How much does a Mental Health Counsellor make per year? 

What is a mental health counsellor? 

A mental health counselor performs counselling services that diagnose and treat psychological disorders, supporting patients through difficult life experiences while teaching the skills and attitudes needed to bring about behavior change. Mental health is not only the avoidance of mental health conditions. Your mental health is affected by numerous factors from your daily life, including the stress of balancing work with your health and relationships. In this section you will find resources to help you stay mentally fit and healthy.

Counsellors assist clients with clinical conditions such as depression, substance abuse and anxiety, they help people to avoid the serious complications associated with untreated mental illness, which can include poverty, isolation, health problems and harm to self or others. Mental health counselors are highly-skilled professionals who provide flexible, consumer-oriented therapy. They combine traditional psychotherapy with a practical, problem-solving approach that creates a dynamic and efficient path for change and problem resolution. 

Mental Health Education 

Counsellors are required to take a variety of specific counselling courses to earn a counselling degree. Afterwards, depending on where you choose to practise, graduates must get proper licensing and certification. Certification usually requires, at a minimum, a master’s degree and 2,000-4,000 hours of supervised clinical experience. In some areas, counselors must pass a knowledge exam prior to practicing.

To maintain licensure and certification, all counselors must engage in continuing education throughout their careers. Credits may be earned by taking courses in person or completing trainings online. Counselors who hold credentials from varying governing bodies are subject to additional continuing education requirements.

Mental health counsellors will take a variety of counselling courses or specialize some of them include:

Collaborating with Families Affected by Concurrent Disorders Online Course
Advanced Intensive Training
Fundamentals of Addiction
Fundamentals of Mental Health
Introduction to Psychology
Psychology of Addictions
Psychological Disorders
Psychopharmacology
Biological Psychology
Clinical Psychology
Psychology and Law
Psychology: Child Development
Psychology: Human Brain Circuitry
Developmental Psychopathology
Psychology of Health and Health Care
Psychology: Psychology of Human Sexuality
Death, Dying, and Bereavement
Adjustment, Stress and Coping
Behaviour Modification
Community Psychology
Youth, Drugs and Mental Health Online Course
How much do Mental Health Counselors Earn?

A proper counselling degree from an accredited counselling school will give graduates a broad range of employment opportunities. Certified mental health counselors had an average salary $ 42,590 annually as of May 2011, according to international statistics. Salaries ranged between $ 24,840, and exceeded $ 65,660. Most mental health counsellors worked in outpatient care centers, with a mean salary of $ 41,920.

However, the highest paid mental health counsellors were with insurance carriers, with an average salary of $ 62,100. Mental health counsellors work with clients who have mental or emotional disorders, or problems with important relationships, such as family. It is expected that their employment prospects will increase by 37 percent from 2010 to 2020, which is faster than the average for all jobs.