Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between senior therapists and behavior therapists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a senior therapist and a behavior therapist. Additionally, a senior therapist has an average salary of $63,963, which is higher than the $36,864 average annual salary of a behavior therapist.
The top three skills for a senior therapist include social work, autism and mental health. The most important skills for a behavior therapist are autism, applied behavior analysis, and behavior analysis.
| Senior Therapist | Behavior Therapist | |
| Yearly salary | $63,963 | $36,864 |
| Hourly rate | $30.75 | $17.72 |
| Growth rate | 14% | 14% |
| Number of jobs | 68,064 | 90,578 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Senior therapists lead and manage a facility's therapeutic program and work hand-in-hand with other facility team members to deliver, oversee, plan, and coordinate the therapeutic program. These professionals promote professional accountability, quality development, evaluation, clinical governance, and monitoring. Besides supervising community forums and similar activities, senior therapists also attend appropriate staff and clinical supervision meetings. They document and share with the clinical team the right therapeutic guidelines and processes to follow.
A behavior therapist is an individual psychologist who is responsible for helping patients with mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. Behavior therapists must equip patients with psychological tools to help them diminish unhealthy thoughts so that they can effectively deal with the challenges of their daily lives. They are required to devise problem-solving methods such as psychotherapy and counseling to help patients improve their quality of life. Behavior therapists must also collaborate with the families of their patients to help them overcome behavioral issues more effectively.
Senior therapists and behavior therapists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Therapist | Behavior Therapist | |
| Average salary | $63,963 | $36,864 |
| Salary range | Between $44,000 And $91,000 | Between $27,000 And $49,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Chicago, IL |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | Alabama |
| Best paying company | Montage Health | Regis College |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Education |
There are a few differences between a senior therapist and a behavior therapist in terms of educational background:
| Senior Therapist | Behavior Therapist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Psychology |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | California State University - Long Beach |
Here are the differences between senior therapists' and behavior therapists' demographics:
| Senior Therapist | Behavior Therapist | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 26.0% Female, 74.0% | Male, 19.5% Female, 80.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.0% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 13.9% Asian, 4.6% White, 68.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 7.0% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 13.9% Asian, 4.6% White, 68.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |