Mental health professional vs therapist

The differences between mental health professionals and therapists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a therapist has an average salary of $55,943, 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 therapist are social work, patients, and group therapy sessions.

Mental health professional vs therapist overview

	Mental Health Professional	Therapist
Yearly salary	$49,119	$55,943
Hourly rate	$23.61	$26.90
Growth rate	9%	17%
Number of jobs	109,499	159,770
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age	45	41
Years of experience	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 therapist do?

A therapist is responsible for improving the patients' health conditions by evaluating their needs and providing physical and mental support. Therapists are licensed, medical professionals who specialize in different areas to perform treatments and bring relief to patients. Some of their duties include diagnosing patient's problems, performing counseling services, monitoring medication progress, customizing therapy activities for pain management, and consulting other health professionals as needed. Therapists must have extensive knowledge with the medical industry to detect patients' conditions easily and provide effective medications.

Mental health professional vs therapist salary

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

	Mental Health Professional	Therapist
Average salary	$49,119	$55,943
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $70,000	Between $39,000 And $80,000
Highest paying City	Cupertino, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Wellpath	Childhelp
Best paying industry	Finance	Government

Differences between mental health professional and therapist education

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

	Mental Health Professional	Therapist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Psychology	Psychology
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	California State University - Long Beach

Mental health professional vs therapist demographics

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

	Mental Health Professional	Therapist
Average age	45	41
Gender ratio	Male, 26.2% Female, 73.8%	Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6%
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, 4.0% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 11.3% White, 72.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	15%	12%

Differences between mental health professional and therapist 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.

Show more

Therapist example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator and BiPAP's and create or update care plans per patient needs.
Demonstrate working knowledge of community mental health services identify in the Medicaid guidelines and attain contractual outcomes within designate time frames.
Provide on-call crisis intervention as well as standard treatment, rehabilitation and support services with some interventions requiring specialize therapy services.
Develop and implement an effective curriculum of DBT inform group and art therapy classes specifically tailor for chemically dependent patients.
Provide trauma-inform individual psychotherapy, TREM group treatment protocol, and EMDR.
Utilize current brain base therapeutic techniques to teach clients adaptive skills to utilize in daily lives.

Show more

Mental health professional vs therapist skills

Common mental health professional skills

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

Common therapist skills

Social Work, 23%
Patients, 12%
Group Therapy Sessions, 8%
Crisis Intervention, 7%
Mental Health, 4%
Patient Care, 3%

Mental Health Professional vs. similar jobs

Mental Health Professional related careers

Mental Health Professional related jobs

What similar roles do

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse community and social services jobs

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z