| I work as a licensed professional counselor for a mid-sized agency in a suburb of Chicago. I have a Master's degree in clinical psychology. I facilitate two anger management groups for male domestic violence offenders, and a parenting group for men court ordered for incidents involving their kids. In addition, I do therapy with couples, families, and individuals who come in for help with a variety of issues including parenting problems, depression, anxiety, marital conflict, etc.
My groups meet for two and a half hours and client sessions are typically fifty minutes long. There is paperwork that needs to be filled out for all my clients including treatment plans and progress notes, and various agency clinical meetings I must attend. To keep my licensure, I need to keep up with my field and get additional training every year.
There are various other administrative tasks I do, including computer work for the agency, recertification preparation, HIPAA compliance work, and other things. These will vary from agency to agency and not all therapists will have as many administrative duties as me. If you work in a nonprofit agency, you will probably be involved in fundraising efforts.
Most mental health positions will require a Master's degree; there's little work available out there in the USA for folks with a Bachelor's degree, and they tend to be jobs of a dead-end nature. That means six years of education beyond high school. There are social workers, counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Social workers and counselors may have Masters degrees or Doctorates; you need a Doctorate to be able to call yourself a Psychologist in the USA. Psychiatrists are medical doctors with a specialization in psychology - they're the ones who usually prescribe psychoactive meds.
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