What Does a Mental Health Associate Do?

We looked at the average mental health associate annual salary and compared it with the average of a behavior therapist. Generally speaking, behavior therapists receive $354 higher pay than mental health associates per year.

While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both mental health associates and behavior therapists positions are skilled in patients, social work, and crisis intervention.

There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a mental health associate responsibilities require skills like "customer service," "vital signs," "cpr," and "safety checks." Meanwhile a typical behavior therapist has skills in areas such as "behavior analysis," "autism spectrum disorder," "behavior analysts," and "bcba." This difference in skills reveals how truly different these two careers really are.

Behavior therapists tend to make the most money in the education industry by averaging a salary of $38,181. In contrast, mental health associates make the biggest average salary of $37,746 in the professional industry.

Behavior therapists tend to reach similar levels of education than mental health associates. In fact, behavior therapists are 4.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

The next role we're going to look at is the intensive in-home counselor profession. Typically, this position earns a higher pay. In fact, they earn a $14,918 higher salary than mental health associates per year.

A similarity between the two careers of mental health associates and intensives in-home counselor are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "crisis intervention," "therapeutic interventions," and "anger management. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, several resumes showed us that mental health associate responsibilities requires skills like "patients," "customer service," "vital signs," and "cpr." But an intensive in-home counselor might use skills, such as, "family therapy," "intensive in-home," "discharge planning," and "at-risk youth."

On average, intensives in-home counselor earn a higher salary than mental health associates. There are industries that support higher salaries in each profession respectively. Interestingly enough, intensives in-home counselor earn the most pay in the utilities industry with an average salary of $56,398. Whereas, mental health associates have higher paychecks in the professional industry where they earn an average of $37,746.

When it comes to the differences in education between the two professions, intensives in-home counselor tend to reach higher levels of education than mental health associates. In fact, they're 11.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Let's now take a look at the residence counselor profession. On average, these workers make lower salaries than mental health associates with a $1,579 difference per year.

While looking through the resumes of several mental health associates and residence counselors we discovered that both professions have similar skills. These similarities include skills such as "patients," "vital signs," and "cpr," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

There are many key differences between these two careers as shown by resumes from each profession. Some of those differences include the skills required to complete responsibilities within each role. As an example of this, a mental health associate is likely to be skilled in "customer service," "safety checks," "immunization," and "cpi," while a typical residence counselor is skilled in "developmental disabilities," "english language," "medication administration," and "cerebral palsy."

Residence counselors make a very good living in the education industry with an average annual salary of $35,988. Whereas mental health associates are paid the highest salary in the professional industry with the average being $37,746.

Residence counselors typically study at similar levels compared with mental health associates. For example, they're 1.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The fourth career we look at typically earns higher pay than mental health associates. On average, counselor interns earn a difference of $8,990 higher per year.

According to resumes from both mental health associates and counselor interns, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "crisis intervention," "anger management," and "mental illness. "

Each job requires different skills like "patients," "customer service," "vital signs," and "cpr," which might show up on a mental health associate resume. Whereas counselor internship might include skills like "intake assessments," "substance abuse issues," "family therapy," and "cognitive behavioral therapy."

Counselor interns earn a higher salary in the finance industry with an average of $51,629. Whereas, mental health associates earn the highest salary in the professional industry.

Counselor interns reach higher levels of education when compared to mental health associates. The difference is that they're 6.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree more, and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.