Mental Health Counselors
Also known as: Behavior Analyst, Behavioral Health Clinician, Behavioral Health Consultant (+31 more)
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.
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What You'll 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.
Essential Skills
Career Fit Overview
Use this summary to understand the kind of profile this role rewards. It helps you judge whether this career looks like a stronger match than your current role, a nearby move worth exploring, or a broader path to compare more seriously.
Top passions
- Helper: Supporting people and making a difference matters to you.
- Analyst: Investigating problems and finding patterns keeps you engaged.
- Organizer: Bringing order to data and processes satisfies you.
Common styles
Empathy, Cooperation, Sincerity, Dependability, Stress Tolerance
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Key Abilities
This career demands strong capabilities in the following areas:
Technologies & Tools
Work Environment & Strengths
Common Strengths for This Career
- Empathy (High importance: 5.0/5)
- Cooperation (High importance: 4.97/5)
- Sincerity (High importance: 4.93/5)
- Dependability (High importance: 4.81/5)
- Stress Tolerance (High importance: 4.7/5)
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This career requires extensive preparation, typically including a graduate degree (Master's or Doctoral) and several years of experience. Most professionals in this field have invested significant time in education and training.
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Also Known As
This career is known by many different job titles across industries. Here are all the variations:
Career Fit FAQs
Is this career a good fit for me
This page shows the role itself. To see personal fit, use the assessment to compare your interests, motivations, and strengths against this career and against the role you are in now.
Can this help if I want to stay in my field
Yes. Many people use career pages like this to compare nearby roles in the same field and see whether they need a full switch or a better-fit version of the work they already know.
What should I compare first
Start with the daily tasks, the preparation level, and the work-style signals on this page. Then use the assessment to see whether this role looks like a stronger fit than your current role or just a different title.
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