Occupation
Mental health counsellor
Mental health counsellors deliver talking therapy to individuals and groups, working within a recognised modality and a formal ethical framework. The role involves assessment, treatment planning, session work, and careful clinical notes, plus knowing when a client needs a psychiatrist, physician, or crisis service instead. Sitting with distress week after week is the substance of the job.
Also known as: Psychotherapist · Clinical counsellor · Registered counsellor · Talking therapies practitioner
Occupation content
Part of Community, social and public services
What the work involves
- Assess presenting problems, history, and risk at the start of an episode of care
- Agree goals and a treatment approach with the client and review it as therapy proceeds
- Deliver individual, couple, or group sessions using an established therapeutic model
- Write clinical notes and maintain confidentiality and consent records
- Assess suicide and safeguarding risk and refer to crisis or medical services when indicated
- Attend clinical supervision and continuing professional development
How people commonly enter
- A master's or other graduate qualification in counselling, counselling psychology, or clinical social work
- Accredited training with a recognised professional counselling or psychotherapy body, including supervised client hours
- Registration or licensure with the counselling or psychotherapy regulator where the title is protected
- Moving from a related role such as social work, nursing, or support work into therapy training
Typical training: Postgraduate or professional degree
Licensing: Regulated in most jurisdictions — confirm the current requirement with the regulator in your province, state, or country.
Typical work context
Quiet focus · Public facing · High responsibility · Remote capable · Predictable routine
Related interests
Social (helping) · Investigative (analytical)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
Practice suites
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Community, social and public services.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- O*NET OnLine — occupation search: mental health counselor · United States
Link checked
- UK National Careers Service — Counsellor job profile · United Kingdom
Link checked
- Canada Job Bank — Career planning and occupation exploration (ESDC) · Canada
Link checked
Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Community, social and public services in Canada, not a figure for Mental health counsellor. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Community, social and public services family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Community, social and public services: education pathways
Some roles in Community, social and public services may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Community, social and public services: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Mental health counsellor”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)