Mental Health Counselors
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.
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Mental Health Counselors. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $38,940 | $18.72 |
| 25th | $47,100 | $22.65 |
| 50th · Median | $59,350 | $28.53 |
| 75th | $76,530 | $36.80 |
| 90th | $97,590 | $46.92 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Expand more title examples (24)
Typical tasks
- 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.
- Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.
- Perform crisis interventions to help ensure the safety of the patients and others.
- Fill out and maintain client-related paperwork, including federal- and state-mandated forms, client diagnostic records, and progress notes.
- Assess patients for risk of suicide attempts.
Expand more tasks (21)
- Perform crisis interventions with clients.
- Guide clients in the development of skills or strategies for dealing with their problems.
- Prepare and maintain all required treatment records and reports.
- Develop and implement treatment plans based on clinical experience and knowledge.
- Collect information about clients through interviews, observation, or tests.
- Modify treatment activities or approaches as needed to comply with changes in clients' status.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of counseling programs on clients' progress in resolving identified problems and moving towards defined objectives.
- Evaluate clients' physical or mental condition, based on review of client information.
- Supervise other counselors, social service staff, assistants, or graduate students.
- Discuss with individual patients their plans for life after leaving therapy.
- Refer patients, clients, or family members to community resources or to specialists as necessary.
- Act as client advocates to coordinate required services or to resolve emergency problems in crisis situations.
- Collaborate with mental health professionals and other staff members to perform clinical assessments or develop treatment plans.
- Learn about new developments in counseling by reading professional literature, attending courses and seminars, or establishing and maintaining contact with other social service agencies.
- Plan, organize, or lead structured programs of counseling, work, study, recreation, or social activities for clients.
- Gather information about community mental health needs or resources that could be used in conjunction with therapy.
- Monitor clients' use of medications.
- Counsel family members to assist them in understanding, dealing with, or supporting clients or patients.
- Plan or conduct programs to prevent substance abuse or improve community health or counseling services.
- Meet with families, probation officers, police, or other interested parties to exchange necessary information during the treatment process.
- Coordinate or direct employee workshops, courses, or training about mental health issues.
Skills used in this work
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Expand more skills (29)
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
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