Careers > Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers

Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers

$51.24K Median Salary 14K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 14.9% Job Growth

Find Colleges for this Career Find Certificates for this Career

About This Career

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.

Reported Job Titles

Case Manager, Clinical Social Worker, Clinical Therapist, Clinician, Counselor, Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Mental Health Therapist, Social Worker, Substance Abuse Counselor, Therapist

Career data shown for:

Skills You'll Need

Click on skills to find related courses.

Abilities

Oral Comprehension

Oral Expression

Problem Sensitivity

Written Comprehension

Written Expression

Deductive Reasoning

Inductive Reasoning

Speech Clarity

Fluency of Ideas

Speech Recognition

Category Flexibility

Information Ordering

Originality

Flexibility of Closure

Near Vision

Selective Attention

Knowledge

Therapy and Counseling

Psychology

English Language

Customer and Personal Service

Education and Training

Sociology and Anthropology

Public Safety and Security

Medicine and Dentistry

Administration and Management

Philosophy and Theology

Skills

Social Perceptiveness

Active Listening

Speaking

Critical Thinking

Monitoring

Reading Comprehension

Complex Problem Solving

Coordination

Service Orientation

Learning Strategies

Persuasion

Writing

Judgment and Decision Making

Negotiation

Active Learning

Instructing

Systems Analysis

Time Management

Management of Personnel Resources

Technology Skills

Electronic mail software

Presentation software

Medical software

Internet browser software

Desktop publishing software

Office suite software

Spreadsheet software

Document management software

Cloud-based data access and sharing software

Word processing software

Data base user interface and query software

Calendar and scheduling software

Tools

Notebook computers

Desktop computers

Personal computers

Abilities

Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.

Knowledge

Therapy and Counseling: Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Psychology: Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Education and Training: Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Sociology and Anthropology: Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Public Safety and Security: Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Medicine and Dentistry: Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Administration and Management: Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Philosophy and Theology: Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

Skills

Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Learning Strategies: Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.

Technology Skills

Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Medical software: Henry Schein Dentrix; Medical condition coding software; Medical procedure coding software; MEDITECH software
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Desktop publishing software: Adobe Systems Adobe InDesign; Microsoft Publisher
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Document management software: Adobe Systems Adobe Acrobat; Filing system software; Records management software; Transcription system software
Cloud-based data access and sharing software: Dropbox; Google Drive; Microsoft SharePoint
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Calendar and scheduling software: Appointment scheduling software

Tools

Notebook computers: Laptop computers
Desktop computers:
Personal computers:

Related Careers

Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses

$81.22K Salary 9% Job Growth

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists

$90.13K Salary

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

$50.82K Salary 12.6% Job Growth

Psychiatrists

$226.88K Salary 12.5% Job Growth

View All