Overview

For more information on careers in this field, click on the appropriate profession(s) in the Career Explorer section of this site.

Mental health is a broad field with a wide range of career choices.  In general, it involves counseling patients or clients in order to promote their optimum mental health, with an emphasis upon prevention. 

Working with individuals and/or groups of all ages, health professionals in this field help children, adolescents and adults deal with a variety of life stresses and problems, including addiction/substance abuse; problems with self-esteem; aging-related mental health issues; family, parenting or marital problems; grief, anger, or depression; and other emotional or behavioral issues. 

Some mental health practitioners – specifically, professional counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and psychiatric nurses – hold advanced degrees with special training in brain function and human behavior. These professionals help patients with clinically diagnosed mental illness and emotional problems, and their approach to care may be purely medical, psycho-therapeutic, psycho-social, or a combination of therapies. 

The mental health field encompasses a variety of professions, each of which has a number of different career avenues:

• Professional Counselor.  Professional counselors provide mental health and substance abuse care to millions of Americans nationwide.  These master’s-level professionals work in partnership with individuals, families and groups to treat a wide assortment of mental, behavioral and emotional problems and disorders.  The counseling profession as a whole utilizes mental health, psychological and human development principles to address issues of wellness, personal growth and career development, in addition to pathology.  Although professional counselors are employed by a variety of organizations across a wide range of work environments, they make up an especially large percentage of the workforce in community health centers and agencies.  They are both employed in and covered by managed care organizations and health plans.  In addition, many professional counselors operate private practices.  In some states, professional counselors are known by the title licensed professional counselor or licensed mental health counselor.
• Pscyhologist - hold a Ph.D. and may choose to be counseling psychologists, who help people cope with everyday life issues, or clinical psychologists, who work in more clinical settings, hospitals, criminal justice, etc.

• Psychiatrist - are advanced-practice M.D.s. They evaluate a patient’s mental condition in conjunction with his/her physical condition.  In many states, only psychiatrists and other M.D.s can prescribe medications to treat mental illness.

• Psychiatric Nurse

• Social Worker

You can download, save and print a PDF of this overview:

Mental Health Overview 14 May 2008 [pdf, 192 KB]

NOTE: 

This overview has been reviewed and approved by the American Counseling Association.

Career Spotlight

Social Worker

Social workers are a diverse group of skilled professionals who help people function as best they can, given the challenges of their personal situation or environment.

Salary: $29,100 - $49,500 [*]

Years in school: 4 - 10 after high school graduation

Job outlook: Excellent

Learn more

Careers in This Field