What Is a Mental Health Counselor? How They Help and When to Seek Support
Clinically reviewed by: Camille Mack, LMFT
Written by: Janelle Martel
A mental health counselor provides talk therapy to help individuals with their mental well-being, focusing on issues like anxiety, self-esteem, grief, and relationships. To become a mental health counselor, a master’s degree in counseling or a related field is often required. Mental health counselors must also complete a licensing exam and have supervised clinical experience.
Mental health counselors might specialize in working with a particular group of people, like children, or they might focus on a specific issue, like anxiety or trauma. They work in clinics, private practices, and online. They might also work alongside social services or in group homes.
If you’re looking for support with your mental health, a mental health counselor can help you develop coping skills and provide you with emotional support. In this article, we’ll discuss what a mental health counselor does, how they can help, and when to seek support.
What Does a Mental Health Counselor Do?
A mental health counselor can help diagnose and treat mental health issues. But, you don’t have to have a mental health disorder to seek support. Mental health counselors can also help individuals improve their mental well-being when dealing with stress or grief.
When you work with a mental health counselor, they’ll talk with you to help better understand what you’re going through and how it is impacting your daily life. Then, they’ll work with you to set goals and create a plan to help you achieve these goals. A mental health counselor might use different strategies to help their clients. These include:
Talk therapy: A mental health counselor might be trained in psychotherapy, like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), or interpersonal therapy. These treatments use a variety of methods to help clients understand their thought and behavior patterns and invoke positive changes.
Coping strategies: A mental health counselor can help you learn a variety of coping strategies to improve your mental well-being. This might include deep breathing to help ease stress and anxiety, problem-solving skills to help make issues more manageable, and help to set boundaries in relationships.
Emotional support: In counseling, you’ll have a safe space to explore and express your emotions without judgment.
Referrals and additional support: A mental health counselor can help direct you toward other services that can help with your mental well-being, such as career services and support groups.
Mental health counselors can provide support for various mental health issues, including:
Anxiety
Depression
Stress
Bipolar disorder
Low self-esteem
Grief
Substance abuse disorders
Eating disorders
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Phobias
Anger management
Mental Health Counselling Benefits
Working with a mental health counsellor can be a practice of self-care that can help you improve your mental well-being in several ways. Benefits include:
Emotional regulation: Through the introduction of coping methods, mental health counselling can help with managing strong emotions like anger and anxiety.
Self-awareness: When you talk with a mental health counselor, they’ll help you learn to identify your emotions and patterns in your thinking. This awareness can help you understand yourself better as well as change any unhelpful thinking patterns that keep you stuck in old ways of acting and being or thinking.
Improved relationships: A mental health counselor can help you learn effective communication and conflict-solving skills, leading to improved relationships. You’ll also learn how to implement healthy boundaries to protect your emotional, mental, and physical well-being.
Improved coping skills: By learning better coping skills and the right ones, you’ll be better equipped to deal with unexpected stressful events.
Eased mental health symptoms: Through psychotherapy, mental health counseling can help reduce the symptoms that are impacting your ability to be present and engaged in your day-to-day life.
Better self-esteem: Working with a mental health counselor can help you to set and achieve goals, which can help build your ability to see parts of yourself with more kindness and build up a more congruent version of yourself/confidence.
Improved quality of life: Counseling can help you to connect with yourself and explore your purpose and values. It can also help you improve your overall well-being by introducing healthy habits like good sleep hygiene.
While mental health counseling can help with mental health disorders, it’s important to remember that it’s not just for mental health issues or crises. Counseling can help anyone reduce stress, improve relationships, and learn better problem-solving skills. In fact, research has shown that 75% of people participating in psychotherapy experienced benefits after 6 months.
When to Seek Help from a Mental Health Counselor
While anyone can seek help from a mental health counselor, some warning signs in your mental health can indicate that it’s time to seek help. These include:
Persistent stress: If you’re experiencing stress that doesn’t seem to let up, a mental health counselor can help you learn stress relief skills as well as improve your resilience to stress.
Major life changes: A counselor can help guide you through major life transitions in which you might need additional support, such as the loss of a loved one or a cross-country move.
Ongoing sadness: While it’s normal to feel down now and then, if you’ve been feeling persistent sadness and aren’t able to feel the joy in things that you used to, counseling can be helpful.
Overwhelming emotions: If you experience overwhelming emotions, whether it's anxiety or anger, a mental health counselor can help you learn to regulate these emotions.
Difficulty concentrating: Having trouble focusing on occasion due to being distracted or feeling tired is something almost everyone experiences. But if you’re having ongoing trouble concentrating to the point where it's impacting your work, seeing a counselor can be helpful.
Relationship troubles: Troubles in relationships where you’re frequently arguing or feeling like you just can’t get your point across can be helped by mental health counselling. You might see a counselor on your own or participate in couples or family therapy.
Unhealthy coping methods: When people are experiencing stress, they can sometimes turn to unhealthy coping methods like alcohol and overeating. If you’re finding that this is you, a mental health counselor can help you change these habits and introduce healthier ways to cope.
Changes in behavior: Changes in your daily behavior, such as sleeping too much or too little or not being able to eat normally, can be a sign that you could benefit from mental health support.
Unexplained physical symptoms: Symptoms like headaches or stomachaches without any physical cause can be a physical manifestation of stress. By learning healthy coping methods, you can help ease these physical symptoms.
While it might seem overwhelming or intimidating to see a counselor, it’s a beneficial way to care for yourself. Making an appointment when you start noticing any of the above signs can help you to feel better sooner.
