Five Ways to Use MPH Degree in Behavioral Health
- Behavioral Health Technician
- Homeless Services Educator
- Behavioral Health Case Worker
- Crisis Center Unit Coordinator
- Rehab Health Educator
Graduating from a public health program opens many doors for a graduate, one being a behavioral health job requiring an MPH. Behavioral health and mental health are terms frequently used in place of each other, but according to Psychology Today, behavioral health encompasses more issues including mental illness, substance abuse, personality disorders, and some developmental disorders. Common behavioral health jobs include the following.
1. Behavioral Health Technician
These professionals often work on hospital psychiatric floors or addiction recovery centers and monitor patients throughout the day. In these facilities, patients and clients eat their meals together and have free time between group activities. Behavioral techs make sure everyone is behaving appropriately, record observations, and report these back to the treating clinicians. Sometimes they will have one-on-one meetings with patients to assess their general state of mind. Other techs work in schools or a child’s home to help them learn and practice behavioral and emotional regulation skills.
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2. Homeless Services Educator
Other behavioral health careers using an MPH degree involve working with underprivileged populations. According to Forbes reporting, most homeless individuals have some type of behavioral health problem that requires treatment. Effective treatment is difficult if not impossible without a stable living situation, so finding housing for these individuals is the first step toward improving their behavioral health. This is a challenging job, though, because resources are limited, and due to their conditions, many clients have trouble following through on followup appointments.
3. Behavioral Health Case Worker
Caseworkers help clients stay organized, make appointments, manage their money, and complete other necessary activities of daily life. Individuals with behavioral health problems do not immediately improve with treatment, and it can take months to years to find the proper treatment regimen and for stabilization and psychological healing to take place. Substance abuse also can complicate the picture. Many of these clients have no other support system and would drop out of treatment, miss appointments, lose their disability benefits, or end up homeless without help.
4. Crisis Center Unit Coordinator
When individuals become acutely psychotic or suicidal, they are committed to a hospital or mental health crisis center, usually under a mandatory 72-hour hold, in order to be evaluated by a psychiatrist and stabilized. They are then either discharged home, held for further acute treatment, or transferred to an inpatient facility. The unit coordinator is the point of communication for law enforcement officials or paramedics who bring the patient to the facility, family, physicians and counselors, and transfer facilities.
5. Rehab Health Educator
Another behavioral health position for graduates of an MPH program involves working in an addiction rehabilitation center. When clients enter treatment, many of them have been abusing substances for years which takes a toll on the body and mind. Behavioral health educators help clients relearn healthy habits. They also work on programming for classes and outings to help clients reenter society, set goals, better understand the disease processes of addiction and mental illness, and increase their self-esteem.
These types of jobs can be extremely challenging because they involve working with clients at their lowest, most vulnerable points. There is not always a high success rate even when providing the appropriate services, but behavioral health jobs for MPH graduates can also be some of the most fulfilling in the public health field.
