What does a child and adolescent therapist do?
Child and Adolescent Therapists are responsible for providing psychological evaluations and therapy for young people and children. Their duties include conducting behavioral observations, implementing long-term and short-term interventions, and developing individualized treatment plans. They have also been involved in monitoring psychological improvements, producing reports, and overseeing trainee therapists. Child and Adolescent Therapists also facilitate training for other healthcare staff and work collaboratively with schools, agencies, hospitals, and family communities in delivering a holistic therapy service. They participate in continuing professional development (CFD) to keep updated with best practices.
Child and adolescent therapist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real child and adolescent therapist resumes:
- Develop and lead DBT base therapy groups for children and adolescents in residential treatment.
- Create and lead PTSD group for women, depression and stress management groups for men and women.
- Conduct pre-authorization assessments for clients receiving Medicaid services to ensure continuation of services need for rehabilitation.
- Provide supervisor for applicants for LCSW and LPC.
- Assist in establishing a newly create PHP program.
- Work with both treatment IOP programs, facilitating individual and group therapy.
- Follow Medicaid compliance for all documents and keep client charts and documentation up to date and accurate.
- Complete intake biopsychosocial assessments for clients at the PHP, IOP, and RTC level of care.
- Guide a small group of children on the autism spectrum in a day treatment classroom, improving play and social skills.
- Participate in weekly supervision sessions with national FFT consultant.
- Provide in home family therapy utilizing FFT model in urban setting
- Conduct weekly utilization review meeting to track current Medicaid usage and authorizations.
- Develop comprehensive treatment plans that focuse on accurate diagnosis and behavioral treatment of problems.
- Conduct assessments for children/adolescents with emotional and behavioral challenges to assist with identifying a diagnosis.
- Provide career, vocational and rehabilitation counseling for client's seeking or maintaining higher education and/or employment.
Child and adolescent therapist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 24% of Child And Adolescent Therapists are proficient in Social Work, Patients, and Substance Abuse. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Emotional skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Child And Adolescent Therapists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Social Work, 24%
Collaborated with multidisciplinary team of clinical social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists and rehabilitation counselors to develop individualized treatment plans.
- Patients, 9%
Assisted patients in establishing an alcohol/drug free lifestyle by increasing their understanding of their pathological relationship to mood/mind altering chemicals.
- Substance Abuse, 8%
Licensed Mental Health Counselor Children's Therapist Individual and Family Therapy Adolescent Substance Abuse
- Community Resources, 4%
Assist parents in finding community resources that upon discharge pt can use to obtain pharmacological and rehabilitation assistance.
- Group Therapy Sessions, 4%
Facilitated individual and group therapy sessions within an intensive outpatient rehabilitation setting.
- Mental Health Assessments, 3%
Maintain professional documentation of services, write mental health assessments, treatment summaries, discharge reports and recommendations to Family Court.
Common skills that a child and adolescent therapist uses to do their job include "social work," "patients," and "substance abuse." You can find details on the most important child and adolescent therapist responsibilities below.
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a child and adolescent therapist to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "clients talk to social workers about challenges in their lives." Child and adolescent therapists often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "certified in first aid and cpr skills used communication skills behavior management skills"
Problem-solving skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of child and adolescent therapists is problem-solving skills. This skill is critical to many everyday child and adolescent therapist duties, as "social workers must analyze their clients’ complex situations and develop practical solutions." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "used various therapy techniques including solution focused, cognitive behavioral therapy, art therapy, play therapy and family systems. "
Organizational skills. A big part of what child and adolescent therapists do relies on "organizational skills." You can see how essential it is to child and adolescent therapist responsibilities because "social workers must help and manage multiple clients, often assisting with their paperwork or documenting their treatment." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical child and adolescent therapist tasks: "coordinate with mst team and intervene as one organizational unit while providing services to coordinate services and follow-up assessments. "
Interpersonal skills. Another crucial skill for a child and adolescent therapist to carry out their responsibilities is "interpersonal skills." A big part of what child and adolescent therapists relies on this skill, since "social workers must be able to work with different groups of people." How this skill relates to child and adolescent therapist duties can be seen in an example from a child and adolescent therapist resume snippet: "assist children, adolescents and parents in practicing appropriate problem solving, anger management, and interpersonal interaction. "
The three companies that hire the most child and adolescent therapists are:
- Thriveworks1,067 child and adolescent therapists jobs
- Kaiser Group Inc46 child and adolescent therapists jobs
- Universal Health Services22 child and adolescent therapists jobs
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Compare different child and adolescent therapists
Child and adolescent therapist vs. Intensive in-home counselor
An Intensive In-Home Counselor conducts individual counseling sessions for parents and deals with delicate issues like sexual addiction. They also prepare progress reports for clients.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between child and adolescent therapists and intensive in-home counselor. For instance, child and adolescent therapist responsibilities require skills such as "social work," "patients," "substance abuse," and "group therapy sessions." Whereas a intensive in-home counselor is skilled in "family therapy," "intensive in-home," "at-risk youth," and "out-of-home placements." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Intensives in-home counselor tend to make the most money working in the utilities industry, where they earn an average salary of $56,398. In contrast, child and adolescent therapists make the biggest average salary, $66,413, in the health care industry.intensives in-home counselor tend to reach lower levels of education than child and adolescent therapists. In fact, intensives in-home counselor are 23.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Child and adolescent therapist vs. Clinician
A clinician specializes in providing diagnosis, treatment, and direct care to patients with different illnesses. A clinician's duties mainly revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis, providing medical care through various therapies, and improving one's overall health condition. Furthermore, a clinician must obtain and analyze a patient's complete medical history, provide diagnostic tests, always monitor the effects of treatment on a patient, provide prognosis and consider the overall impact on a patient's health and well-being.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, child and adolescent therapist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "substance abuse," "therapy services," "medicaid," and "individual therapy sessions." Meanwhile, a clinician has duties that require skills in areas such as "patient care," "individual therapy," "mental illness," and "treatment services." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Clinicians earn lower levels of education than child and adolescent therapists in general. They're 6.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for child and adolescent therapists in the next 3-5 years?
Virginia Schwindt
MSW Field Director/Associate Professor, Union University
Child and adolescent therapist vs. Family counselor
A Family Counselor treats married couples or family members in order to help them overcome mental or emotional problems. They provide effective treatment measures to help the family members resolve their issues.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, child and adolescent therapists are more likely to have skills like "patients," "group therapy sessions," "mental health assessments," and "therapy services." But a family counselor is more likely to have skills like "poc," "family support," "family therapy," and "dod."
Family counselors earn the best pay in the professional industry, where they command an average salary of $40,967. Child and adolescent therapists earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $66,413.When it comes to education, family counselors tend to earn lower degree levels compared to child and adolescent therapists. In fact, they're 15.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Child and adolescent therapist vs. Licensed social worker
Licensed Social Workers are duly and legally recognized to carry out activities related to social work. They identify individuals or groups of people in need and assess what kind of help they require. They may assist these people in connecting to agencies that would cater to their needs. Licensed Social Workers also help people cope with their challenges. They are responsible for crafting treatment plans or well-being improvement plans for the individuals they help. They may also be called on during times of crisis to provide emotional support to the individuals involved.
Types of child and adolescent therapist
Updated January 8, 2025
