Mental Health Counseling

Types of Degrees Mental Health Counseling Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many mental health counseling/counselor graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	6,632
Graduate Certificate	735
Associate Degree	81
Basic Certificate	75
Bachelor’s Degree	33
Doctor’s Degree	31
Undergraduate Certificate	22

What Mental Health Counseling Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to mental health counseling/counselor were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Skills for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor Majors

mental health counseling/counselor majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• 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.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Abilities for Mental Health Counseling/Counselor Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a mental health counseling/counselor student include the following:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• 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.
• 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.

What Can You Do With a Mental Health Counseling Major?

People with a mental health counseling/counselor degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Mental Health Counselors	23.1%	NA

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling?

The major attracts more women than men. About 76% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of mental health counseling/counselor majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	1
Black or African American	2
Hispanic or Latino	4
White	24
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	2

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Mental Health Counseling

Some careers associated with mental health counseling/counselor require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for mental health counseling/counselor careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	1.5%
Bachelor’s Degree	34.8%
Master’s Degree	63.0%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	1.4%
Doctoral Degree	0.7%

Online Mental Health Counseling Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 285 schools offered some type of mental health counseling/counselor program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	6	2
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	22	0
Bachelor’s Degree	20	5
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	238	28
Post-Master’s	34	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	12	2
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	4	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Mental Health Counseling

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to mental health counseling/counselor.

Major	Number of Grads
Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling	5,433
Other Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions	4,069
Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling	3,405
Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician	2,779
Clinical/Medical Social Work	2,534
Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling	2,526
Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling	328
Genetic Counseling/Counselor	288
Trauma Counseling	56
Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy	13
Medical Family Therapy/Therapist	12

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.