Choosing the Right Mental Health Counselor
Working with a counselor who makes you feel safe and supported and has the right expertise to help you is important to help you get the most benefit out of the time you’re putting into your mental health. Here are some more details about how to choose the right mental health counselor for you:
Consider your goals: When choosing the right mental health counselor for you, you’ll first want to consider your goals. For example, if you’ve just lost a loved one and want emotional support through the grieving process, then you might look for a counselor who specializes in grief. While your goals might change through the counseling process, this is a good starting step in finding a mental health counselor.
Check credentials: Different states have different licensing requirements to become a mental health therapist, though it typically includes a master’s degree, certification exam, and continuing education hours to maintain their license. You’ll want to check what the requirements for your state are and ensure that your counselor is licensed. Common credentials for mental health therapists include Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LCADC), Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), and Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC).
Evaluate experience: When searching for a therapist, it can be helpful to know what experience they have in working with individuals in similar situations to yours. You can ask any potential mental health counselor this to learn more about the experience they have.
Consider specialties: Different counselors specialize in different areas to help suit your needs. For example, a counselor might specialize in providing couples and family therapy, or they might focus on helping individuals recovering from traumatic experiences. Common mental health counseling specialties include:
Clinical mental health counseling
Substance abuse counseling
Marriage and family therapy
Trauma counseling
Addiction counseling
Eating disorder-specific counseling
Personal connection: A strong personal connection with your counselor is important to ensure that you feel safe and supported. When talking to potential counselors, you’ll want to check that you feel heard. Some individuals might also feel more comfortable with counselors of a specific gender, age, or culture.
Therapy styles: If you’ve heard about a therapy method that you’re interested in, like CBT or DBT, then you might wish to look for a counselor who offers that method. If you’re unsure about therapy style, then you might ask potential counselors what treatment methods they’ve used to help you determine if they align with your needs. Common therapy styles include:
Cognitive-behavioral therapy: CBT focuses on how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected. You’ll work with a counselor to help identify unhelpful thought patterns and change these thoughts and associated behaviors.
Dialectical behavior therapy: DBT is a type of therapy that helps to build skills to cope with emotional overload and high levels of distress. It focuses on developing skills in mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.
Internal family systems therapy (IFS): IFS is based on the theory that there are multiple sub-persons, or families, within each person’s mind. In IFS therapy, you’ll explore these different parts, working to heal them and developing a peaceful relationship between them.
Psychodynamic therapy: Psychodynamic therapy helps individuals uncover unconscious thoughts that may be impacting their relationships and emotions.
Humanistic therapy: Humanistic therapy focuses on the individual as a whole, working towards self-acceptance and growth.
Interpersonal therapy: Interpersonal therapy focuses on improving interpersonal relationships to reduce stress and improve social functioning.
Mental Health Counselor vs. Psychologist vs. Psychiatrist
Mental health counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists all play important roles in the mental health field, but differ in their training, focus, and ability to prescribe medication. Mental health counselors typically have a master’s degree, while psychologists usually have a doctoral degree. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who specialize in mental health. Here are a few more details about their differences:
A mental health counselor assesses and provides support to individuals with mental health challenges or major life transitions. Their expertise is typically addressing mental health conditions, life stress, grief, relationships. Their approach to treatment is typically talk therapy, including psychotherapies like CBT, DBT, psychodynamic, or humanistic therapies.
A psychologist assesses and treats individuals with emotional, behavioral, or cognitive disorders. Psychologists may also perform academic research. Their expertise is typically addressing mental health conditions, behavioral issues, cognitive conditions, life stresses, stress caused due to a medical condition. Their approach to treatment is typically talk therapy, including psychotherapies and other evidence-based therapies.
A psychiatrist diagnoses and treats mental health conditions. Their expertise is typically within medication management for mental health conditions ranging from depression/anxiety, ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Their approach to treatment is typically through medications and other medical interventions, like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). While they may provide talk therapy, this is often referred out to a psychologist.
How Much Does Mental Health Counseling Cost?
The cost of counseling can vary depending on location, experience, and insurance. Counselors who have more experience, advanced education, or certain specializations may charge more. It’s also important to consider your insurance, which may reduce your out-of-pocket costs.
Whether you have access to insurance or not, there are several affordable options for counseling, including:
Online therapy: Due to reduced overhead, online therapy is often more affordable and also eliminates costs associated with commuting to a counselor’s office. Some online therapy providers also accept insurance. For example, Octave’s average out-of-pocket cost for individuals with insurance is $28.
Sliding scales: Some counselors offer counseling on a sliding scale, meaning that your cost per session is adjusted based on your income.
Schools: Local colleges and universities may offer affordable counseling from individuals who are training to become counselors. These individuals are supervised by licensed, trained counselors.
Employee assistance programs (EAPs): Your employer may offer access to mental health services, including counseling. Often, this is limited to a certain number of sessions per year. You can contact your employer’s human resources office to see if this is available to you.
Affordable clinics: The National Association for Free & Charitable Clinics allows you to search for local clinics in your area that offer free or affordable healthcare services, including mental health care.
Support groups: Although support groups are different from 1-on-1 mental health counseling, they can provide mental health support at little or no cost and are led by a mental health professional. Mental Health America provides resources about where to find a support group, as does the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Crisis lines: For individuals who need immediate support, crisis lines are available. You can call or text 988 to be connected with a trained counselor at any time of day or night. More 24/7 hotlines are available here.
Conclusion
While it might seem intimidating to start counseling, a mental health counselor who is a good fit for you can provide you with a safe space to get emotional support and understand your thoughts and feelings. They can help you develop strategies to help better cope with life’s stresses or manage conditions like depression and anxiety.