web sites, DVDs, computer software, online social networks, telephone and televideo communication, and mobile devices are fast becoming essential to the work of mental health counseling. The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the need for competence in virtual communication or the ability to provide telehealth, in addition to familiarity with Electronic Medical/Health Records systems.
11. Bilingual: The growing diversity of the United States population means that mental health counselors live and work in a multicultural world. The reality is that mental health practitioners are now more and more likely to encounter clients from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. While the counseling profession has long emphasized cultural competence as a necessary component of ethical and effective service delivery, there is evidence to suggest that the mental health field as a whole has not kept up with the demand for bilingual and multiculturally oriented counselors.
What soft skills should all Group Therapists possess?
John Kiweewa Ph.D.: Receptivity to Feedback: Openness to consistently accept feedback in a respectful way is a vital quality, especially for new graduates. Such openness is important not only to feedback from supervisors but from colleagues and clients. Agreeing to or feeling bound to act on the feedback received is not as important as communicating appreciation for the effort of others in giving feedback. In this case, display of behaviors such as anger, annoyance, frustration, defensiveness, excessive/exaggerated self-criticism, or withdrawal gets in the way of learning and/or being a member of a team.
Appropriate Self-Disclosure: The ability for mental health practitioners to 'use' themselves for the benefit of their clients is one of the cornerstones of effective counseling. Such a quality is most evident when one only shares information about themselves that fits the nature and purpose of the interaction with a particular client. When personal information is revealed, it is tasteful, relevant, and is not upsetting, distracting, or confusing to others. Prospective employers are keenly aware of the ways self-serving or self-aggrandizing disclosure of personal information can negatively impact the ability to provide meaningful services to clients.
Reliability and Follow Through: Mental health professionals work in a helping profession that requires the professional to be consistently dependable, reliable, and able to follow through with tasks and assignments in a timely and thorough manner. This includes meeting deadlines, being punctual to sessions with clients and for agency meetings, being prepared, and having a reputation as one who can be counted on to do their part when functioning as a team or project member.
Flexibility and Adaptability: This quality is most evident when a mental health counseling professional consistently demonstrates a willingness to change or compromise in the face of new information, circumstances, and contexts. Situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, require mental health practitioners to have an openness to solutions that match the needs of their service recipients and organizations.
Sense of Humor: There is little to cheer about in the professional life of mental health professionals. We spend the majority of our working time listening to the most painful and vulnerable aspects of people's lives. This quality is most evident when a mental health counselor assumes an orientation to life that acknowledges to self and others the value of looking at the "lighter side" of life to maintain a balance; when they find enjoyment in laughing with others and recognize laughter as a way of reducing tension and as an important aspect of social discourse.
Confidence Balanced with Humility: Confidence in one's abilities (self-efficacy) is a general challenge for beginning mental health counselors. Some may appear over-confident as a way to compensate for lack of experience in the field and to project an image of competence. It is, therefore, important that new graduate is able to act with self-assurance by consistently expressing themselves in a clear, deliberate, and unassuming manner. It is not helpful to "put on airs" or flaunt knowledge or skills in order to bring attention to oneself. What is important is to convey appreciation for the privilege to partake in other people's life journeys and struggles.
Martha Peaslee Levine M.D.
Medical Director of the PHP and IOP, Director of the Office of Professional Mental HealthPenn State College of Medicine
Adolescent Medicine, Psychiatry
What soft skills should all Group Therapists possess?
Martha Peaslee Levine M.D.: Good communication skills are important. Working as a therapist involves interacting with someone. It will be important to demonstrate being able to listen effectively and being able to communicate clearly. Active listening is important in therapy and in an interview. Be engaged; listen to the interviewer so that you are clearly providing the information that they need. For example, I often ask interviewees to tell me about a case that they found rewarding or challenging. From this, I want to know how someone thinks through a clinical situation. I want to hear how they describe their client (anonymously, of course) and how they put together the important parts of the story. If it was challenging and they now recognize ways to handle it differently, that lets me know that they have thought about this. It also shows that they are willing to reflect on difficult situations and learn from them. If someone cannot relate a story or discuss a client with me, that makes me wonder about their skills as a therapist and their interest in their patients. These clinical interactions can come from your work in school, shadowing someone in training, or internships. It is recognizing and describing the important elements of the case. Another important skill is good written communication. Check your resumes for spelling mistakes. Reread any emails to make certain they are clear. Send thank-you notes. Keep things professional--use the interviewer's professional title when you write. Be on time and have a question or two to ask about the position or place of employment. Examples can be, what are they looking for in a counselor? What have they found the most rewarding working in this office? Find your own go-to question, but interviewers what to know that you are interested.
Dianne Ciro Ph.D.
Assistant ProfessorSan Diego State University
School of Social Work
What skills stand out on Group Therapist resumes?
Dianne Ciro Ph.D.: Formal training and/or experience using one or more evidence-based Interventions.
