Overview & Salary

Overview

Assess and treat individuals with mental, emotional, or substance abuse problems, including abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and/or other drugs. Activities may include individual and group therapy, crisis intervention, case management, client advocacy, prevention, and education.

On the job, you would:

  • Counsel clients in individual or group sessions to assist them in dealing with substance abuse, mental or physical illness, poverty, unemployment, or physical abuse.
  • Collaborate with counselors, physicians, or nurses to plan or coordinate treatment, drawing on social work experience and patient needs.
  • Monitor, evaluate, and record client progress with respect to treatment goals.

Education

  • master's degree
  • bachelor's degree

Salary

Annual 10th percentile $37,150
Annual median $55,960
Annual 90th percentile $100,090

Knowledge & Skills

Knowledge

Health

  • therapy and counseling
  • medicine and dentistry

Math and Science

  • psychology
  • sociology and anthropology

Arts and Humanities

  • English language
  • philosophy and religion

Business

  • customer service

Skills

Basic Skills

  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • talking to others

Problem Solving

  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Social

  • understanding people's reactions
  • changing what is done based on other people's actions

Personality & Abilities

Personality

Social

People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking.

  • Concern for Others
  • Integrity
  • Self Control
  • Adaptability/Flexibility
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Dependability

Abilities

Verbal

  • listen and understand what people say
  • communicate by speaking

Ideas and Logic

  • notice when problems happen
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
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