Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.

“Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.” is a core task performed by Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors. Among the occupation's 23 rated tasks, workers place it 22nd by importance (#2 most important). About 100% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Counsel others about personal matters. in Providing Consultation and Advice to Others

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.00. Automation potential label: T1.

How AI is actually used on this kind of task

The Anthropic Economic Index observes how people actually use AI on tasks like this one across millions of real conversations.

• 0.013% share of AI-use records mapped to this task
• 7% of that use is work-related
• Most common interaction: learning
• Average autonomy of the AI: 3.9 (1–5; higher = more autonomous)
• 81% of interactions still needed a human in the loop

Observed AI use describes people choosing to use AI as a tool on this kind of task today. It is augmentation and assistance, not a measure of jobs replaced.

Working with AI vs. handing it off

Of the AI conversations mapped to this task, the split between people working alongside AI and people delegating the task to it.

How people interact with AI on this task

Other tasks in this occupation

• Complete and maintain accurate records or reports regarding the patients' histories and progress, services provided, or other required information. · importance 4.8
• Assess individuals' degree of drug dependency by collecting and analyzing urine samples. · importance 4.6
• Conduct chemical dependency program orientation sessions. · importance 4.6
• Follow progress of discharged patients to determine effectiveness of treatments. · importance 4.6
• Review and evaluate clients' progress in relation to measurable goals described in treatment and care plans. · importance 4.5
• Coordinate activities with courts, probation officers, community services, or other post-treatment agencies. · importance 4.5
• Develop client treatment plans based on research, clinical experience, and client histories. · importance 4.5
• Modify treatment plans to comply with changes in client status. · importance 4.5
• Coordinate counseling efforts with mental health professionals or other health professionals, such as doctors, nurses, or social workers. · importance 4.4
• Plan or implement follow-up or aftercare programs for clients to be discharged from treatment programs. · importance 4.4
• Intervene as an advocate for clients or patients to resolve emergency problems in crisis situations. · importance 4.3
• Attend training sessions to increase knowledge and skills. · importance 4.3
• Interview clients, review records, and confer with other professionals to evaluate individuals' mental and physical condition and to determine their suitability for participation in a specific program. · importance 4.3
• Instruct others in program methods, procedures, or functions. · importance 4.3

See all tasks on the Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-5583,
  title  = {Counsel clients or patients, individually or in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, or making changes.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-5583}
}