Activities	Counsel with emphasis on prevention. Work with individuals and groups to promote optimum mental health. May help individuals deal with addictions and substance abuse; family, parenting, and marital problems; suicide; stress management; problems with self-esteem; and issues associated with aging and mental and emotional health.
Outlook	Faster-than-average-job growth
Median Income	$39,710 per year in 2010
Work Context & Conditions	Mental health counselors usually work a standard 40-hour week. Self-employed counselors and those working in mental health and community agencies, such as substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors, often work evenings to counsel clients who work during the day.
Minimum Education Requirements	Master's Degree
Skills	Social Perceptiveness, Learning Strategies, Monitoring, Critical Thinking, Active Listening, Writing, Service Orientation, Negotiation, Time Management, Active Learning, Complex Problem Solving, Coordination, Reading Comprehension, Speaking
Abilities	Oral Expression, Speech Recognition, Deductive Reasoning, Problem Sensitivity, Written Comprehension, Speech Clarity, Inductive Reasoning, Written Expression, Oral Comprehension

Job Category		Community & Social Services
Job Description		Mental health counselors emphasize prevention, and work with individuals and groups to promote optimum mental health. They help individuals deal with addictions and substance abuse, suicidal impulses, stress management, problems with self-esteem, issues associated with aging, job and career concerns, educational decisions, issues related to mental and emotional health, and family, parenting, and marital problems. Mental health counselors work closely with other mental health specialists, including psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses, and school counselors.
Working Conditions		Mental health counselors usually work a standard 40-hour week. Self-employed counselors and those working in mental health and community agencies, such as substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors, often work evenings to counsel clients who work during the day. Counselors must possess high physical and emotional energy to handle the array of problems they address. Dealing daily with these problems can cause stress. Because privacy is essential for confidential and frank discussions with clients, counselors usually have private offices. Persons interested in counseling should have a strong interest in helping others and the ability to inspire respect, trust, and confidence. They should be able to work independently or as part of a team. Counselors follow the code of ethics associated with their respective certifications and licenses.
Salary Range		The median annual wage of mental health counselors was $38,150 in May 2010. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $24,180, and the top 10 percent earned more than $63,630. In May 2010, wages for mental health counselors in the industries employing the most mental health counselors were as follows: Local government - $46,590 Hospitals - $41,930 Outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers - $38,840 Individual and family services - $37,700 Residential mental health and substance abuse facilities - $30,260 The median annual wage of marriage and family therapists was $45,720 in May 2010. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $23,870, and the top 10 percent earned more than $72,280. In May 2010, wages for marriage and family therapists in the industries employing the most marriage and family therapists were as follows: State government - $56,320 Local government - $54,340 Outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers - $47,480 Offices of mental health practitioners (except physicians) - $46,800 Individual and family services - $42,150.

Education Required		All states require both mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists to have a master’s degree and a license to practice. A master’s degree in counseling or marriage and family therapy is required. A bachelor’s degree in most fields is acceptable to enter a master’s-level program. Counseling programs prepare students to recognize symptoms of mental and emotional disorders and to use effective counseling strategies. Marriage and family therapy programs teach students about how marriages, families, and relationships function and how they affect mental and emotional disorders. Both programs typically require a period of supervised experience, such as an internship.
Recommended High School Courses		Social Studies, Biology, Mathematics, English, Communications
Postsecondary Instructional Programs		Psychology, Education and Training, Therapy and Counseling, Customer and Personal Service, Education and Training
Certification and Licensing		Mental health counselors must be licensed. Licensure requires a master’s degree and 2,000 to 4,000 hours of supervised clinical experience. In addition, counselors must pass a state-recognized exam and complete annual continuing education classes. Contact information for state regulating boards is available through the National Board for Certified Counselors. Marriage and family therapists must be licensed. Licensure requires a master’s degree and 2 years of supervised clinical experience. Like counselors, marriage and family therapists must pass a state-recognized exam and complete annual continuing education classes. Contact information for state regulating boards is available through the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards.

Interest Area		Social Involves working and communicating with, helping, and teaching people.
Work Values		Achievement Get a feeling of accomplishment. Social Service Do things for other people. Security Have steady employment. Ability Utilization Make use of individual abilities. Activity Busy all the time. Autonomy Plan work with little supervision. Responsibility Make decisions on your own.
Skills		Social Perceptiveness Be aware of others' reactions and understand why they react the way they do. Learning Strategies Use multiple approaches when learning or teaching new things. Monitoring Assess how well someone is doing when learning or doing something. Critical Thinking Use logic and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Active Listening Listen to what other people are saying and ask questions as appropriate. Writing Communicate effectively with others in writing as indicated by the needs of the audience. Service Orientation Actively look for ways to help people. Negotiation Bring others together and trying to reconcile differences. Time Management Manage one's own time and the time of others. Active Learning Work with new material or information to grasp its implications. Complex Problem Solving Solving novel, ill-defined problems in complex, real-world settings. Coordination Adjust actions in relation to others' actions. Reading Comprehension Understand written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. Speaking Talk to others to effectively convey information.
Abilities		Oral Expression Able to convey information and ideas through speech in ways that others will understand. Speech Recognition Identify and understand the speech of another person Deductive Reasoning Able to apply general rules to specific problems to come up with logical answers, including deciding whether an answer makes sense. Problem Sensitivity Able to tell when something is wrong or likely to go wrong. This doesn't involve solving the problem, just recognizing that there is a problem. Written Comprehension Able to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. Speech Clarity Able to speak clearly so listeners understand. Inductive Reasoning Able to combine separate pieces of information, or specific answers to problems, to form general rules or conclusions. This includes coming up with a logical explanation for why seemingly unrelated events occur together. Written Expression Able to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand. Oral Comprehension Able to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Related Jobs		Therapist, Recreational, Therapist, Physical, Social Worker, Child, Family, and School, Therapist, Occupational
Job Outlook		Employment of mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists is expected to grow by 37 percent from 2010 to 2020, much faster than the average for all occupations. Employment of mental health counselors is expected to grow by 36 percent from 2010 to 2020, much faster than the average for all occupations. Employment of marriage and family therapists is expected to grow by 41 percent over the same period, much faster than the average for all occupations. Insurance companies increasingly provide for reimbursement of counselors and marriage and family therapists as a less costly alternative to psychiatrists and psychologists. People seeking mental health treatment are more likely to see a mental health counselor or a marriage and family therapist over other providers. Furthermore, more people are expected to seek treatment for problems with mental and emotional problems than in earlier decades. As the population grows, the number of individuals entering therapy is expected to increase as well. This trend will cause a continued demand for counselors in mental health centers, hospitals, and colleges.
More Information		American Counseling Association, National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc.
References		Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition, Mental Health Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/mental-health-counselors-and-marriage-and-family-therapists.htm O*NET OnLine, on the Internet at http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/21-1014.00