What Does a Mental Health Nurse Do?

In this section, we take a look at the annual salaries of other professions. Take therapist for example. On average, the therapists annual salary is $50,869 lower than what mental health nurses make on average every year.

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

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A mental health nurse responsibility is more likely to require skills like "psychiatric mental," "pmhnp," "medication management," and "cpr." Whereas a therapist requires skills like "patient care," "therapeutic services," "therapy services," and "substance abuse issues." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

Therapists really shine in the government industry with an average salary of $55,972. Whereas mental health nurses tend to make the most money in the government industry with an average salary of $113,936.

The education levels that therapists earn is a bit different than that of mental health nurses. In particular, therapists are 24.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a mental health nurse. Additionally, they're 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The next role we're going to look at is the counselor/art therapist profession. Typically, this position earns a lower pay. In fact, they earn a $27,395 lower salary than mental health nurses per year.

A similarity between the two careers of mental health nurses and counselor/art therapists are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "patients," "crisis intervention," and "veterans. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences that are worth noting. For example, mental health nurse responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "psychiatric mental," "pmhnp," "medication management," and "cpr." Meanwhile, a counselor/art therapist might be skilled in areas such as "diagnosis," "family therapy," "behavioral health," and "individual therapy." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

When it comes to the differences in education between the two professions, counselor/art therapists tend to reach higher levels of education than mental health nurses. In fact, they're 26.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The psychiatric technician profession generally makes a lower amount of money when compared to the average salary of mental health nurses. The difference in salaries is psychiatric technicians making $67,150 lower than mental health nurses.

While looking through the resumes of several mental health nurses and psychiatric technicians we discovered that both professions have similar skills. These similarities include skills such as "patients," "cpr," and "crisis intervention," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from mental health nurses resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "psychiatric mental," "pmhnp," "medication management," and "psychiatric services." But a psychiatric technician might have skills like "patient behavior," "restraints," "cpi," and "mental illness."

Psychiatric technicians make a very good living in the government industry with an average annual salary of $33,642. Whereas mental health nurses are paid the highest salary in the government industry with the average being $113,936.

When it comes to education, psychiatric technicians tend to earn lower education levels than mental health nurses. In fact, they're 9.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.5% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

The fourth career we look at typically earns lower pay than mental health nurses. On average, behavior technicians earn a difference of $68,786 lower per year.

While both mental health nurses and behavior technicians complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like patients, cpr, and crisis intervention, the two careers also vary in other skills.

Each job requires different skills like "psychiatric mental," "pmhnp," "medication management," and "substance abuse," which might show up on a mental health nurse resume. Whereas behavior technician might include skills like "applied behavior analysis," "behavior analysis," "bcba," and "developmental disabilities."

Behavior technicians earn a higher salary in the education industry with an average of $40,316. Whereas, mental health nurses earn the highest salary in the government industry.

Behavior technicians reach lower levels of education when compared to mental health nurses. The difference is that they're 6.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree less, and 1.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.