Post job
zippia ai icon

Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Adolescent counselor skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Quoted experts
Kacie Blalock Ph.D.,
Kacie Blalock Ph.D.
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical adolescent counselor skills. We ranked the top skills for adolescent counselors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 14.3% of adolescent counselor resumes contained crisis intervention as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills an adolescent counselor needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 adolescent counselor skills for your resume and career

1. Crisis Intervention

Here's how adolescent counselors use crisis intervention:
  • Provided case management and made referrals for higher level of care placement along with implemented crisis interventions.
  • Provided intake assessments, crisis intervention and counseling.

2. Social Work

Here's how adolescent counselors use social work:
  • Worked closely with Group Home Admin, Staff, Probation and Social workers to provide excellent treatment to each individual client.
  • Attended reviews with social workers and court reviews to update other interested parties on progress or new direction needed in treatment.

3. Group Therapy Sessions

Here's how adolescent counselors use group therapy sessions:
  • Facilitated group therapy sessions using Reality Therapy Approach, which provided adolescents the maximum growth potential.
  • Provided weekly individual and group therapy sessions for court referred or self-referred juveniles.

4. Behavioral Problems

Here's how adolescent counselors use behavioral problems:
  • Counseled individuals to help them understand and overcome personal, social, or behavioral problems affecting their educational and vocational situations.
  • Provide therapeutic and behavior intervention, including case management, to detainees with emotional and behavioral problems utilizing a team approach.

5. Individual Therapy

Here's how adolescent counselors use individual therapy:
  • Performed adult individual therapy as well as co-facilitated adult family therapy groups.
  • Facilitate group and individual therapy sessions.

6. Substance Abuse Treatment

Here's how adolescent counselors use substance abuse treatment:
  • Provided outpatient substance abuse treatment and intervention to clients with co-occurring disorders.
  • Provided community-based substance abuse treatment and mental health services.

Choose from 10+ customizable adolescent counselor resume templates

Build a professional adolescent counselor resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your adolescent counselor resume.

7. Mental Health Issues

Here's how adolescent counselors use mental health issues:
  • Provided individual, group and family counseling for adolescents struggling with substance abuse and mental health issues.
  • Provide counseling services for various mental health issues.

8. Individual Sessions

Here's how adolescent counselors use individual sessions:
  • Facilitated group therapy daily, individual sessions as needed and family sessions weekly.
  • Facilitated therapeutic groups, seminars and individual sessions.

9. Community Resources

Community resources are a set of resources that are used in the day to day life of people which improves their lifestyle in some way. People, sites or houses, and population assistance can come under the services offered by community resources.

Here's how adolescent counselors use community resources:
  • Provided case management and linkage to community resources.
  • Accompanied clients and family members to appointments such as court, medical, training, educational and community resources.

10. Crisis Situations

Here's how adolescent counselors use crisis situations:
  • Implement crisis prevention and manage crisis situations and escalated behavior.
  • Served as resource person for crisis situations, as well as mental health referrals and consultations.

11. Adolescent Clients

Here's how adolescent counselors use adolescent clients:
  • Participated in evaluation, assessment, and treatment planning for chemically dependent adolescent clients.
  • Supervised education of adolescent clients.

12. Community Outreach

Here's how adolescent counselors use community outreach:
  • Conducted community outreach and educational workshops on a monthly basis.
  • Participated in twice-monthly community outreach to recruit foster parents.

13. Direct Care

Direct care is the act of identifying people with special needs and offering the necessary care for them.

Here's how adolescent counselors use direct care:
  • Implemented direct care for youth ages 12-17 that meet the needs for psychiatric evaluation.
  • Provided direct care to boys ages 9- with behavioral and emotional disorders.

14. Incident Reports

An Incident Report, in a medical facility such as hospitals and nursing homes, is a type of paperwork filled out immediately after and in the case of an incident of some sort, with the goal of describing the incident and its consequences, as well as the measurements taken after or during the incident, as well as any other information relevant to said incident. Such an incident might be a patient acting out or a patient being injured.

Here's how adolescent counselors use incident reports:
  • Documented and developed progress reports, intake and discharge reports, and incident reports.
  • Completed critical incident reports; aided adolescents in attaining their treatment goals.

15. Behavioral Issues

Behavioral issues are the tendencies of individuals displaying unpleasant behavior as a result of sickness or addiction.

Here's how adolescent counselors use behavioral issues:
  • Work at an intensive residential program with adolescent females who struggle with substance abuse, mental health, and behavioral issues.
  • Facilitate safe, fun and challenging activities while managing behavioral issues and interventions.
top-skills

What skills help Adolescent Counselors find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on adolescent counselor resumes?

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.

Associate Professor; Director, Master of Counseling, Louisiana State University at Shreveport

Skills that stand out on Counselor resumes include multilingual, critical thinking, conflict resolution, and leadership skills.

What soft skills should all adolescent counselors possess?

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.

Associate Professor; Director, Master of Counseling, Louisiana State University at Shreveport

Soft skills that are essential for counselors include emotional intelligence, empathy, multicultural competency, interpersonal abilities, and authenticity.

What hard/technical skills are most important for adolescent counselors?

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.

Associate Professor; Director, Master of Counseling, Louisiana State University at Shreveport

It is important that counselors are able to effectively take notes and summarize progress, interpret assessments, memorize and recall information, and keep clear yet concise records.

What adolescent counselor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Emily Yowell Ph.D.Emily Yowell Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Professor

There is a critical need for mental health care in our world. Many want to help with this need, making counseling a good profession to enter now.

What type of skills will young adolescent counselors need?

Dr. Thomas Dearden Ph.D.Dr. Thomas Dearden Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Assistant Professor of Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Indeed, the way we work is changing. The skills that young graduates will need are diverse. Transferable skills and soft skills will certainly be marketable. These include traditional crafts such as communication, but I also think the world expects more empathy from its employees. Young graduates with an understanding of racism, sexism, and environmental responsibility will become increasingly important.

List of adolescent counselor skills to add to your resume

Adolescent counselor skills

The most important skills for an adolescent counselor resume and required skills for an adolescent counselor to have include:

  • Crisis Intervention
  • Social Work
  • Group Therapy Sessions
  • Behavioral Problems
  • Individual Therapy
  • Substance Abuse Treatment
  • Mental Health Issues
  • Individual Sessions
  • Community Resources
  • Crisis Situations
  • Adolescent Clients
  • Community Outreach
  • Direct Care
  • Incident Reports
  • Behavioral Issues
  • Therapeutic Environment
  • Community Agencies
  • Crisis Management
  • CPI
  • Discharge Planning
  • Anger Management
  • Behavior Modification
  • IOP
  • CPR
  • Treatment Programs
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Mental Health Professionals
  • Medicaid
  • ADHD
  • Art Therapy
  • Independent Living
  • Discharge Summaries
  • Substance Abuse Issues
  • Law Enforcement
  • Family Therapy Sessions
  • Teen
  • Eating Disorders
  • Client Behavior
  • Court Reports
  • Behavioral Disorders
  • Emotional Support
  • Client Charts
  • Residential Treatment Facility
  • CBT
  • DUI
  • Adolescent Girls

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Browse community and social services jobs