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How to hire a mental health professional

Mental health professional hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring mental health professionals in the United States:

  • The median cost to hire a mental health professional is $1,633.
  • It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
  • HR departments typically allocate 15% of their budget towards recruitment efforts.
  • Small businesses spend $1,105 per mental health professional on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
  • It takes approximately 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
  • There are a total of 37,111 mental health professionals in the US, and there are currently 109,499 job openings in this field.
  • Charleston, SC, has the highest demand for mental health professionals, with 32 job openings.

How to hire a mental health professional, step by step

To hire a mental health professional, you should create an ideal candidate profile, determine a budget, and post and promote your job. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hire a mental health professional:

Here's a step-by-step mental health professional hiring guide:

  • Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
  • Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
  • Step 3: Make a budget
  • Step 4: Write a mental health professional job description
  • Step 5: Post your job
  • Step 6: Interview candidates
  • Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new mental health professional
  • Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a mental health professional do?

The duties of a mental health professional will revolve around observing the behavior of patients. They are responsible for knowing their medical history, conducting consultations and assessments, diagnosing conditions, devising particular treatments and prescribing medication, and providing emotional support to patients. Furthermore, a mental health professional must coordinate with families and other mental health experts to monitor patients' behavior and develop care plans to help them in their road to recovery.

Learn more about the specifics of what a mental health professional does
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  1. Identify your hiring needs

    First, determine the employments status of the mental health professional you need to hire. Certain mental health professional roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

    Determine employee vs contractor status
    Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

    You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a mental health professional to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a mental health professional that fits the bill.

    The following list breaks down different types of mental health professionals and their corresponding salaries.

    Type of Mental Health ProfessionalDescriptionHourly rate
    Mental Health ProfessionalSocial workers help people solve and cope with problems in their everyday lives. One group of social workers—clinical social workers—also diagnose and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional issues.$16-33
    Family TherapistA Family Therapist works with couples and families to help ameliorate marital and family issues. They can work in hospitals, treatment programs, government agencies, health organizations, and private practices.$17-32
    ClinicianA 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... Show more$16-49
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common skills:
    • Social Work
    • Patients
    • CPR
    • Excellent Interpersonal
    • Clinical Supervision
    • Clinical Documentation
    • Mental Health
    • Mental Health Issues
    • Crisis Intervention
    • Mental Health Treatment
    • Direct Care
    • Discharge Planning
    • Individual Therapy
    • Substance Abuse
    Check all skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Lead training for staff on specific counseling interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders.
    • Monitor and manage preventative behavior with 2-3 MHA'S team and carry out a constructive routine with patients.
    • Provide individual treatment using CBT, DBT and motivational interviewing techniques to detainees with mental health and/or behavioral concerns.
    • Develop curriculum for and facilitate mental health groups including DBT education.
    • Provide comprehensive, recovery orient mental health skill building and support to patients with psychiatric disorder, including co-occurring diagnosis
    • Work with children and families as a psycho-social rehabilitation provider and qualify medical health assistant.
    More mental health professional duties
  3. Make a budget

    Including a salary range in your mental health professional job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A mental health professional salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

    For example, the average salary for a mental health professional in Kentucky may be lower than in California, and an entry-level mental health professional usually earns less than a senior-level mental health professional. Additionally, a mental health professional with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

    Average mental health professional salary

    $49,119yearly

    $23.61 hourly rate

    Entry-level mental health professional salary
    $34,000 yearly salary
    Updated December 16, 2025

    Average mental health professional salary by state

    RankStateAvg. salaryHourly rate
    1California$89,683$43
    2Utah$61,191$29
    3Washington$60,736$29
    4Minnesota$56,720$27
    5New York$53,527$26
    6New Mexico$52,331$25
    7Oregon$51,928$25
    8Illinois$50,165$24
    9Texas$48,285$23
    10Maryland$46,427$22
    11Louisiana$43,213$21
    12Missouri$42,793$21
    13Kansas$42,788$21
    14Virginia$41,325$20
    15Pennsylvania$39,590$19
    16Alabama$39,530$19
    17South Carolina$38,214$18
    18Kentucky$37,948$18
    19Nebraska$34,776$17

