Occupation Profile

Mental Health Counselors

(SOC Code : 21-1014)

in California

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. Exclude "Social Workers" (21-1021 through 21-1029), "Psychiatrists" (29-1066), and "Psychologists" (19-3031 through 19-3039).

Employers are usually looking for candidates with a Master's degree .

Occupational Wages

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Area	Year	Period	Hourly Mean	Hourly by Percentile
				25th	Median	75th
California	2012	1st Qtr	$23.72	$15.09	$19.95	$28.93

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Occupational Projections of Employment (also called "Outlook" or "Demand")

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Area	Estimated Year-Projected Year	Employment		Employment Change		Annual Avg Openings
		Estimated	Projected	Number	Percent
California	2010 - 2020	9,200	11,100	1,900	20.7	390

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Job Openings from JobCentral National Labor Exchange

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Enter a Zip Code Find a Zip code in California

Within miles of Zip Code.

Possible Licenses Required and Issuing Authority

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License Title

License Authority

Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), License

Department of Consumer Affairs
Board of Behavioral Sciences
www.bbs.ca.gov

Professional Clinical Counselor Intern (PCI), Registration

Department of Consumer Affairs
Board of Behavioral Sciences
www.bbs.ca.gov

About Licenses

Industries Employing This Occupation (click on Industry Title to View Employers List)

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Industry Title

Number of Employers in State of California

Percent of Total
Employment for Occupation in State of California

Residential Mental Health Facilities

23.2%

Individual and Family Services

18,414

15.9%

Outpatient Care Centers

6,487

10.9%

Offices of Other Health Practitioners

38,883

3.7%

Psychiatric & Substance Abuse Hospitals

1,228

2.6%

General Medical and Surgical Hospitals

1,393

1.7%

Other Residential Care Facilities

848

1.5%

About Staffing Patterns

Training Programs (click on title for more information)

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Program Title

Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling.

Clinical/Medical Social Work

Mental Health Counseling/Counselor

Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling

About Training & Apprenticeships

About This Occupation (from O*NET - The Occupation Information Network)

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Top Tasks (Specific duties and responsibilities of this job.)

Maintain confidentiality of records relating to clients` treatment.

Assess patients for risk of suicide attempts.

Encourage clients to express their feelings and discuss what is happening in their lives, helping them to develop insight into themselves or their relationships.

Collect information about clients through interviews, observation, or tests.

Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.

Guide clients in the development of skills or strategies for dealing with their problems.

Develop and implement treatment plans based on clinical experience and knowledge.

Fill out and maintain client-related paperwork, including federal- and state-mandated forms, client diagnostic records, and progress notes.

Prepare and maintain all required treatment records and reports.

Evaluate clients` physical or mental condition, based on review of client information.

More Tasks for Mental Health Counselors

Top Skills used in this Job

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.

Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.

Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

More Skills for Mental Health Counselors

Top Abilities (Attributes of the person that influence performance in this job.)

Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

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 there is a problem.

Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

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).

Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

More Abilities for Mental Health Counselors

Top Work Values (Aspects of this job that create satisfaction.)

Relationships - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Achievement - Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

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Top Interests (The types of activities someone in this job would like.)

Social - Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

More Interests for Mental Health Counselors