Health therapist vs therapist

The differences between health therapists and therapists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a therapist has an average salary of $55,943, which is higher than the $55,274 average annual salary of a health therapist.

The top three skills for a health therapist include social work, patients and patient care. The most important skills for a therapist are social work, patients, and group therapy sessions.

Health therapist vs therapist overview

	Health Therapist	Therapist
Yearly salary	$55,274	$55,943
Hourly rate	$26.57	$26.90
Growth rate	9%	17%
Number of jobs	104,056	159,770
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age	45	41
Years of experience	4	-

What does a health therapist do?

Health Therapists are healthcare workers who help patients overcome their physical, mental, or emotional challenges. They create treatment plans for patients depending on their specialization. They consider the patient's medical history as well as the risk factors. Health Therapists are actively involved in the patient's recovery. They monitor the progress of the treatment plan, schedule therapy sessions, provide activities during each session, and encourage them along the way. Health Therapists help improve the lives of their patients and ease them into their new realities.

What does a therapist do?

A therapist is responsible for improving the patients' health conditions by evaluating their needs and providing physical and mental support. Therapists are licensed, medical professionals who specialize in different areas to perform treatments and bring relief to patients. Some of their duties include diagnosing patient's problems, performing counseling services, monitoring medication progress, customizing therapy activities for pain management, and consulting other health professionals as needed. Therapists must have extensive knowledge with the medical industry to detect patients' conditions easily and provide effective medications.

Health therapist vs therapist salary

Health therapists and therapists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Health Therapist	Therapist
Average salary	$55,274	$55,943
Salary range	Between $40,000 And $75,000	Between $39,000 And $80,000
Highest paying City	Los Angeles, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Baptist Health Care	Childhelp
Best paying industry	Health Care	Government

Differences between health therapist and therapist education

There are a few differences between a health therapist and a therapist in terms of educational background:

	Health Therapist	Therapist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Social Work	Psychology
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	California State University - Long Beach

Health therapist vs therapist demographics

Here are the differences between health therapists' and therapists' demographics:

	Health Therapist	Therapist
Average age	45	41
Gender ratio	Male, 28.8% Female, 71.2%	Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6%
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, 4.0% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 11.3% White, 72.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	15%	12%

Differences between health therapist and therapist duties and responsibilities

Health therapist example responsibilities.

Demonstrate working knowledge of community mental health services identify in the Medicaid guidelines and attain contractual outcomes within designate time frames.
Work with children who have autism by providing direct services.
Provide acute therapeutic intervention to adult and geriatric patients presenting with varying mental health diagnoses, seeking support and stabilization.
Record and maintain daily activities and rehabilitation progress for medical evaluation.
Facilitate therapy groups with adults and adolescents on acute psychiatric units and chemical dependency rehabilitation programs.
Facilitate transfer of patients to appropriate levels of care as determined by interdisciplinary team during or after completing treatment.

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Therapist example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator and BiPAP's and create or update care plans per patient needs.
Demonstrate working knowledge of community mental health services identify in the Medicaid guidelines and attain contractual outcomes within designate time frames.
Provide on-call crisis intervention as well as standard treatment, rehabilitation and support services with some interventions requiring specialize therapy services.
Develop and implement an effective curriculum of DBT inform group and art therapy classes specifically tailor for chemically dependent patients.
Provide trauma-inform individual psychotherapy, TREM group treatment protocol, and EMDR.
Utilize current brain base therapeutic techniques to teach clients adaptive skills to utilize in daily lives.

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Health therapist vs therapist skills

Common health therapist skills

Social Work, 33%
Patients, 20%
Patient Care, 7%
Substance Abuse, 4%
Discharge Planning, 4%
Clinical Documentation, 3%

Common therapist skills

Social Work, 23%
Patients, 12%
Group Therapy Sessions, 8%
Crisis Intervention, 7%
Mental Health, 4%
Patient Care, 3%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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