Post job

Explore jobs

Find specific jobs

Explore careers

Explore professions

Best companies

Explore companies

OverviewJobsSalaryResume

Skills

What They DoEducationCertificationsDemographicsJob DescriptionHow To HireBest CompaniesBest StatesBest CitiesRemote JobsJob OutlookComparePart Time jobsEntry Level jobsFull Time jobsWork From Home jobs
zippia ai icon

Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Clinical therapist skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
2 min read
Quoted experts
Dr. Telvis Rich,
Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen
Clinical therapist example skills
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical clinical therapist skills. We ranked the top skills for clinical therapists based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 25.7% of clinical therapist resumes contained social work as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a clinical therapist needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 clinical therapist skills for your resume and career

1. Social Work

Here's how clinical therapists use social work:
  • Collaborated with treatment team of psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and rehabilitation counselors to develop individualized treatment plans.
  • Licensed Master of Social Work with experience providing individual and group therapy to substance-using and sexually exploited populations.

2. Patients

Here's how clinical therapists use patients:
  • Provided individual and family therapy for patients with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, and sensory processing issues.
  • Discharge Coordinator with community and educational agencies to provide additional support, transition, and aftercare services for patients.

3. Crisis Intervention

Here's how clinical therapists use crisis intervention:
  • Facilitated group therapy sessions*Instructed group lectures*Responsible for treatment planning and documentation*Crisis Intervention
  • Conduct crisis interventions, clinical assessments, develop and implement personalized treatment plans, provide individual therapy and group psychotherapy.

4. Mental Health

Mental health is the state of wellbeing in which an individual can cope with the regular stresses and tensions of life, and can work productively without having any emotional or psychological breakdown. Mental health is essential for a person of any age and helps them make the right decisions in their life.

Here's how clinical therapists use mental health:
  • Provide outpatient therapy to a wide variety of clients informed by evidence-based clinical best practices in community-based mental health centers.
  • Participated in multidisciplinary teams and meetings advocating for clients physical care, mental health and educational needs.

5. Discharge Planning

Here's how clinical therapists use discharge planning:
  • Determined appropriateness of placement options with written clinical strength-based assessments including treatment recommendations and discharge planning.
  • Discharge Planning included referring clients to supportive services to supplement their treatment and for medication management.

6. 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 therapists use community resources:
  • Provide community resources to address barriers of children and families to assist with family stabilization and reunification.
  • Complete initial intake assessment, implements appropriate interventions and makes referrals to community resources as needed.

Choose from 10+ customizable clinical therapist resume templates

Build a professional clinical therapist 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 clinical therapist resume.

7. Psychosocial Assessments

Here's how clinical therapists use psychosocial assessments:
  • Provided psychosocial assessments and developed comprehensive Individual Program Plans, as well as providing case management services for residents.
  • Conducted comprehensive initial in-home psychosocial assessments and collaborated closely with treatment team to appropriately coordinate client care services.

8. Clinical Services

Here's how clinical therapists use clinical services:
  • Insured all provisions of clinical services including established review schedules, documentation, and case management.
  • Designed and managed a therapeutic mentoring program to improve clinical services and increase revenue.

9. Mental Illness

Here's how clinical therapists use mental illness:
  • Provided individual outpatient psychotherapy and services to a multicultural and low socioeconomic status clientele with dual diagnoses and severe mental illness.
  • Conducted clinical assessments and provided therapy for adults, children and families with chronic mental illness; facilitated medication maintenance groups

10. Substance Abuse Treatment

Here's how clinical therapists use substance abuse treatment:
  • Coordinated and conducted comprehensive substance abuse treatment services, including individual and group therapy with adults.
  • Referred veterans to substance abuse treatments centers, supportive housing options and Veteran Administration services.

11. 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 therapists use clinical supervision:
  • Provide independent clinical supervision to unlicensed, license-seeking, and LADC-licensed professional behavioral health practitioners and students as assigned.
  • Provided clinical supervision, as well as responsible for community outreach and agency collaboration.

