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.
Health therapist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real health therapist resumes:
- 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.
- Work with adults & adolescents in individual, family & group therapies using CBT, DBT and motivational interviewing.
- Implement DBT and CBT techniques, along with relapse prevention, case management, assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning.
- Work with active duty involving military sexual trauma, addiction and PTSD.
- Work closely with a license orthotist/prosthetist to obtain orthotics for children who require them.
Health therapist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 33% of Health Therapists are proficient in Social Work, Patients, and Patient Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Emotional skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Health Therapists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Social Work, 33%
Provided supervision to numerous masters' level graduate interns of counseling, art therapy, and social work.
- Patients, 20%
Conducted psychiatric assessment of Emergency room patients, diagnosis and inpatient admission or referral for partial hospitalization or outpatient treatment.
- Patient Care, 7%
Consulted and provided treatment recommendations to primary care providers and other staff regarding patient care.
- Substance Abuse, 4%
Provide outpatient individual and family therapy to children and adults with mental illness and/or substance abuse disorders.
- Discharge Planning, 4%
Assist with discharge planning and post-hospitalization linkage with prevention facilities.
- Clinical Documentation, 3%
Completed clinical documentation: progress notes.
"social work," "patients," and "patient care" are among the most common skills that health therapists use at work. You can find even more health therapist responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a health therapist to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "clients talk to social workers about challenges in their lives." Health therapists often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "treated veterans on parole/probation who were court ordered to mental health and in communication with legal system when appropriate. "
Problem-solving skills. health therapists are also known for problem-solving skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to health therapist responsibilities, because "social workers must analyze their clients’ complex situations and develop practical solutions." A health therapist resume example shows how problem-solving skills is used in the workplace: "provide comprehensive psychosocial mental health assessments and resolution services for anyone experiencing or at risk of mental health crisis. "
Organizational skills. A big part of what health therapists do relies on "organizational skills." You can see how essential it is to health therapist responsibilities because "social workers must help and manage multiple clients, often assisting with their paperwork or documenting their treatment." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical health therapist tasks: "acted as a mental health consultant through unit and organizational consultation. "
Interpersonal skills. A commonly-found skill in health therapist job descriptions, "interpersonal skills" is essential to what health therapists do. Health therapist responsibilities rely on this skill because "social workers must be able to work with different groups of people." You can also see how health therapist duties rely on interpersonal skills in this resume example: "intervene and treat psychological, behavioral or interpersonal difficulties utilizing various clinical social work techniques. "
The three companies that hire the most health therapists are:
- BayCare Health System91 health therapists jobs
- Sanford Health50 health therapists jobs
- UPMC47 health therapists jobs
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Compare different health therapists
Health therapist vs. Clinician
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.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, health therapist responsibilities require skills like "substance abuse," "behavioral health," "dsm," and "therapy services." Meanwhile a typical clinician has skills in areas such as "individual therapy," "clinical services," "therapeutic services," and "treatment services." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Clinicians tend to reach similar levels of education than health therapists. In fact, clinicians are 1.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Health therapist vs. Addictions counselor
An Addictions Counselor helps patients overcome personal addiction problems, such as dependence on drugs, alcohol, and other substances. They evaluate the condition of their client through examining, asking questions, and recommending the proper treatment options.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, health therapist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "substance abuse," "behavioral health," "home health," and "dsm." Meanwhile, an addictions counselor has duties that require skills in areas such as "chemical dependency," "substance abuse treatment," "treatment services," and "relapse prevention." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Addictions counselors may earn a lower salary than health therapists, but addictions counselors earn the most pay in the non profits industry with an average salary of $47,326. On the other hand, health therapists receive higher pay in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $57,105.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Addictions counselors tend to reach lower levels of education than health therapists. In fact, they're 15.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for health therapists in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Cheryl Stenmark Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Director, Industrial/Organizational Psychology Masters Program, Angelo State University
Health therapist vs. Licensed professional counselor
A licensed professional counselor is a healthcare professional who specializes in providing therapy and counseling to patients with emotional and mental health issues. They listen to their patients and utilize various techniques to address concerns and help through the healing procedures. Their duties entail conducting interviews and evaluations, performing research and assessments, studying the patients' medical histories, providing consultations, and developing treatment plans that suit every patients' needs. Additionally, a licensed professional counselor monitors and records their patients' progress, adjusting treatments and medications as necessary.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a health therapist is likely to be skilled in "patient care," "substance abuse," "clinical documentation," and "behavioral health," while a typical licensed professional counselor is skilled in "lpc," "real estate," "individual therapy," and "therapeutic services."
Licensed professional counselors earn the highest salary when working in the real estate industry, where they receive an average salary of $99,425. Comparatively, health therapists have the highest earning potential in the health care industry, with an average salary of $57,105.Most licensed professional counselors achieve a higher degree level compared to health therapists. For example, they're 5.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Health therapist vs. Clinical social worker
A clinical social worker is an individual in social work, which provides help to individuals in need of improving their lives and their well-being. Clinical social workers must work with different individuals to help them address difficulties that they are trying to overcome. To perform counseling services, clinical social workers must take and pass the professional licensure examination. They also help disadvantaged individuals connect to resources and services that they may benefit from.
Types of health therapist
Updated January 8, 2025
