Clinical mental health counselors help clients work through a wide array of mental health conditions and disorders that affect them in their everyday lives, whether that has to do with stress, anxiety, depression, grief/trauma, addiction, relationship conflicts, and more. Mental health counselors help clients understand their challenges and learn new behaviors and coping methods that allow them to live happier and healthier lives.
What Areas Can Mental Health Counselors Specialize in?
When choosing an occupational path, there are many factors to explore when determining if a certain career is right fit for you, from daily schedules and routines to work environments to pay range and more. If you’re thinking of a career in mental health counseling, you should first get some key questions answered so you’re fully aware of what the job entails. We explore these questions and answers below.
What Do Mental Health Counselors Do?
Clinical mental health counselors help clients work through a wide array of mental health conditions and disorders that affect them in their everyday lives, whether that has to do with stress, anxiety, depression, grief/trauma, addiction, relationship conflicts, and more. Mental health counselors help clients understand their challenges and learn new behaviors and coping methods that allow them to live happier and healthier lives.
What Does a Mental Health Counselor’s Work Schedule Look Like?
While the majority of substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors work full-time hours, part-time work is also common in this field. Some work environments such as residential or inpatient facilities may allow for evening or weekend hours.
Private practice can provide greater flexibility in scheduling, allowing the mental health counselor to be in control of their own schedules (i.e., only seeing clients certain days of the week or during certain hours). It should be noted that private-practice mental health counselors typically need to set aside more time for administrative tasks, such as handling business paperwork and investing time in marketing their practices.
What Is the Typical Caseload for a Mental Health Counselor?
The number of clients that clinical mental health counselors see each week varies widely with some seeing 15-20 a week.
There is no true industry average, as caseload size can be determined by many factors such as specialty area (general counselors might see more patients than those who focus on an area like trauma counseling), level of experience (more experienced counselors may be more comfortable taking on more clients), whether the counselor works for an employer or runs their own practice (private-practice counselors may spend more hours completing administrative tasks), and how much time per week a counselors wants to spend working.
Because of the nature of the job (it can be mentally and emotionally draining work), it’s important for clinical mental health counselors to find a caseload that provides the right level of balance so they don’t experience burnout.
Where Do Mental Health Counselors Work?
Clinical mental health counselors can work in a wide array of settings, from private practices to
drug rehabilitation centers to nonprofit mental health clinics and more. Here are some of the
most common work environments for mental health counselors:
- Residential mental health and substance abuse centers
- Outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers
- Individual and family service agencies
- Private practice
- Hospitals and clinics
- Community organizations
- Nonprofits
- Employee assistance programs (EAPs)
- Correctional facilities
- Telemedicine
(Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, MedicalNewsToday, Healthline)
Which States Have the Most Mental Health Counselor Jobs?
There are a couple ways to think about the answer to this question. There are states with the highest mental health counselor employment numbers (focusing on the number of counselors employed) as well as states with the highest mental health counselor employment rates (the number of mental health counselors employed in relation to the state’s total employment base).
Here’s the breakdown, as provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
States with the Most Employed Mental Health Counselors
(Data is for the category of substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health
counselors)
| State | Employment 1 |
| California | 36,100 |
| New York | 22,810 |
| Pennsylvania | 20,680 |
| Massachusetts | 17,030 |
| Texas | 16, 830 |
1Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.
States with the Highest Concentration of Mental Health Counselor Jobs
(Data is for the category of substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health
counselors)
| State | Employment per thousand jobs |
| Massachusetts | 4.78 |
| Colorado | 4.71 |
| Alaska | 4.15 |
| Montana | 3.91 |
| Washington | 3.76 |
The First Step in Your Mental Health Counselor Career Path
If you’re interested in pursuing a career in mental health counseling, you will need to earn a master’s degree in a related field. West Coast University offers a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program that can teach you how to help people overcome their mental health challenges so they can cope, heal, and thrive.
WCU’s MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is available in both an online and blended format, with blended allowing for both online and in-person instruction. The program, which is taught by leaders in the counseling industry, can be completed in as little as 29 months.
Learn more about WCU’s mental health counseling master’s program.
WCU provides career guidance and assistance but cannot guarantee employment. The views and opinions expressed are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or position of the school or of any instructor or student.
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