What soft skills should all Group Therapists possess?
Dianne Ciro Ph.D.: Clinicians need to be flexible, express empathy and warmth to their clients, have good communication skills, be self-aware, apply a social justice lens to their work with clients, and practice from a place of cultural humility.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Group Therapists?
Dianne Ciro Ph.D.: Clinicians need to have keen safety and clinical assessment skills. After COVID, we also learned that it's important for clinicians to navigate and adapt to providing services both in person and through telemental health.
What skills will help Group Therapists earn the most?
Dianne Ciro Ph.D.: All of the skills outlined above are important for clinicians to be effective in their jobs and earn a good wage.
Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Human FactorsUniversity of Alabama in Huntsville
Psychology Department
What skills stand out on Group Therapist resumes?
Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.: Strong analytical skills are a must. This includes both logic and reasoning skills, but also data analysis skills. For many jobs, the ability to collect and scientifically evaluate data will be vital, if not an absolute necessity. Similarly, a strong understanding of experimental methods can put a candidate in a great position to be able to help a company evaluate existing programs and chart a path forward for new ones. Finally, I would say that a strong ability to write is critical. Those graduates who are able to effectively and persuasively communicate in writing are setting themselves up for success at any company and allowing the company to leverage them for increasingly important tasks.
What soft skills should all Group Therapists possess?
Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.: Students need to be able to read individual and group dynamics in order to act appropriately in any given situation. This includes not only the interactions with one's bosses but also peers and subordinates. Similarly, being comfortable with networking can help any company, but networking skills shine through in interviews.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Group Therapists?
Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.: Technical skills like the ability to perform statistical analyses are critically important for most Psychology-related jobs. This allows a candidate to collect and analyze data but also to interpret and understand other existing data. A strong statistical background can also help set a candidate apart from their peers in the application process. This includes understanding when and how to use various parametric and nonparametric statistics to be able to answer questions regardless of the data one is working with.
What skills will help Group Therapists earn the most?
Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.: An understanding of a programming language, like Python or Javascript, can be a huge advantage in the job market. It will allow candidates to handle not only large datasets but also do rapid prototyping (in cases of UX work, for example) or even simply design a way in which to collect data for a customer. A student who knows how to code and who can apply those skills in their chosen career field is likely to differentiate themself over the competition.
Treniece Lewis Harris Ph.D.
Associate Professor of the Practice, Program Director, Master's Program in Mental Health CounselingBoston College
Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology
What soft skills should all Group Therapists possess?
Treniece Lewis Harris Ph.D.: -compassion
-active listening
-perspective-taking
-open-mindedness and respect for differences
-humility
-curiosity and critical observation
-problem recognition and analytical thinking
-creativity and flexibility
-presentation skills
What skills stand out on Group Therapist resumes?
Alan Cavaiola Ph.D.: Skills that stand out on a resume: What mental health counselors need to emphasize on their resume/CV would be any additional training, certificates, and conferences to help make their resume stand out. For example, some of our students take workshops and training to become certified Disaster Response Crisis Counselors in New Jersey. Others take workshops or trainings in DBT, or they'll take EMDR training or telehealth training. These are definitely the skills employers would see as important and would help put the applicant's resume at the top of the pile. Also, students in our graduate program can specialize in addiction counseling which then helps to make them eligible for both the LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) and the LCADC (Licensed Clinical Alcohol & Drug Counselor). Having both licenses will increase job possibilities exponentially.
Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen
Associate ProfessorAugustana University
Psychology Department
What skills will help Group Therapists earn the most?
Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen: It depends on the population they want to work with and the clinical setting they are comfortable in. But one thing that I wish I had learned more about was how to run a health service business. Though this won't be an eye-catcher on your resume when applying for counselor positions, if you want to work at a private practice (even if you won't be the owner), an understanding of basic business principles--especially how to work with insurance companies--will help you earn more money. I worked in private practice for a little over a year. I was very frustrated about differing reimbursement processes from one insurance company to the next. Sometimes it was 6 months before I was paid for sessions I completed with clients due to difficult insurance policies. Suppose you're not comfortable contacting your clients directly to collect co-insurance, copayments, etc. In that case, private practice may not be for you. I ended up doing quite a bit of unintended pro-bono work because the insurance company refused payment (due to unmet deductibles, or the client had used all of their "approved" sessions) because I was uncomfortable going to collections with clients who couldn't pay and were unaware of their insurance limits before starting. So in terms of earning potential, learn about how third-party payer systems work, and develop a good prior authorization protocol with documentation of exactly what services you can provide that will get you paid. Then, if your business is healthy enough, hire someone else to do the job of collecting payments, working with insurance companies, and contacting clients who owe to avoid those ruptures and complications in the therapeutic relationship.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Group Therapists to find work opportunities?
Elizabeth Morgan Ph.D.: One potential outcome of the pandemic is that place may matter less as jobs are created and sustained with remote work environments. For example, it might be possible to participate in education endeavors, community mental health, human services in general, or consulting remotely, which render geography less important.
