Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers

AI Risk Score31%Low Risk

The 31% risk score reflects the overall automation risk of your profession on a scale of 0–100. The higher the score, the more likely parts of your role could be handled by AI, increasing efficiency, but also raising the possibility of job disruption. Nearly all jobs include tasks that are automatable to some degree.

In this role, you 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. Your job is considered Low Risk for AI automation.

Below is your job's AI vulnerability profile with detailed breakdowns of tasks, knowledge areas, skills, and abilities. Each item includes AI risk scores and importance ratings to help you prioritize what to focus on. Plus, explore the technology section to see what tools and software you'll likely encounter in this role.

You're already ahead of the curve by checking your risk and exploring your options. This project goes beyond one role, we’re building a global job warning system to help everyone stay ahead of AI. By supporting our research, you’ll unlock your full job profile, including detailed risk breakdowns, trend alerts, and priority access to new research. Supporting our research not only gives you deeper insights into your own role, it helps us keep this project alive for millions of others navigating the future of work, but don't worry, if you are not ready to support us, we provide enough free insights to get you started.

In the meantime explore the sections below, and don't miss the What to do next? section for practical steps you can start today.

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On the job, you would

On-the-job activities and responsibilities that define your role. Each task is analyzed for automation potential and contributes to your overall AI risk assessment.

7/13
Counsel clients or patients regarding personal issues.4.53

Counseling clients on personal issues involves deep emotional understanding and adaptability, which AI cannot replicate.

Collaborate with other professionals to assess client needs or plan treatments.4.39

Collaborating with other professionals to plan treatments involves complex interpersonal communication and shared expertise, challenging for AI to automate.

Maintain client records.4.38Risk

Maintaining client records is a task that can be largely automated through AI systems, though human oversight is still needed.

Refer clients to community or social service programs.3.66

Referring clients to community programs involves understanding individual needs and available resources, which requires human judgment.

Counsel family members of clients or patients.3.94

Counseling family members involves emotional support and understanding, which are not easily replicable by AI.

Modify treatment plans to accommodate client needs.4.15

Modifying treatment plans requires understanding client changes and needs, which involves human judgment and adaptability.

Plan programs to address community health issues.3.61

Planning community programs involves creativity and understanding community dynamics, which are challenging for AI to automate.

Advanced Problem AnalysisRisk
Strategic Decision ImplementationRisk
Complex System OptimizationRisk

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Knowledge

Theoretical knowledge and understanding required for your position. Knowledge areas are evaluated for AI replacement likelihood and factor into your risk score.

8/15

Administration and Management

2.98Risk

Administration and Management involve repetitive, data-driven tasks (e.g., scheduling, reporting, workflow automation) that AI can handle efficiently, while strategic decision-making remains partially human-centric.

Administrative

2.94Risk

Administrative tasks involve repetitive, rule-based processes that AI can automate efficiently with RPA and NLP.

Customer and Personal Service

3.8Risk

This domain includes both routine customer service tasks (automatable) and personal interaction needs (less automatable), with AI likely to handle 60% of potential automation in the next five years.

Personnel and Human Resources

2.54Risk

Personnel and Human Resources involves repetitive tasks like payroll, scheduling, and resume screening that AI can automate efficiently, with growing capabilities in data analysis and process optimization.

Computers and Electronics

2.8Risk

The domain involves repetitive manufacturing, testing, and customer support tasks that AI can automate, with growing capabilities in complex design and analysis tasks.

Psychology

4.66

Psychology involves complex, subjective human behaviors and emotional understanding that AI struggles to replicate, though some data analysis tasks may be automated.

Sociology and Anthropology

3.61Risk

This domain knowledge involves repetitive tasks that AI already performs well. So that's a high risk. But for Sociology and Anthropology, the tasks are not repetitive. They involve complex analysis, interpretation, and understanding of human behavior, which is more challenging for AI.

Medicine and Dentistry

3.04Risk

Medicine and Dentistry involve complex decision-making, ethical judgment, and human interaction, which AI cannot fully replicate, though it can automate repetitive tasks like diagnostics and data analysis.

Advanced Analytics

Risk

Machine Learning

Risk

Predictive Modeling

Risk

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Skills

Practical abilities and competencies you need to perform your job effectively. Skills are assessed for automation vulnerability and help determine your AI risk level.

8/24

Reading Comprehension

4

Active Listening

4.12

Writing

3.75

Speaking

4.12

Mathematics

2

Critical Thinking

4

Active Learning

3.25

Learning Strategies

3.75

Advanced Problem Solving

Collapsed
Strategic Decision Making
Risk
Complex Analysis
Risk
Critical Thinking
Risk

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Abilities

Innate and learned capabilities that enable you to succeed in your role. Abilities are analyzed for AI replication potential and contribute to your overall risk assessment.

9/28

Oral Comprehension

4.5Risk

Oral comprehension involves nuanced understanding of speech, context, and tone, which AI is advancing but not yet fully automated in complex real-world scenarios.

Written Comprehension

4.12Risk

Written comprehension involves tasks like text analysis, summarization, and question-answering, which AI already excels at through advanced NLP models. These capabilities are likely to be fully automated within 5 years.

Oral Expression

4.25Risk

Oral Expression involves complex, context-dependent communication that requires nuance, adaptability, and real-time interaction, which current AI systems struggle to fully replicate, though some aspects like script generation may be automated.

Written Expression

4.12Risk

Written Expression involves nuanced understanding, creativity, and context, which AI can partially replicate but not fully, limiting automation potential in complex or original tasks.

Fluency of Ideas

3.88

Fluency of Ideas involves complex, context-dependent creativity and adaptability that current AI lacks, even with advancements in generative models.

Originality

3.75

Originality requires creative insight and novel synthesis of ideas, which AI currently lacks, though it may generate novel content based on patterns rather than true originality.

Problem Sensitivity

4.12

Problem Sensitivity requires nuanced judgment, contextual understanding, and adaptability, which current AI systems lack. While AI can analyze data, true problem sensitivity involves human intuition, ethics, and creativity.

Deductive Reasoning

4Risk

AI excels in structured deductive tasks but may struggle with complex, context-dependent reasoning requiring human intuition.

Inductive Reasoning

4Risk

Inductive reasoning involves pattern recognition and generalization, which AI already excels at through machine learning, with further advancements likely to enhance this capability in the next five years.

Critical Thinking

Risk

Complex Problem Solving

Risk

Strategic Planning

Risk

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Technology Used

Tools, software, and technological systems you use in your work.

6/11
Document management software
Desktop publishing software
Medical software
Office suite software
Data base user interface and query software
Electronic mail software
Advanced AI Tools
Machine Learning Platforms
Predictive Analytics Software

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Expert Insights

Expert comments on the job, click on the expert to see their answers.

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What to do next?

Great news — your role is fairly safe for now, but it's smart to stay proactive. Choose your strategy below:

Recommended for Low Risk:

  • • Upskill: Focus on human-centric skills that AI can't easily replicate (creativity, emotional intelligence, strategic thinking)
  • • Use AI: Learn to leverage AI tools to enhance your productivity and stay ahead of the curve
  • • Stay Alert: Monitor changes in your field to maintain your competitive advantage

Each tab contains curated resources designed to help you take the next step. More resources will be added over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Based on our analysis, a this role has a 31% AI risk score, which is considered low risk. While some tasks in this role may be automated, the profession as a whole is for now, relatively safe from complete replacement. The key is understanding which specific aspects of your job are most vulnerable, some of which are shown on this page.

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