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Clinical counselor skills for your resume and career
Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Quoted experts
Teresa Reynolds,
Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical clinical counselor skills. We ranked the top skills for clinical counselors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 36.1% of clinical counselor resumes contained social work as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a clinical counselor needs to be successful in the workplace.
15 clinical counselor skills for your resume and career
2. Patients
Here's how clinical counselors use patients:
- Performed client intake assessments and conducted monthly assessments to identify progress of patients and determine individuals ready to graduate from program.
- Developed collaborative and integrative treatment plans for patients and provided additional resources to patients, relevant to their treatment process.
3. Foster Care
Here's how clinical counselors use foster care:
- Provided service coordination for a grant-funded project aimed at treating seriously emotionally disturbed youth and adolescents in foster care.
- Collaborated with community professionals to integrate counseling goals into school program (IEP), Social Services, and Foster Care.
4. Independent Living
Here's how clinical counselors use independent living:
- Write updated treatment plans for behavior modification and socialization in preparation for reintroduction into the general population and independent living.
- Supported activities conducive of transition from assisted to more independent living.
5. Child Abuse
When a child who is under 18 is mistreated by an adult, it is considered child abuse. There are many forms of intentional harm and mistreatment for example physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, medical abuse, and neglect in providing adequate basic life necessities.
Here's how clinical counselors use child abuse:
- Facilitate psycho-educational training on domestic violence, the effects of child abuse, resilient transitions and anger/stress management.
- Provided crisis assessments of safety to self, others, child abuse, and spousal abuse and/or neglect.
6. Clinical Services
Here's how clinical counselors use clinical services:
- Render clinical services and case management for clients regarding domestic abuse incidents.
- Managed the delivery of quality clinical services to clients who are abusing substances and or alcohol for an outpatient methadone program.
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Anger management is a program that helps with anger prevention and control. The process involves identifying signs of anger and learning how to prevent outbursts or destructive behavior.
Here's how clinical counselors use anger management:
- Conducted evaluations for court-ordered individuals for anger management, domestic violence, parenting, chemical dependency, and sexual addictions.
- Facilitated didactic seminars incorporating age appropriate topics including anger management, self-esteem and motivational interviewing.
8. Clinical Supervision
Clinical supervision refers to how practicing nurses get professional and moral support from their experienced colleagues. The practice aims to promote their ability to make a concrete decision that values the patient's well-being.
Here's how clinical counselors use clinical supervision:
- Performed Utilization Reviews/Quality Assurance, reviewed clinical files, conducted case management meetings, monitored counselor proficiency and provided clinical supervision.
- Provided clinical supervision for newly hired counselors as requested by Clinical Supervisor.
10. Program Documentation
Here's how clinical counselors use program documentation:
- Develop and maintain clinical records and program documentation.
- Develop and maintain clinical records and program documentation according to contract and CHS standards.
11. Mental Health Issues
Here's how clinical counselors use mental health issues:
- Provided individual, group, and family therapy to children and adolescents diagnosed with a range of mental health issues.
- Provide treatment services to children, adolescents, and adults dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues.
12. 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 clinical counselors use community resources:
- Linked program participants with community resources that provided services for ex-offenders in areas of employment, educational support, psychiatric evaluations.
- Maintained current information regarding community resources and actively assists clients and/or their families in accessing services from other agencies.
13. Mental Health Assessments
Here's how clinical counselors use mental health assessments:
- Conducted comprehensive mental health assessments.
- Performed social and mental health assessments, developed treatment plans, and coordinated treatment with other agency providers.
14. Rehabilitation
Here's how clinical counselors use rehabilitation:
- Managed a caseload of individuals in programs designed to provide vocational rehabilitation and other services to the developmentally disabled.
- Monitored participant's medication compliance and connected participants with medication support services, mental health and rehabilitation services.
15. Substance Abuse Issues
Here's how clinical counselors use substance abuse issues:
- Present seminars based on substance abuse issues, including behavioral modification and mindfulness techniques.
- Worked with incarcerated individuals with substance abuse issues
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What skills help Clinical Counselors find jobs?
Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.
What skills stand out on clinical counselor resumes?
Teresa Reynolds
Director of Field Education & Social Work Program Coordinator, Longwood University
Graduates who have had a variety of field experiences and not simply worked with one particular population definitely stand our as having more experience/skills. In addition, students who have a variety of leadership positions in extra-curricular activities or have demonstrated service through volunteering tend to "stand out" among his/her peers.
What soft skills should all clinical counselors possess?
Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen
Associate Professor, Augustana University
Cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills are important, including openness to work with people with varying religious views. The ability to easily connect with others and put people at ease in your presence is valuable in working with clients and collaborating with a treatment team. As more and more agencies interact with the medical field, spiritual leaders, and other holistic approaches to health, counselors need to see their role in an interdisciplinary approach to healing and work effectively with other departments. With teletherapy/virtual therapy, just the simple difficulty of creating eye contact when one's camera is not directly aligned with their viewscreen can complicate important connections in the therapeutic relationship. Learning to effectively connect through screens is essential.
What hard/technical skills are most important for clinical counselors?
Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen
Associate Professor, Augustana University
Obviously, mastering the technology used in teletherapy and virtual counseling is essential. Further, the use of computer programs for therapy notes, documentation, and diagnosis is also important. Assessment and psychometric abilities are also important as psychotherapy research has been very clear about the important role of outcome measurement and objective assessment in psychotherapy. When prospective clinicians demonstrate the ability to work with numbers (and the software needed to make them useful), they show an openness to the objective assessment of their work.
What clinical counselor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Charles Westerberg Ph.D.
Brannon-Ballard Professor of Sociology, Beloit College
For students taking a gap year, I think they should focus on building up their social capital networks. They should get as much exposure and face time as possible in fields that will give them access to people who can vouch for them. This might not be precisely the sort of position they are looking for, but it should provide them with access to relatable skills and contacts. To do this, students should call and email relentlessly. You never know when you will get a break. Passivity is not an excellent way to create gaps for yourself.
What type of skills will young clinical counselors need?
Dr. Eva Moya Ph.D.
Professor, The University of Texas
Graduates of the social work profession need to be able to work with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and mobilize communities to bring about social, economic, political, or environmental change, in addition to being involved in social policy development.
Skills in research, to study social issues, with the intention of developing social policy or micro-level approaches to practice to improve people's lives, and training in relation to multiculturalism, cultural competence, cultural humility practice is vital.
Key skills include:
-Collaboration
-Critical thinking
-Ethics in evidence based-practice
-Assessment, intervention, and evaluation
-Social work competencies to inform behaviors.
-Administration and management
-Community practice
-Policy practice
Skills in research, to study social issues, with the intention of developing social policy or micro-level approaches to practice to improve people's lives, and training in relation to multiculturalism, cultural competence, cultural humility practice is vital.
Key skills include:
-Collaboration
-Critical thinking
-Ethics in evidence based-practice
-Assessment, intervention, and evaluation
-Social work competencies to inform behaviors.
-Administration and management
-Community practice
-Policy practice
What technical skills for a clinical counselor stand out to employers?
Madeline Lee Ph.D.
Associate Professor, California State University San Marcos
There are technical skills that may stand out to employers, but as social workers, I think those technical skills together with "soft skills," can make an applicant really stand out to employers; social workers can combine their research skills with evidence-informed care and organizational quality improvement efforts, while being able to lead, build relationships, and think critically. In the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, our graduates will need to be able to fluidly navigate between employing telehealth methods to performing their work safely in-person when engaging and helping clients. To be effective, social workers will also need to understand the reverberating effects of the deep-seated roots of racism in our country and be willing to honestly confront and address those issues in whatever role they assume. Social workers are needed now more than ever.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about clinical counselorList of clinical counselor skills to add to your resume
The most important skills for a clinical counselor resume and required skills for a clinical counselor to have include:
- Social Work
- Patients
- Foster Care
- Independent Living
- Child Abuse
- Clinical Services
- Anger Management
- Clinical Supervision
- Social Service Agencies
- Program Documentation
- Mental Health Issues
- Community Resources
- Mental Health Assessments
- Rehabilitation
- Substance Abuse Issues
- Therapeutic Interventions
- Crisis Intervention
- Intake Assessments
- Advocacy Program
- Clinical Assessments
- Treatment Services
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Mental Illness
- Private Practice
- Mental Health
- Discharge Planning
- Relapse Prevention
- EAP
- Psychosocial Assessments
- ASAM
- Individual Therapy
- Crisis Situations
- Therapeutic Services
- Therapy Counseling
- Sexual Abuse
- Informed Consent
- Mental Health Disorders
- Community Agencies
- Group Therapy Sessions
- Management System
- Early Intervention
- Stress Management
- Crisis Management
- Domestic Violence
- Clinical Documentation
- DBT
- Dual Diagnosis
- Individual Sessions
- ADHD
Updated January 8, 2025
Updated January 8, 2025
1. Social Work