# Mental Health Counselors

> Counsel and advise individuals and groups to promote optimum mental and emotional health, with an emphasis on prevention. May help individuals deal with a broad range of mental health issues, such as those associated with addictions and substance abuse; family, parenting, and marital problems; stress management; self-esteem; or aging.

- **SOC code:** 21-1014.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-21-1014-00
- **Also known as:** Clinician, Counselor, Mental Health Counselor, Mental Health Therapist, Behavior Analyst, Behavioral Health Counselor, Case Manager, Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC)
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Maintain confidentiality of records relating to clients' treatment.
- Encourage clients to express their feelings and discuss what is happening in their lives, helping them to develop insight into themselves or their relationships.
- Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.
- Assess patients for risk of suicide attempts.
- Fill out and maintain client-related paperwork, including federal- and state-mandated forms, client diagnostic records, and progress notes.
- Perform crisis interventions to help ensure the safety of the patients and others.
- Guide clients in the development of skills or strategies for dealing with their problems.
- Perform crisis interventions with clients.
- Prepare and maintain all required treatment records and reports.
- Develop and implement treatment plans based on clinical experience and knowledge.
- Collect information about clients through interviews, observation, or tests.
- Modify treatment activities or approaches as needed to comply with changes in clients' status.

**Emerging tasks** (O*NET):
- Guide clients in the development of skills or strategies for dealing with their problems and coping with triggering factors.
- Respond to client communications by monitoring voicemail and email, returning phone calls, and making follow-up calls for missed appointments.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(transferable_skill)_
- Therapy and Counseling _(knowledge)_
- Psychology _(knowledge)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Sociology and Anthropology _(knowledge)_
- Reading Comprehension _(essential_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Psychology _(Specialized Skill)_
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Writing _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Complex Problem Solving _(Common Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Access _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Oracle PeopleSoft _(hot technology)_
- Client information database systems
- Database software
- Email software
- Google Classroom
- Management information systems MIS

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 66th percentile (Moderate) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 91st percentile (High) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 40th percentile (Moderate) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 4th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 20% automation, 71% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 4.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** learning.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Guide clients in the development of skills or strategies for dealing with their problems. _(44.3% of measured AI use; learning)_
- Encourage clients to express their feelings and discuss what is happening in their lives, helping them to develop insight into themselves or their relationships. _(7.3% of measured AI use; learning)_
- Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes. _(3.7% of measured AI use; learning)_
- Assess patients for risk of suicide attempts. _(2.0% of measured AI use; none)_
- Collect information about clients through interviews, observation, or tests. _(1.0% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Plan, organize, or lead structured programs of counseling, work, study, recreation, or social activities for clients. _(0.9% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Prepare and maintain all required treatment records and reports. _(0.3% of measured AI use; task iteration)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me guide clients in the development of skills or strategies for dealing with their problems.
- Help me encourage clients to express their feelings and discuss what is happening in their lives, helping them to develop insight into themselves or their relationships.
- Help me counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.
- Help me assess patients for risk of suicide attempts.
- Help me collect information about clients through interviews, observation, or tests.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-21-1014-00_