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Behavioral health specialist resume examples from 2026

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Land interviews using Zippia's AI-powered resume builder.

Updated March 26, 2025
6 min read
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How to write a behavioral health specialist resume

Craft a resume summary statement

A resume summary is your opening statement that highlights your strongest skills and top accomplishments. It is your chance to quickly let recruiters know who you are professionally - and why they should hire you for the behavioral health specialist role.

Step 1: Start with your professional title, or the one you aspire to.

Step 2: Detail your years of experience in behavioral health specialist-related roles and your industry experience.

Step 3: What are your biggest professional wins? Here is your opportunity to highlight your strongest accomplishments by placing them at the start of your resume.

Step 4: Don't forget, your goal is to summarize your experience. Keep it short and sweet, so it's easy for recruiters to quickly understand why you're a great hire.

These tips will help you demonstrate why you are the perfect fit for the behavioral health specialist position.

Please upload your resume so Zippia’s job hunt AI can draft a summary statement for you.

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List the right project manager skills

Use your Skills section to show you have the knowledge and technical ability to do the job. Here is how to make the most of your skills section and make sure you have the right keywords:

  1. Start with the job listing. Frequently, the keywords looked for by recruiters will be listed. Be careful to include all skills in the job listing you have experience with.
  2. Consider all the software and tools you use on a daily basis. When in doubt, list them!
  3. Make sure you use accurate and up to date terms for all the skills listed.
These five steps should give you a strong elevator pitch and land you some behavioral health specialist interviews.

Here are example skills to include in your “Area of Expertise” on a behavioral health specialist resume:

  • Patients
  • Social Work
  • Substance Abuse
  • Rehabilitation
  • Patient Care
  • Mental Illness
  • Vital Signs
  • Behavioral Health
  • CPR
  • Direct Care
  • Community Resources
  • Mental Health
  • Support Services
  • Behavioral Interventions
  • Psychosis
  • Crisis Situations
  • Developmental Disabilities
  • Discharge Planning
  • Home Health
  • Milieu Management
  • Autism
  • Data Collection
  • Medicaid
  • Family Therapy
  • HIPAA
  • Applied Behavior Analysis
  • Compassion
  • Criminal Justice
  • Eating Disorders
  • Crisis Intervention

Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.

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How to structure your work experience

Your employment history is arguably one of the most important parts of your resume. It shows you have experience and foundation in your field to successfully master the behavioral health specialist position. Here is how to most effectively structure your work experience:

  1. List your most recent experience first, followed by earlier roles in reverse chronological order. Employers care about your most recent experience the most.
  2. Start with your job title, company name, city, and state on the left. Align dates in month and year format on the right-hand side.
  3. Include only recent, relevant jobs.

How to write behavioral health specialist experience bullet points

Remember, your resume is not a list of responsibilities or a job description. This is your chance to show why you're good at your job and what you accomplished.

Use the XYZ formula for your work experience bullet points. Here's how it works:

  • Use strong action verbs like Led, Built, or Optimized.
  • Follow up with numbers when possible to support your results. How much did performance improve? How much revenue did you drive?
  • Wrap it up by explaining the actions you took to achieve the result and how you made an impact.

This creates bullet points that read Achieved X, measured by Y, by doing Z.

Here are great bullet points from behavioral health specialist resumes:

Work history example #1

Mental Health Counselor

Arizona State University

  • Provided emotional support using therapeutic communication techniques; organized milieu group activities; assessed at-risk potential.
  • Confirmed CPR trainings of unit staff.
  • Used specific techniques to help improve and develop family/couple communication and parenting.
  • Served as adjustment counselor (SAC) to one of four buildings at BHS with a total student population of 4400.
  • Supervised Medicaid allocation and billing.

Work history example #2

Residential Specialist

ACR Homes

  • Received training in CPR, emergency medical response, and the administering of holds, up to state regulations.
  • Certified in healthcare, CPR, med administration, and first aid.
  • Functioned as a member of the Interdisciplinary Treatment Team.
  • Assisted clients with ADL'S * Passed Medications * Homemaker/Companion * Integrated Clients into the community
  • Utilized different types of data including daily progress notes, staff logs and Individual Service Plans (ISPs) Schedule/Event

Work history example #3

Behavioral Health Professional

Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center

  • Provided crisis management through keeping in constant contact with clinicians, BHPs, and other members of treatment team.
  • Developed and maintained lines of communication with community by educating them on mental illness to agencies, residence and other professionals.
  • Monitored ongoing recovery and facilitated communication between families and community support teams.
  • Performed group facilitation, documentation in charts and communication with supervisor and treatment team.
  • Provided over 1000 hours of direct services in home ABA therapy for children/adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Work history example #4

Family Service Caseworker

Apple

  • Repaired relationships with customer who arrived with malfunctioning Apple mobile products.
  • Provided Genius Bar support for Apple mobile devices such as iPad, iPhone, and iPod.
  • Red Zone Specialist - Helped individuals with making decisions and purchases towards a product in the Apple Store.
  • Maintained and built lasting relationships with current Apple customers through offering fast and efficient technical support for all Apple devices.
  • Provided support, repairs, and expertise for Apple's products; primarily iPhone, iPad, and iPod.

Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.

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Add an education section to your resume

Employers are looking for a few things when looking at the Education section of your resume:
  • The highest degree you have achieved.
  • TWhere you attended school, and the dates (Although if you graduated some time ago, leave the date off to avoid ageism)
  • TField of study
  • TAny honors, relevant coursework, achievements, or pertinent activities

Here are some examples of good education entries from behavioral health specialist resumes:

Master's Degree in social work

Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

2008 - 2009

Master's Degree in social work

Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ

2002 - 2003

Highlight your behavioral health specialist certifications on your resume

Certifications are a great way to showcase special expertise or niche skills. Some jobs even require certifications to be hired.

Start simple. Include the full name of the certification. It's also good to mention the organization that issued the certification. Next, specify when you obtained the certification.

Here are some of the best certifications to have on behavioral health specialist resumes:

  1. Mental Health
  2. Correctional Behavioral Health Certification - Behavioral Specialty (CBHC-BS)
  3. Basic Life Support (BLS)

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