Career Explorer Community and social care
Grows with AI
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.
Among the most resilient careers: more resilient than 90% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is moderate (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by +10.3% by 2035, much faster than average. The work leans on emotional intelligence and creative vision.
AI can help with many of the tasks, and demand is still growing. Being fluent with AI is the edge here.
- Median pay (2025)
- $60,280
- Job growth to 2035
- +10.3%
- Openings a year
- 12,500
- People doing it (2025)
- 139,000
- Usual route in
- Master's degree, then an internship or residency
Where people already use AI for this work
- Counsel others about personal matters
- Teach academic or vocational subjects
- Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Confer with healthcare or other professionals about patient care
- Maintain health or medical records
- Monitor health conditions of humans or animals
What the work looks like
- 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.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
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Also known as: Case Manager, Mental Health Therapist, Social Worker, Therapist, Clinical Social Worker, Clinical Therapist, Clinician, Counselor.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.