TAMPA, Fla. — While the pandemic has certainly taken a toll on mental health in this country, it has also created opportunities for more jobs.
Plus, those jobs won't be going away anytime soon.
Many people have found during the pandemic, not only did they need or want mental health counseling, they enjoyed doing it virtually.
Brie Reynolds is the career development manager at Flexjobs and says careers in the mental health field are growing.
"We've been looking at mental health as a career field and seeing that increase about 28 percent in terms of the number of job listings we saw in 2020 over 2019 and that's a pretty big jump for one year."
Reynolds says therapy jobs specifically, are up 56 percent. But, there are other opportunities under that mental health umbrella.
"We're seeing, not just the specific therapy or counselor positions, but things like behavioral healthcare advocates. That's someone who works within insurance agencies or healthcare systems to help people find the care that they need specifically for behavioral health. We see counselors, mental health clinicians, therapists, but then things like nurse practitioners.
Many of these jobs are remote positions. In the Tampa area specifically, companies like United Health Group, CVS Health, PRA Health Sciences and Bright Healthcare are all hiring.
10 Tampa Bay Cares: If you are in crisis, you can contact the Crisis Text Line 24/7 at 741741. It will connect you with a Crisis Counselor for free. For more free and confidential support, call 1-800-273-8255 if you need to talk to someone.
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