# Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers

> 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.

- **SOC code:** 21-1023.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-21-1023-00
- **Also known as:** Case Manager, Mental Health Therapist, Social Worker, Therapist, Clinical Social Worker, Clinical Therapist, Clinician, Counselor
- **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):
- Counsel clients in individual or group sessions to assist them in dealing with substance abuse, mental or physical illness, poverty, unemployment, or physical abuse.
- Collaborate with counselors, physicians, or nurses to plan or coordinate treatment, drawing on social work experience and patient needs.
- Monitor, evaluate, and record client progress with respect to treatment goals.
- Interview clients, review records, conduct assessments, or confer with other professionals to evaluate the mental or physical condition of clients or patients.
- Supervise or direct other workers who provide services to clients or patients.
- Modify treatment plans according to changes in client status.
- Assist clients in adhering to treatment plans, such as setting up appointments, arranging for transportation to appointments, or providing support.
- Educate clients or community members about mental or physical illness, abuse, medication, or available community resources.
- Counsel or aid family members to assist them in understanding, dealing with, or supporting the client or patient.
- Increase social work knowledge by reviewing current literature, conducting social research, or attending seminars, training workshops, or classes.
- Refer patient, client, or family to community resources for housing or treatment to assist in recovery from mental or physical illness, following through to ensure service efficacy.
- Plan or conduct programs to prevent substance abuse, combat social problems, or improve health or counseling services in community.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Therapy and Counseling _(knowledge)_
- Psychology _(knowledge)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(transferable_skill)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Written Expression _(ability)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Reading Comprehension _(essential_skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(essential_skill)_

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

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Adobe Acrobat _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft SharePoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Adobe PageMaker
- Client records software
- Corel WordPerfect Office Suite
- Database software
- Email software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 57th percentile (Moderate) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 79th percentile (High) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 46th percentile (Moderate) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 49th percentile (Moderate) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 0th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 9.7% growth (Growing fast); 13.5k annual openings; 136.8k → 150.1k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $60,060; 125,910 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

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

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 18% automation, 52% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 4.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** learning.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Monitor, evaluate, and record client progress with respect to treatment goals. _(0.8% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Educate clients or community members about mental or physical illness, abuse, medication, or available community resources. _(0.7% of measured AI use; learning)_
- Modify treatment plans according to changes in client status. _(0.5% of measured AI use; learning)_
- Interview clients, review records, conduct assessments, or confer with other professionals to evaluate the mental or physical condition of clients or patients. _(0.4% of measured AI use; learning)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me monitor, evaluate, and record client progress with respect to treatment goals.
- Help me educate clients or community members about mental or physical illness, abuse, medication, or available community resources.
- Help me modify treatment plans according to changes in client status.
- Help me interview clients, review records, conduct assessments, or confer with other professionals to evaluate the mental or physical condition of clients or patients.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“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-21-1023-00_