Jobs / Education and social services / 21-1014.00
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.
- US jobs
- Not reported by BLS
- Job family
- Education and social services
Can agents do the work of mental health counselors?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Education and social services:
- Task levelUnexploredNo task-level benchmark in our collection tests teaching, counseling, or casework.
- Project levelPartialThin, adjacent evidence only. GDPval, which spans 44 occupations, is the one benchmark in our collection mapped here. OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's deliverables won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons across all GDPval occupations. No benchmark tests work with students or clients.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in education and social services, not always this occupation's tasks.
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- 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.
- 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.
Other job titles for this occupation (36)
Behavior Analyst · Behavioral Health Counselor · Case Manager · Clinician · Counselor · Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) · Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) · Mental Health Counselor · Mental Health Specialist · Mental Health Therapist · Behavioral Health Clinician · Behavioral Health Consultant · Behavioral Health Therapist · Bereavement Counselor · BSS (Behavior Support Specialist) · Clinical Counselor · Clinical Mental Health Counselor (CMHC) · Corrections Caseworker · Direct Care Counselor · EAP Consultant (Employee Assistance Program Consultant) · Elder Counselor · Grief Counselor · Group Counselor · Group Home Counselor · Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC) · Licensed Counselor · Licensed Mental Health Therapist · Licensed Therapist · Mental Health Case Manager · Mental Health Clinician · Mental Health Professional · Mental Health Program Specialist · Outpatient Mental Health Therapist · Residential Child Care Counselor · Telehealth Therapist · Treatment Coordinator