In addition, there will likely be changes in the types of jobs available to graduates in Psychology as employers are rethinking employee productivity in the wake of the coronavirus and need human resources specialists or industrial/organizational psychologists to consult on organizational change. Individuals with training and experience in delivering services remotely may find themselves able to secure some of these new positions; recent graduates will have a leg up in that regard, since they experienced training in a remote environment.
How do you envision technology impacting Group Therapists in the next 5 years?
Elizabeth Morgan Ph.D.: The forced use of technology to connect with others during the pandemic will likely encourage lasting change in education, counseling and human services, business and marketing endeavors, research, and other areas where graduates in psychology end up. This will create shifts in what the jobs look like, what training is needed, and even perhaps, the mental health and well-being of workers in general. As these technological changes are introduced, new graduates will need to learn and embrace them to keep up with the trends, as well as evaluate their effectiveness.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Group Therapists?
Elizabeth Morgan Ph.D.: There seems to be the potential for a number of cross-cutting impacts on graduates from a variety of disciplines related to the coronavirus pandemic, including interruptions in their academic pursuits (e.g., taking more time to finish due to lack of internships, ability to complete coursework due to family obligations or health issues, or a lack of finances to pay for their education).
Once graduated, it is likely that they are encountering a shrinking marketplace for hiring, with companies enacting freezes due to economic uncertainty. Furthermore, more young adults are turning to live with parents, which might make it harder to find a job since they are tied to a residence (or because they may not need to work if parents are subsidizing them).
Related to Psychology in particular, graduates may find an increased need for mental health workers due to lasting effects from workplace instability, social isolation, and health fears. There will likely be enduring changes in the way human services are provided, including increased telehealth practices or services provided via webinars versus in-person programming that might require additional training or acquiring a new skill set on the job.
Dr. James Dalton Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Mental Health CounselingFreed-Hardeman University
Counseling Program
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Group Therapist job market given the pandemic?
Dr. James Dalton Ph.D.: The pandemic has forced a shift to technology-assisted interactions in a wide variety of areas including education. I do not expect education to remain as reliant upon technology-assisted interaction as it has been in the past year. Neither do I expect our nation to return to almost complete reliance upon face-to-face interactions. Instead, I believe we will see technology-assisted education and technology-assisted school counseling integrated into the services of the majority of K-12 schools. Therefore, I believe we will see an increase in distance interactions with students through school counseling. Large districts may long-term employ some school counselors from off-site, or may incorporate off-site counselors into the services they provide.
Additionally, the pandemic has not decreased the mental health and wellness needs of our students, but instead has further demonstrated the existence of these needs and the difficulty many schools and communities have in meeting the needs of our most vulnerable populations. I expect this to lead to an increase in services that are provided by or integrated into schools including mental health counseling and trauma-informed counseling and services.
For both reasons, I expect school counseling jobs to have a greater variety of opportunities in the years ahead.
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Group Therapists?
Dr. James Dalton Ph.D.: Completing state licensure requirements is always the most important thing to increase job prospects for school counselors. Without a license as a school counselor, one cannot find employment. Beyond licensure, given the shifts experienced from the pandemic, today I would encourage school counselors who want to stand out to pursue training and/or certification in distance or technology-assisted counseling methods. These skills will be quite useful to school counselors and will help demonstrate the applicant is cognizant of the skills currently needed in our schools.
What experience really stands out on Group Therapist resumes?
Dr. Michael Hannon Ph.D.: The kinds of experiences that really stand out on resumes are those that demonstrate their added value. School counselors, like all school personnel, are tasked with providing evidence that students are better as a result of their work with them. School counselors must show how the range of school counseling services provided (e.g., individual counseling, small group counseling, career development interventions, individual advising, etc.) help students experience success. I encourage those looking for jobs to meticulously document the processes and outcomes that inform why they implement their programs and services. That way, potential employers clearly understand the value new school counselors will add to the school community and support student wellness.
Dr. Tammy Abernathy Ph.D.
Professor Special Education, Special Education Program CoordinatorUniversity of Nevada - Reno
Special Education Program
What experience really stands out on Group Therapist resumes?
Dr. Tammy Abernathy Ph.D.: Experience with students with disabilities in a variety of settings. A degree, a major and teaching license are important, but experience with students and their families matters. This is where the love of the profession and children is born. Special educators believe in their students. They set high expectations for students and they tirelessly push for these outcomes. We are not a sympathetic lot. We want our students to reach their own hopes and dreams and we can't do that unless we set high expectations and build self-determined students. Also, evidence that you are a strong collaborative partner, and you can show evidence of collaborative work will be noticed. Special education services are not provided by one teacher only. Being able to work within a group to serve students is essential. Advocacy skills are a plus. Experience advocating with and for students with disabilities will get attention. Further, demonstrating that you can teach students to advocate for themselves is also important.