Mental Health Counselor Counsel and advise individuals and groups to promote optimum mental and emotional health, with an emphasis on prevention. May help individuals deal with a broad range of mental health issues, such as those associated with addictions and substance abuse; family, parenting, and marital problems; stress management; self-esteem; or aging.
Mental Health Counselor is Also Know as
In different settings, Mental Health Counselor is titled as
- Behavior Analyst
- Behavior Support Specialist (BSS)
- Case Manager
- Clinician
- Counselor
- Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
- Mental Health Counselor
- Mental Health Program Specialist
- Mental Health Specialist
- Mental Health Therapist
Education and Training of Mental Health Counselor
Mental Health Counselor is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Mental Health Counselor
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Education Required for Mental Health Counselor
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Degrees Related to Mental Health Counselor
- Bachelor in Counseling Psychology
- Associate Degree Courses in Counseling Psychology
- Masters Degree Courses in Counseling Psychology
- Bachelor in Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling
- Associate Degree Courses in Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling
- Masters Degree Courses in Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling
- Bachelor in Clinical/Medical Social Work
- Associate Degree Courses in Clinical/Medical Social Work
- Masters Degree Courses in Clinical/Medical Social Work
- Bachelor in Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling
- Associate Degree Courses in Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling
- Masters Degree Courses in Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling
- Bachelor in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor
- Associate Degree Courses in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor
- Masters Degree Courses in Mental Health Counseling/Counselor
- Bachelor in Trauma Counseling
- Associate Degree Courses in Trauma Counseling
- Masters Degree Courses in Trauma Counseling
Training Required for Mental Health Counselor
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Mental Health Counselor in different industries are
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Healthcare Social Workers
- Rehabilitation Counselors
- Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
- Child, Family, and School Social Workers
- Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors
- Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
- Social and Human Service Assistants
- Psychiatrists
- Psychiatric Technicians
- Psychiatric Aides
- Recreational Therapists
- Community Health Workers
- Clinical Neuropsychologists
- Emergency Medicine Physicians
- Occupational Therapists
- Occupational Therapy Aides
- Health Education Specialists
- Occupational Therapy Assistants
What Do Mental Health Counselor do?
- Maintain confidentiality of records relating to clients' treatment.
- Encourage clients to express their feelings and discuss what is happening in their lives, helping them to develop insight into themselves or their relationships.
- Guide clients in the development of skills or strategies for dealing with their problems.
- Prepare and maintain all required treatment records and reports.
- Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.
- Collect information about clients through interviews, observation, or tests.
- Act as client advocates to coordinate required services or to resolve emergency problems in crisis situations.
- Develop and implement treatment plans based on clinical experience and knowledge.
- Evaluate clients' physical or mental condition, based on review of client information.
- Meet with families, probation officers, police, or other interested parties to exchange necessary information during the treatment process.
- Refer patients, clients, or family members to community resources or to specialists as necessary.
- Counsel family members to assist them in understanding, dealing with, or supporting clients or patients.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of counseling programs on clients' progress in resolving identified problems and moving towards defined objectives.
- Plan, organize, or lead structured programs of counseling, work, study, recreation, or social activities for clients.
- Modify treatment activities or approaches as needed to comply with changes in clients' status.
- Learn about new developments in counseling by reading professional literature, attending courses and seminars, or establishing and maintaining contact with other social service agencies.
- Discuss with individual patients their plans for life after leaving therapy.
- Gather information about community mental health needs or resources that could be used in conjunction with therapy.
- Monitor clients' use of medications.
- Plan or conduct programs to prevent substance abuse or improve community health or counseling services.
- Assess patients for risk of suicide attempts.
- Fill out and maintain client-related paperwork, including federal- and state-mandated forms, client diagnostic records, and progress notes.
- Supervise other counselors, social service staff, assistants, or graduate students.
- Coordinate or direct employee workshops, courses, or training about mental health issues.
- Perform crisis interventions with clients.
- Perform crisis interventions to help ensure the safety of the patients and others.
- Collaborate with mental health professionals and other staff members to perform clinical assessments or develop treatment plans.
Qualities of Good Mental Health Counselor
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Tools Used by Mental Health Counselor
- Desktop computers
- Digital medical thermometers
- Flatbed scanners
- Notebook computers
- Personal computers
- Sphygmomanometers
Technology Skills required for Mental Health Counselor
- Client information database systems
- Database software
- Email software
- Google Classroom
- Management information systems MIS
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Dynamics
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Internet Explorer
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- Netscape Navigator
- Office suite software
- Oracle PeopleSoft
- Patient electronic medical record EMR software
- Scheduling software
- Spreadsheet software
- Statistical software
- Test interpretation software
- Web browser software
- Word processing software