    Average mental health professional salary by company

    RankCompanyAverage salaryHourly rateJob openings
    1Wellpath$88,842$42.71244
    2CVS Health$87,487$42.06185
    3Favorite Healthcare Staffing$72,648$34.93
    4ATC Healthcare$66,819$32.1228
    5Nebraska Methodist Health System$65,038$31.273
    6Loudoun County Social Svc$64,788$31.15
    7Maxim Healthcare Group$64,673$31.0956
    8PHMC$61,482$29.563
    9Acadia Healthcare$61,428$29.53177
    10Mount Aloysius College$61,426$29.53
    11GPAC$59,654$28.68
    12Travis County$59,212$28.471
    13Chicago Public Schools$58,994$28.361
    14Multicare Companies Inc.$58,794$28.2729
    15Wilder Foundation$58,426$28.092
    16DESC$58,250$28.001
    17Skagit County$58,080$27.92
    18El Paso County$57,947$27.861
    19Hemet Unified School District$57,787$27.78
    20Wexford Health Sources$57,321$27.5610
  4. Writing a mental health professional job description

    A good mental health professional job description should include a few things:

    • Summary of the role
    • List of responsibilities
    • Required skills and experience

    Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a mental health professional job description:

    Mental health professional job description example

    Pay: $84,000/annual salary

    A few of your primary duties include:

    • Develop and implement treatment and therapeutic programs for identified detainees;
    • Assist in managing the detainee population including the application of crisis intervention techniques to include suicide prevention, recognizing abnormal behavior, and taking appropriate action to prevent or diffuse potentially disruptive situations;
    • Conduct assessments and evaluations to determine needs, establish goals and develop plans; make referrals to other professionals for other services;
    • Prepare progress reports; provide recommendations regarding discharge plans; make case presentations; and assist administrative and medical staff in development of statistical reports.

    Education & Experience Requirements: Master's degree in marriage and family therapy, psychology or counseling or clinical social work required. Current license in counseling specialty (LPC, LISW, LMFT, etc.). Two (2) years previous work experience preferred.

    WHAT WE OFFER

    Career Advancement through training and development. At MTC, you can have a good job that can grow into a career. Just ask our executive team, ALL of whom have come from one of our sites!

    Financial Security through competitive wages, affordable health, dental, and prescription drug insurance, 401k, and education tuition assistance.

    Work/Life balance in the form paid time off, paid holidays, and flexible schedules and shifts where possible.

    Stability with strong leadership, financial performance and history of being active in all the communities in which we find ourselves.

    Robust benefits package - Our team members enjoy competitive wages, affordable health, dental, and prescription drug insurance, education and tuition assistance, paid time off, 10 paid holidays, flexible schedules, 401(k) with company match, and a chance to make a difference every day!

    Management & Training Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer: Minority/Female/Disability/Veteran

  5. Post your job

    There are various strategies that you can use to find the right mental health professional for your business:

    • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
    • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
    • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
    • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.
    Post your job online:
    • Post your mental health professional job on Zippia to find and recruit mental health professional candidates who meet your exact specifications.
    • Use field-specific websites.
    • Post a job on free websites.
  6. Interview candidates

    Recruiting mental health professionals requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

    You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

    The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

  7. Send a job offer and onboard your new mental health professional

    Once you've decided on a perfect mental health professional candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

    It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

    After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new mental health professional. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

  8. Go through the hiring process checklist

    • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
    • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
    • Define job responsibilities and requirements
    • Establish budget and timeline
    • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
    • Write job description
    • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
    • Promote the job internally
    • Process applications through applicant tracking system
    • Review resumes and cover letters
    • Shortlist candidates for screening
    • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
    • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
    • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
    • Conduct background checks on top candidates
    • Check references of top candidates
    • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
    • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
    • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
    • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
    • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
    • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire a mental health professional?

Before you start to hire mental health professionals, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire mental health professionals pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

Mental health professionals earn a median yearly salary is $49,119 a year in the US. However, if you're looking to find mental health professionals for hire on a contract or per-project basis, hourly rates typically range between $16 and $33.

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