Build free

Psychiatric Technician resume example

A resume for a Psychiatric Technician needs to show the work itself: care for individuals with mental or emotional conditions or disabilities, following the instructions of physicians or other health practitioners. Day to day that means work like this: provide nursing, psychiatric, or personal care to patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities; encourage patients to develop work skills and to participate in social, recreational, or other therapeutic activities that enhance interpersonal skills or develop social relationships. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

  • Mental Health Associate
  • Mental Health Technician
  • MHT
  • MHW
  • Mental Health Worker
  • PT
  • BHT
  • Behavioral Health Technician
  • Health Care Technician
  • Health Care Tech
  • LPT
  • Licensed Psychiatric Technician
  • Mental Health Specialist
  • MHA
  • Mental Health Assistant
  • Residential Aide
  • RA
  • Autism Behavior Tech

O*NET records 39 titles for this occupation in total.

What people in this job call themselves

Titles reported by people actually doing this work, which is often not the title on the job posting.

  • BHT (Behavioral Health Technician)
  • Health Care Technician (Health Care Tech)
  • LPT (Licensed Psychiatric Technician)
  • Mental Health Technician (MHT)
  • MHA (Mental Health Assistant)
  • MHW (Mental Health Worker)
  • Psychiatric Technician (PT)
  • Residential Aide (RA)

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

  • Provide nursing, psychiatric, or personal care to patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities.
  • Encourage patients to develop work skills and to participate in social, recreational, or other therapeutic activities that enhance interpersonal skills or develop social relationships.
  • Restrain violent, potentially violent, or suicidal patients by verbal or physical means as required.
  • Lead prescribed individual or group therapy sessions as part of specific therapeutic procedures.
  • Monitor patients' physical and emotional well-being and report unusual behavior or physical ailments to medical staff.
  • Take and record measures of patients' physical condition, using devices such as thermometers or blood pressure gauges.
  • Observe and influence patients' behavior, communicating and interacting with them and teaching, counseling, or befriending them.
  • Aid patients in performing tasks, such as bathing or keeping beds, clothing, or living areas clean.
  • Collaborate with or assist doctors, psychologists, or rehabilitation therapists in working with patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities to treat, rehabilitate, and return patients to the community.
  • Develop or teach strategies to promote client wellness and independence.
  • Train or instruct new employees on procedures to follow with psychiatric patients.
  • Escort patients to medical appointments.

16 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

  • Provide nursing, psychiatric, or personal care to patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Encourage patients to develop work skills and to participate in social, recreational, or other therapeutic activities that enhance interpersonal skills or develop social relationships, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Restrain violent, potentially violent, or suicidal patients by verbal or physical means as required, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Lead prescribed individual or group therapy sessions as part of specific therapeutic procedures, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

  • ADL Data Systems OptimumClinicals Electronic Health Record
  • Allscripts Sunrise
  • Cerner ProFile
  • Epic EpicCare Inpatient Clinical System
  • GE Healthcare Centricity EMR
  • ICANotes
  • InfoLogix HealthTrax Engine
  • MEDITECH Behavioral Health Clinicals
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft Word
  • Netsmart Technologies Avatar Clinical Workstation CWS

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

  • Bag valve mask BVM resuscitators
  • Blood drawing syringes
  • Blood pressure cuffs
  • Cold therapy equipment
  • Crutches
  • Desktop computers
  • Electronic patient thermometers
  • Emergency carts
  • Enema equipment
  • Evacuated blood collection tubes
  • Glucometers
  • Gurneys

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

  1. 01Social Perceptiveness
  2. 02Active Listening
  3. 03Monitoring
  4. 04Coordination
  5. 05Speaking
  6. 06Reading Comprehension
  7. 07Critical Thinking
  8. 08Service Orientation
  9. 09Instructing
  10. 10Writing

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

  • Psychology
  • Therapy and Counseling
  • English Language
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Medicine and Dentistry
  • Education and Training
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Law and Government

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

  • 40%Some College Courses
  • 30%Bachelor's Degree
  • 20%High School Diploma, or the equivalent

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Medium Preparation Needed”. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Common questions

What does a Psychiatric Technician do?
Care for individuals with mental or emotional conditions or disabilities, following the instructions of physicians or other health practitioners. Day to day that includes work like provide nursing, psychiatric, or personal care to patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities and Encourage patients to develop work skills and to participate in social, recreational, or other therapeutic activities that enhance interpersonal skills or develop social relationships.
What skills should a Psychiatric Technician put on a resume?
O*NET rates Social Perceptiveness, Active Listening, Monitoring, Coordination, and Speaking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Psychiatric Technician list?
Software recorded for this occupation includes ADL Data Systems OptimumClinicals Electronic Health Record, Allscripts Sunrise, Cerner ProFile, Epic EpicCare Inpatient Clinical System, and GE Healthcare Centricity EMR. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Psychiatric Technician work?
O*NET records 39 titles for this occupation, including Mental Health Associate, Mental Health Technician, MHT, and MHW. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Psychiatric Technician need?
In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 40% reported their level of education as "Some College Courses". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Psychiatric Technician role?
No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

  • No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
  • This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
  • Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.