Clinical Mental Health Counseling
research the career, avocational, educational, occupational, and labor market information for a career related to the field of Clinical Mental Health Counseling.
There are several ways to research and explore careers on the O*Net website. www.onetonline.org
Explain the process for how you found and selected the occupation of your choice (1 point):
I used the O*Net Interest Profiler to obtain the Holland codes that match my interests. I received
social, artistic, and investigative as my top scores. I then searched for jobs that needed extensive preparation. From the list of jobs that appeared, I selected one that interested me and had at least
average job opportunities in Florida. I ended up with Mental Health Counselor, which
appropriately enough is the career I am entering. I selected that occupation to complete this report.
Title of Occupation: Mental Health Counselors
Be sure to view the “Details” report for each category below. Expand each category to review the full list.
Tasks: (1 point)
1) Maintain confidentiality of records relating to clients’ treatment.
2) Encourage clients to express their feelings and discuss what is happening in their lives, helping them to develop insight into themselves or their relationships.
3) Collect information about clients through interviews, observation, or tests. 4) Assess patients for risk of suicide attempts.
5) Fill out and maintain client-related paperwork, including federal- and state-mandated forms, client diagnostic records, and progress notes.
Technology Skills: (1 point)
1) Analytical or scientific software — Statistical software; Test interpretation software 2) Data base user interface and query software — Database software; Microsoft Access
3) Electronic mail software — Email software; Microsoft Outlook
4) Enterprise resource planning ERP software — Management information systems (MIS);
Microsoft Dynamics; Oracle PeopleSoft
5) Medical software — Client information database systems; Patient electronic medical record
EMR software
Knowledge: (1 point)
1) Psychology — Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in
ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
2) Therapy and Counseling — Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
3) Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing
customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
4) Sociology and Anthropology — Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
5) Education and Training — Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training
design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Skills: (1 point)
1) 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.
2) Social Perceptiveness — Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
3) Service Orientation — Actively looking for ways to help people. 4) Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively.
5) Monitoring — Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Abilities: (1 point)
1) Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
2) Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
3) 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.
4) Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events). 5) Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Work Activities: (1 point)
1) Assisting and Caring for Others — Providing personal assistance, medical attention,
emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
2) Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
3) Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others and maintaining them over time.
4) Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
5) Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
Detailed Work Activities: (1 point)
1) Counsel clients or patients regarding personal issues. 2) Collect information about clients.
3) Interview clients to gather information about their backgrounds, needs, or progress. 4) Complete documentation required by programs or regulations. 5) Counsel clients or patients with substance abuse issues.
Work Context: (1 point)
1) Structured versus Unstructured Work — A lot of freedom (84%)
2) Contact with Others — Constant contact with others (91%)
3) Freedom to Make Decisions — A lot of freedom (72%)
4) Face-to-Face Discussions — Every day (84%)
5) Frequency of Decision Making — Every day (64%)
Education: (1 point)
Master’s degree required
Interest Code (3-letter Code): (1 point) S I A
Work Styles: (1 point)
1) Self Control — Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
2) Concern for Others — Job requires being sensitive to others’ needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
3) Integrity — Job requires being honest and ethical.
Work Values: (1 point)
1) 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.
2) Achievement — Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.
3) Independence — Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions.
Related Occupations: (1 point)
1) Counseling Psychologists
2) Marriage and Family Therapists
3) Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors
Wage and Employment Trends: (1 point)
Median wages (2019): $22.23 hourly, $46,240 annual State wages (Florida): $19.12 hourly, $39,770 annual
Employment (2018): 834,000 employees
Projected growth (2018-2028): Much faster than average (11% or higher)
Projected job openings (2018-2028): 103,900
State trends (Florida): Projected growth (2016-2026) = 29% & Projected annual job openings
(2016-2026) = 650
Sources of Additional Information: (1 point)
1) American Counseling Association
2) American Psychological Association
3) Occupational Outlook Handbook: Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health
counselors
How could you use this activity to advocate for diverse clients’ career and educational
development and employment opportunities in a global economy? (1 point)
The realities of both globalization and our more culturally diverse society are two factors
to consider as a career counselor. The economy is changing, and we need to encourage our
clients to become lifelong learners if they are going to succeed in the global economy (Zunker, 2016). It is also important to understand that each person is unique and is shaped by both their own individual traits and by their culture. As counselors, we should take into consideration an
individual’s cultural identity and not only avoid discrimination, but also “advocate at individual,
group, institutional, and societal levels to address potential barriers and obstacles that inhibit access and/or the growth and development of clients” (ACA, 2014, p, 5, A.7.a).
I believe the O*Net Interest Profiler would be useful for advocating at the individual
level. It allows the counselor to assess the individual client’s occupational interests and provides a list of potential occupations that best suits the client’s Holland profile. This is where counselors can most easily advocate for clients. Specifically, when selecting the job zone to use for selecting a career, the counselor can encourage clients to not only look at jobs that meet their current level
of education and experience, but to also explore occupations that require higher levels of
education. Additionally, the counselor can bring awareness of economic trends and the impacts
of globalization to the client’s attention using the bright futures and job trend information contained on the O*Net site.
How could this activity help you become aware of ethical and cultural considerations for
the client? (1 point)
Ethically, it is important to inform the client of the purpose and use of the assessment
(Zunker, 2016). By working closely with the client, the counselor will be aware of what cultural factors are important for the client and be able to proceed accordingly. Using O*Net as a tool, in
conjunction with a thorough interview, the counselor will be better equipped to help guide the
client in the career search process. For example, a client from a collectivist culture may prioritize
family needs over individual needs. The detailed information provided in the O*Net description for the various occupations may help the counselor guide the client to an occupation that meets
the interests of the client while also providing work conditions that would allow the client to prioritize family.
Describe strategies from this activity you could use in career development program
planning, organization, implementation, administration, and evaluation. (1 point)
The O*Net website tools can be used in a variety of career development programs. The
first step in creating a career development program is planning. The starting point of this
planning would be to identify the career counseling theory and model to work from. This will
guide the further process of organizing, implementing, administering, and evaluating the
program. For example, the O*Net site would be ideal to use for a program modeled after the
trait-and-factor approach. For example, using the model from Zunker (2016, p. 80-81), after performing an intake interview and identifying developmental variables, the O*Net Interest
Profiler could be used to assess client interests and assign a Holland code to use when
researching jobs. It is also possible to search for jobs based on the client’s abilities, knowledge,
skills, or desired work environment. The website can be used to identify potential careers, research individual occupations, and evaluate the goodness of fit between a client and an
occupation. Thus, it is a useful tool that can be utilized in various ways when implementing a career development program.
How do you think this activity assesses the conditions of the work environment on clients’
life experiences? (1 point)
The intake interview and the Holland code gives a starting point for determining what types of
work environments would best suit each client. The detailed information for each occupation
provides information about general and detailed work activities, work context, and work styles.
For example, the work environment for a mental health counselor would typically be indoors and
require frequent communication with other people. There would be little structure and lots of
opportunity for decision making. Given my Holland code of SIA (social, investigative, artistic), a career as a mental health counselor would most likely provide me with a work environment that I would find to be a positive addition to my life experience.
References
American Counseling Association (2014). ACA code of ethics. Alexandria, VA: Author.
O*Net. (2020). Counselors. Retrieved from https://datausa.io/profile/soc/counselors#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20people%20 mployed,to%20805%2C075%20people%20in%202017.
Zunker, V. G. (2016). Career counseling: A holistic approach (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage
Learning.
