Mental health professional vs clinician

The differences between mental health professionals and clinicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a mental health professional and a clinician. Additionally, a clinician has an average salary of $60,150, which is higher than the $49,119 average annual salary of a mental health professional.

The top three skills for a mental health professional include social work, patients and CPR. The most important skills for a clinician are social work, patients, and patient care.

Mental health professional vs clinician overview

	Mental Health Professional	Clinician
Yearly salary	$49,119	$60,150
Hourly rate	$23.61	$28.92
Growth rate	9%	9%
Number of jobs	109,499	105,023
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	4	4

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.

What does a clinician do?

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.

Mental health professional vs clinician salary

Mental health professionals and clinicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Mental Health Professional	Clinician
Average salary	$49,119	$60,150
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $70,000	Between $34,000 And $103,000
Highest paying City	Cupertino, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	Nevada
Best paying company	Wellpath	Pace University
Best paying industry	Finance	-

Differences between mental health professional and clinician education

There are a few differences between a mental health professional and a clinician in terms of educational background:

	Mental Health Professional	Clinician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Most common major	Psychology	Psychology
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	California State University - Long Beach

Mental health professional vs clinician demographics

Here are the differences between mental health professionals' and clinicians' demographics:

	Mental Health Professional	Clinician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 26.2% Female, 73.8%	Male, 24.3% Female, 75.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 3.1% White, 74.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 3.1% White, 74.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	15%	15%

Differences between mental health professional and clinician duties and responsibilities

Mental health professional example 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.

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Clinician example responsibilities.

Perform thorough substance abuse assessments incorporating instruments such as ASAM, SASSI and urine drug screens; provide individual therapy.
Spearhead the development of rehabilitation programs serving adults with chemical dependency and mental health diagnoses with the manager.
Follow all ethical CARF standards when treating the residential client.
Facilitate stabilization, assessment, care and compassion for those in critical need.
Provide CBT and motivational interviewing for individual and group therapy to clients' who are on methadone.
Used motivational interviewing to lead recovery and therapy groups for IOP and PHP programs in the evenings and on weekends.

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Mental health professional vs clinician skills

Common mental health professional skills

Social Work, 20%
Patients, 19%
CPR, 7%
Excellent Interpersonal, 6%
Clinical Supervision, 5%
Clinical Documentation, 5%

Common clinician skills

Social Work, 26%
Patients, 14%
Patient Care, 4%
Individual Therapy, 4%
Mental Health, 4%
Mental Illness, 3%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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