Careers in Ohio’s Community Behavioral Health System

Licenses covered

• Clinical Counselor roles
• CDCA workforce
• Peer Supporter
• Case Manager

Mental Health and Addiction Services by the numbers

These figures are ours, not the board's — we computed them from the full State of Ohio licence file so you can see this board in context rather than one record at a time. Data as of September 2026.

Only 55.1% of the 8,858 licences this board has on record are currently active — the other 44.9% belong to people who retired, moved, changed careers, or simply let a credential lapse. That gap is the single best reason to verify a licence rather than assume a name in a database means somebody may practise today.

Most common licence types

When a licence from this board is not active, the most common reason recorded is expired (2,327 records), followed by lapsed (1,613). Our status dictionary explains what each label actually means.

0% of this board's licences carry a recorded board action (0 of 8,858), against about 1.6% across all Ohio professions. A board action covers everything from an administrative consent agreement to revocation, and it is cumulative over a licence's whole life — see how we measured that before reading much into it.

Computed by OhioLicenseCheck from the State of Ohio eLicense dataset (issued licences only; application records excluded). Refreshed daily.

Why choose this path

• Peer supporter certification turns lived recovery experience into paid work quickly
• Community agencies are the classic place to accrue supervised clinical hours
• Public-service loan forgiveness often applies to agency employment
• Case management offers bachelor’s-level entry into the system
• Mission-first culture with visible community impact

Path to the license

1. 1

   Map your entry point

   Peer support (certification through OhioMHAS-approved training), case management (bachelor’s in a related field), or clinical roles (licenses from the counselor/social-work or chemical-dependency boards).

2. 2

   Get certified or licensed for the role

   Peer supporters complete approved training plus an exam; clinical staff hold their professional-board licenses which the agency verifies.

3. 3

   Join a certified provider agency

   OhioMHAS certifies the treatment programs; working inside one connects you to supervision, training budgets, and career ladders.

4. 4

   Ladder upward

   Many agency leaders started as peers or case managers and added licenses over time — the system rewards internal advancement.

Pay and outlook

Entry roles (peer support, residential techs) typically pay in the low-to-mid $30,000s in Ohio; case managers in the $38,000–48,000 range; licensed clinicians in agency settings $50,000–70,000 with supervisory roles above that. Public-sector benefits and loan-forgiveness eligibility meaningfully raise total compensation.

Ohio’s behavioral-health funding has expanded for years, and workforce shortage reports keep hiring pressure high across all roles.

Where Ohioans train

Schools listed are well-known examples, not endorsements — always compare accreditation, cost, and outcomes.

Official links & resources

• OhioMHAS
• Ohio CSWMFT Board (clinical licenses)
• BLS Outlook: Community & Social Service