How To Become A Mental Health Consultant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a mental health consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Timothy Hanna Ph.D.

Mental Health Consultants have got your back. They help people deal with cognitive, behavioral and emotional issues. Since they specialize in directly affecting clients' health, it makes sense that you'll need at least a bachelor's degree to become a mental health consultant.

The majority of your day will consist of you sitting in your office with a client. While it's not a taxing job on your body, it can be a little stressful for your mind. So it's important that you make sure you can handle helping people through their problems. Or at least see your own mental health consultant.

What general advice would you give to a Mental Health Consultant?

Timothy Hanna Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Neumann University

Practice, practice, practice, and supervision, supervision, supervision! Many health fields require internships and supervised hours between graduation and official licensure or certification. If you’re not able to find a paid position, take whatever position you can find that offers you quality access to clientele and on-site supervision. Keep looking for paid positions in the meantime, and/or get involved in a peer supervision group to learn from others’ cases and experiences as well. The actual practice and supervisory feedback is where we cement our skills and solidify our professional identity.

ScoreMental Health ConsultantUS Average

Salary

4.0

Avg. Salary $51,006

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.3

Growth Rate 9%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.62%

Asian 3.12%

Black or African American 7.90%

Hispanic or Latino 7.90%

Unknown 6.24%

White 74.22%

Gender

female 70.66%

male 29.34%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress Level

9.3

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

10.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.5

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a mental health consultant

Explore mental health consultant education requirements

Most common mental health consultant degrees

Bachelor's

52.7 %

Master's

28.3 %

Associate

9.0 %

Start to develop specific mental health consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Healthcare	14.43%
Substance Abuse	11.55%
Patients	11.40%
Crisis Intervention	9.09%
Social Work	8.77%

Complete relevant mental health consultant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New mental health consultants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a mental health consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real mental health consultant resumes.

Research mental health consultant duties and responsibilities

Serve as resource person for family health physicians at clinic on managing psychotropic medications for medical patients with psychiatric problems.
Evaluate patients for psychiatric and behavioral health issues; make recommendations regarding treatment measures, including medications and non-pharmacological treatments.
Supervise residential staff and provide individual and group counseling services in rehabilitation centers.
Provide occupational therapy consultation services to center's authorities to enhance intern's rehabilitation.

Prepare your mental health consultant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your mental health consultant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a mental health consultant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Mental Health Consultant Resume templates

Build a professional Mental Health Consultant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Mental Health Consultant resume.

Apply for mental health consultant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a mental health consultant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do mental health consultants rate their job?

-/5

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Mental Health Consultant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2022

Cons

Getting approval and watching families go through their proceed with difficulties

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2019

Pros

Helping people be successful in life.