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Therapist vs lead therapist

The differences between therapists and lead therapists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a lead therapist has an average salary of $75,043, which is higher than the $55,943 average annual salary of a therapist.

The top three skills for a therapist include social work, patients and group therapy sessions. The most important skills for a lead therapist are patients, social work, and crisis intervention.

Therapist vs lead therapist overview

TherapistLead Therapist
Yearly salary$55,943$75,043
Hourly rate$26.90$36.08
Growth rate17%17%
Number of jobs159,77096,115
Job satisfaction5-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 47%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age4141
Years of experience--

Therapist vs lead therapist salary

Therapists and lead therapists have different pay scales, as shown below.

TherapistLead Therapist
Average salary$55,943$75,043
Salary rangeBetween $39,000 And $80,000Between $45,000 And $124,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Jose, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyChildhelpUniversity of Maryland Medical System
Best paying industryGovernmentRetail

Differences between therapist and lead therapist education

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

TherapistLead Therapist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 47%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common majorPsychologyPsychology
Most common collegeCalifornia State University - Long BeachCalifornia State University - Long Beach

Therapist vs lead therapist demographics

Here are the differences between therapists' and lead therapists' demographics:

TherapistLead Therapist
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 24.4% Female, 75.6%Male, 29.7% Female, 70.3%
Race ratioBlack 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%Black or African American, 3.7% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 7.4% Asian, 11.4% White, 73.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage12%12%

Differences between therapist and lead therapist duties and responsibilities

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

Lead therapist example responsibilities.

  • Help manage meetings in IEP settings with school staff and other therapy providers.
  • Help am individuals with autism learn to communicate and manage undesire behavior.
  • Train line therapists on implementing treatment plans; using apply behavior analysis (ABA) techniques and procedures.
  • Provide in-home behavior treatment program employing apply behavior analysis techniques working with children diagnose with autism.
  • Collaborate with regular education teachers assign to ABA students.
  • Develop and organize individualize vision therapy programs for all patients and assist other therapist on their patient developmental programs.
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Therapist vs lead therapist skills

Common therapist skills
  • Social Work, 23%
  • Patients, 12%
  • Group Therapy Sessions, 8%
  • Crisis Intervention, 7%
  • Mental Health, 4%
  • Patient Care, 3%
Common lead therapist skills
  • Patients, 15%
  • Social Work, 13%
  • Crisis Intervention, 6%
  • Autism, 6%
  • ABA, 5%
  • Substance Abuse, 5%

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