How to Choose a Major
Careers in Mental Health
How to Choose a Major
Are you interested in a career in mental health care? Jobs in mental health include working as a therapist, supervisor, or consultant in a private practice, community clinic, or hospital setting. Mental health care providers also work in school/university settings as counselors and in government settings as mental health policymakers or social service providers. Some also work in the tech sector at mental health startups.
Careers in mental health can be pursued with any undergraduate major. There are many ways to think about how to design your undergrad experience.
You can pick a major that has to do with the study of human behavior, relationships and societies, and mental health on a population level, such as PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, or PUBLIC HEALTH.
If you are interested in the biological bases of behavior, consider BIOLOGY or NEUROSCIENCE.
Given that conversation is the basis of talk therapy, consider COMMUNICATION STUDIES.
You might be curious about the intersection between religion, the science of being, and mental health and want to pursue THEOLOGY and PHILOSOPHY.
Are you planning to start your own private practice or enter the mental health tech startup space - if so, consider the ENTREPRENEURSHIP & INNOVATION major in the School of Management.
If you have particular client populations you hope to work with in the future, you can consider those as majors and minors of study as well, such as CRITICAL DIVERSITY STUDIES, AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES, ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN STUDIES, CHICANX/LATINX & INDIGENOUS STUDIES, COMPARATIVE DIVERSITY STUDIES, GENDER & SEXUALITY STUDIES or LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES.