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Mental Health Social Worker
Mental Health Social Worker profiles score highest on Helping and Harmonizing. This page covers what the work involves, what the trait profile looks like, what it pays, and where the fit tends to break.
- Median pay
- $60,280per year, U.S. BLS 2025
- Entry education
- Graduate or professional degreetypical for the occupation
- Outlook
- BrightO*NET Bright Outlook occupation
SOURCE · O*NET 21-1023.00 and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Figures are national and vary widely by state and setting.
What the work involves
Assess and treat individuals with mental, emotional, or substance abuse problems, including abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and/or other drugs. Activities may include individual and group therapy, crisis intervention, case management, client advocacy, prevention, and education.
Skills rated most important
Work context
O*NET importance and frequency ratings, 0–100.
The trait profile
Where Mental Health Social Worker profiles sit on the eleven Haliscope traits, derived from O*NET’s published interest and work-style data.
Who it fits, and who it doesn’t
Strong signals
- Low Operating. Measures your preference for hands-on, practical work. High scorers thrive in action-oriented roles with tangible outputs and prefer doing over theorizing.
- Low Creating. Measures your inclination toward original thinking and artistic expression. High scorers generate innovative ideas and find rigid structure limiting.
- High Helping. Measures your orientation toward supporting and serving others. High scorers find fulfillment in teaching, counseling, and contributing to others' success.
- Low Influencing. Measures your drive to lead, persuade, and shape outcomes. High scorers are confident communicators who naturally take charge and direct others.
- High Harmonizing. Measures your focus on group cohesion and interpersonal peace. High scorers build consensus, facilitate cooperation, and prioritize team harmony.
- High Law-Abiding. Measures your commitment to ethics, rules, and fairness. High scorers value honesty, follow procedures, and prefer environments with clear moral guidelines.
Friction points
- High Operating. Measures your preference for hands-on, practical work. High scorers thrive in action-oriented roles with tangible outputs and prefer doing over theorizing.
- High Creating. Measures your inclination toward original thinking and artistic expression. High scorers generate innovative ideas and find rigid structure limiting.
- Low Helping. Measures your orientation toward supporting and serving others. High scorers find fulfillment in teaching, counseling, and contributing to others' success.
- High Influencing. Measures your drive to lead, persuade, and shape outcomes. High scorers are confident communicators who naturally take charge and direct others.
- Low Harmonizing. Measures your focus on group cohesion and interpersonal peace. High scorers build consensus, facilitate cooperation, and prioritize team harmony.
- Low Law-Abiding. Measures your commitment to ethics, rules, and fairness. High scorers value honesty, follow procedures, and prefer environments with clear moral guidelines.
These are what the occupation’s profile says, not a hiring criterion. Haliscope is not validated for hiring or screening, and none of these is disqualifying — they are where a fit most often breaks.
Getting in
Entry education: Graduate or professional degree.
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
O*NET Job Zone descriptions, U.S. Department of Labor.
Exposure to AI
How much of this work AI can already do, and how much AI tools help the people doing it, is scored task by task in the AI Risk Index.
Related occupations
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