What Does a Mental Health Practitioner Do?

In this section, we compare the average mental health practitioner annual salary with that of a clinician. Typically, clinicians earn a $9,522 higher salary than mental health practitioners earn annually.

Even though mental health practitioners and clinicians have vast differences in their careers, a few of the skills required to do both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require social work, patients, and mental health in the day-to-day roles.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A mental health practitioner responsibility is more likely to require skills like "family therapy," "in-home," "substance abuse," and "persistent mental illness." Whereas a clinician requires skills like "patient care," "mental illness," "clinical services," and "clinical supervision." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

The education levels that clinicians earn is a bit different than that of mental health practitioners. In particular, clinicians are 10.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a mental health practitioner. Additionally, they're 1.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The next role we're going to look at is the vocational rehabilitation counselor profession. Typically, this position earns a lower pay. In fact, they earn a $4,757 lower salary than mental health practitioners per year.

Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Mental health practitioners and vocational rehabilitation counselors both include similar skills like "social work," "mental health," and "rehabilitation" on their resumes.

But both careers also use different skills, according to real mental health practitioner resumes. While mental health practitioner responsibilities can utilize skills like "patients," "family therapy," "in-home," and "autism," some vocational rehabilitation counselors use skills like "transferable," "plan development," "vocational assessments," and "vocational rehabilitation."

Vocational rehabilitation counselors may earn a lower salary than mental health practitioners, but vocational rehabilitation counselors earn the most pay in the non profits industry with an average salary of $51,785. On the other side of things, mental health practitioners receive higher paychecks in the non profits industry where they earn an average of $55,825.

In general, vocational rehabilitation counselors study at higher levels of education than mental health practitioners. They're 5.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The third profession we take a look at is assessment specialist. On an average scale, these workers bring in higher salaries than mental health practitioners. In fact, they make a $13,774 higher salary per year.

By looking over several mental health practitioners and assessment specialists resumes, we found that both roles utilize similar skills, such as "social work," "patients," and "mental health." But beyond that the careers look very different.

As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from mental health practitioners resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "family therapy," "in-home," "autism," and "substance abuse." But a assessment specialist might have skills like "worksheets," "edition," "professional development," and "mental health assessments."

Interestingly enough, assessment specialists earn the most pay in the technology industry, where they command an average salary of $71,059. As mentioned previously, mental health practitioners highest annual salary comes from the non profits industry with an average salary of $55,825.

Assessment specialists are known to earn similar educational levels when compared to mental health practitioners. Additionally, they're 4.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The fourth career we look at typically earns higher pay than mental health practitioners. On average, school social workers earn a difference of $4,228 higher per year.

According to resumes from both mental health practitioners and school social workers, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "social work," "mental health," and "family therapy. "

While some skills are shared by these professions, there are some differences to note. "patients," "rehabilitation," "in-home," and "therapeutic interventions" are skills that have shown up on mental health practitioners resumes. Additionally, school social worker uses skills like social emotional, professional development, behavioral issues, and child abuse on their resumes.

School social workers earn a higher salary in the education industry with an average of $53,660. Whereas, mental health practitioners earn the highest salary in the non profits industry.

In general, school social workers reach higher levels of education when compared to mental health practitioners resumes. School social workers are 20.9% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.9% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.