12. Community Agencies

Community agencies stand for the organizations operated to provide human service in the community.

Here's how clinical therapists use community agencies:
  • Provided triage coverage as scheduled, advocated for clients with community agencies, and completed documentation necessary for insurance needs.
  • Referred and coordinated client services with the internal interdisciplinary team and/or community agencies to ensure appropriate patient care.

13. Therapeutic Interventions

Here's how clinical therapists use therapeutic interventions:
  • Skilled in a variety of therapeutic interventions including play and art therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, emotionally focused couples therapy.
  • Provided therapeutic intervention and case management services to severely emotionally disturbed children/adolescents and their families in an outpatient setting.

14. Eating Disorders

Here's how clinical therapists use eating disorders:
  • Created agency-specific marketing materials designated to create and spread awareness about eating disorders and self-injury.
  • Facilitate intensive outpatient group therapy for individuals with eating disorders; to include meal support groups and eating disorder recovery groups.

15. Intake Assessments

Here's how clinical therapists use intake assessments:
  • Provided intake assessments, treatment planning and treatment interventions within the Kern County specified regulations and using Anasazi electronic charting format.
  • Complete intake assessments, provide diagnosis and develop treatment plans surrounding information gathered by using a client-centered approach.
top-skills

What skills help Clinical Therapists find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on clinical therapist resumes?

Dr. Telvis Rich

Associate Professor, Long Island University-Brooklyn

For a 21st century professional Social Worker, the following skills are essential to highlight on the resume: details of the roles, responsibilities and tasks completed during the bachelor level and/or master level Social Work practicum (internship), the interprofessional skills of working with diverse clients, communities, supervisors and colleagues during the practicum, and a clear vision of the population the applicant seeks to serve in an agency or organization. In short, today's workplace is very competitive; thus, a concise list of skills that highlight professionalism, diversity, service, competency in a practice area, and respect for others are truly essential. These required skills align to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics and employers will seek to see such on a well written resume. Further, a quality cover letter outlining the skills will enhance the resume in a competitive and ever changing Social Work marketplace.

What hard/technical skills are most important for clinical therapists?

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 soft skills should all clinical therapists possess?

Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Human Factors, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Students need to be able to read individual and group dynamics in order to act appropriately in any given situation. This includes not only the interactions with one's bosses but also peers and subordinates. Similarly, being comfortable with networking can help any company, but networking skills shine through in interviews.

What clinical therapist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Charles Westerberg Ph.D.Charles Westerberg Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

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 therapists need?

Dr. Eva Moya Ph.D.Dr. Eva Moya Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

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
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about clinical therapist

List of clinical therapist skills to add to your resume

Clinical therapist skills

The most important skills for a clinical therapist resume and required skills for a clinical therapist to have include:

  • Social Work
  • Patients
  • Crisis Intervention
  • Mental Health
  • Discharge Planning
  • Community Resources
  • Psychosocial Assessments
  • Clinical Services
  • Mental Illness
  • Substance Abuse Treatment
  • Clinical Supervision
  • Community Agencies
  • Therapeutic Interventions
  • Eating Disorders
  • Intake Assessments
  • Clinical Assessments
  • Rehabilitation
  • Therapeutic Services
  • Therapy Counseling
  • Clinical Documentation
  • Diagnostic Assessments
  • Compassion
  • Family Therapy Sessions
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • Mental Health Issues
  • Mental Health Disorders
  • Group Therapy Sessions
  • Medicaid
  • Clinical Therapy
  • Individual Therapy Sessions
  • Discharge Summaries
  • Team Planning
  • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
  • DSM-IV
  • Crisis Management
  • DMH
  • Sexual Abuse
  • Anger Management
  • Dual Diagnosis
  • Mental Health Assessments
  • Residential Treatment Facility
  • Substance Abuse Issues
  • Domestic Violence
  • Telemedicine
  • Crisis Situations
  • Personality Disorders
  • ADHD
  • PTSD
  • Private Practice
  • Treatment Plan Reviews

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.

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse healthcare practitioner and technical jobs