Mental Health Counselor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mental health counselors work with individuals, families, and groups to address and treat mental and emotional disorders and to promote mental health. They are trained in a variety of therapeutic techniques used to address issues, including depression, addiction and substance abuse, suicidal impulses, stress, problems with self-esteem, and grief. They also help with job and career concerns, educational decisions, issues related to mental and emotional health, and family, parenting, marital, or other relationship problems. Mental health counselors often work closely with other mental health specialists, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses, and school counselors. (Information on psychologists, registered nurses, social workers and physicians and surgeons, which includes psychiatrists, appears elsewhere in the Occupational Outlook Handbook.) In many states mental health counselors may diagnose as well as treat mental illness. ( http://http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos067.htm )

5.21.08 This page is currently undergoing a revision by founders and former presidents of the American Mental Health Counselors Association and others who became aware that the material presented here was not entirely accurate or factual. This will be an independent offering and not part of any official organizational offering. We regret any misrepresentations of the field of mental health counseling. For further information, contact, Dr. Edward Beck at edward.beck@waldenu.edu.

William J. Weikel, Past President AMHCA, Founding Editor, AMHCA Journal, now Journal of Mental Health Counseling,

Howard Smith, Past President, American Mental Health Counseling Association and form Professional Affairs Officer, American Counseling Association

James J. Messina, Co-Founder and Past President, American Mental Health Counselors Association, and Co-Founder and Past Chair, National Academy of Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselors

Edward S. Beck, Past President American Mental Health Association, Past AMHCA Representative to the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs

William Krieger, Past Chair, National Academy of Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselors and Past President, AMHCA

Jonah Steinhaus, Past Chair National Academy of Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselors

Richard Wilmarth, Past President, American Mental Health Counselors Association and Past Chair, National Academy of Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselors

[edit] Description of duties

A significant point of reference to distinguish Mental Health Counselors from Social Workers, Psychologists, Nurse Practitioners, and Psychiatrists, is that Mental Health Counselors increasingly utilize a psycho-educational model for counseling clients, in conjunction with the more traditional medical/illness model for assessment and diagnosis. ==See also==