Post job

Senior therapist vs behavioral therapist

The differences between senior therapists and behavioral therapists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a senior therapist, becoming a behavioral therapist takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a senior therapist has an average salary of $63,963, which is higher than the $37,881 average annual salary of a behavioral therapist.

The top three skills for a senior therapist include social work, autism and mental health. The most important skills for a behavioral therapist are autism, social work, and behavior analysis.

Senior therapist vs behavioral therapist overview

Senior TherapistBehavioral Therapist
Yearly salary$63,963$37,881
Hourly rate$30.75$18.21
Growth rate14%14%
Number of jobs68,06491,976
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 53%Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Average age4139
Years of experience46

What does a senior therapist do?

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.

What does a behavioral therapist do?

A behavioral therapist is responsible for supporting patients with various developmental disorders and behavioral difficulties. Behavioral therapists conduct counseling to the patients, identifying their personal and social challenges, and administering treatment plans to modify unusual behaviors. They also coordinate with other medical professionals to plan activities and therapy sessions for patients' needs. A behavioral therapist maintains a record of the patients' progress, help them on developing social engagement, and adjust treatment strategies depending on the patients' noticeable changes.

Senior therapist vs behavioral therapist salary

Senior therapists and behavioral therapists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior TherapistBehavioral Therapist
Average salary$63,963$37,881
Salary rangeBetween $44,000 And $91,000Between $27,000 And $51,000
Highest paying CityNew York, NYNew York, NY
Highest paying statePennsylvaniaNew York
Best paying companyMontage HealthGeorge C. Grape Community Hospital
Best paying industryEnergyEnergy

Differences between senior therapist and behavioral therapist education

There are a few differences between a senior therapist and a behavioral therapist in terms of educational background:

Senior TherapistBehavioral Therapist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 53%Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Most common majorPsychologyPsychology
Most common collegeCalifornia State University - Long BeachCalifornia State University - Long Beach

Senior therapist vs behavioral therapist demographics

Here are the differences between senior therapists' and behavioral therapists' demographics:

Senior TherapistBehavioral Therapist
Average age4139
Gender ratioMale, 26.0% Female, 74.0%Male, 23.6% Female, 76.4%
Race ratioBlack 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, 11.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 15.4% Asian, 4.6% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage6%12%

Differences between senior therapist and behavioral therapist duties and responsibilities

Senior therapist example responsibilities.

  • Manage and target behaviors using the ESDM, ABA, PRT and SCERTS model.
  • Function as a case manager, co-le group therapy and provide psychiatrist supervise individual therapy to adolescent patients.
  • Work with children, adolescents, adults, couples and families.
  • Produce detailed quarterly reports on each student, used in IEP meetings to assess student's progress.
  • Collaborate with parents, teachers, and other professionals on the implementation of programs, and attend IEP meetings.
  • Implement one on one behavioral intervention programs in the homes of children with autism while using apply behavioral analysis therapy.
  • Show more

Behavioral therapist example responsibilities.

  • Manage behavioral program for each client assign (CPI training).
  • Modele self-help and independent skills to assist autistic and developmentally delay children achieving their establish goals.
  • Assist the BCBA in assessing new clients, supervising line therapists, providing parent training, and formulating client specific programs.
  • Analyze and interpret results through graphing data collect from individual sessions.
  • Work collaboratively with BCBA's and direct line staff to ensure care plan and procedures are being implement consistently and uniformly.
  • Communicate with school administration, school teacher's and teaching assistants with helping create IEP's and behavior plans for individuals.
  • Show more

Senior therapist vs behavioral therapist skills

Common senior therapist skills
  • Social Work, 12%
  • Autism, 9%
  • Mental Health, 8%
  • Patients, 8%
  • Behavior Analysis, 7%
  • ABA, 5%
Common behavioral therapist skills
  • Autism, 15%
  • Social Work, 12%
  • Behavior Analysis, 11%
  • Patients, 10%
  • Provide ABA, 6%
  • Applied Behavior Analysis, 5%

Browse community and social services jobs