What does a community support specialist do?
A community support specialist is responsible for supporting and providing care services for citizens with mental health conditions and other medical illnesses. Community support specialists coordinate with organizations and health institutions to generate resources that would help the patients in their daily activities, medications, and treatment plans. They also strategize community events and activities to observe the patients' social and personal behaviors and endorse them to a mental health professional for in-depth examination and counseling.
Community support specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real community support specialist resumes:
- Provide PSR services to clients with mental illness in order to help them achieve the highest standard of living possible.
- Review notes complete by other community support workers to assess progression towards individualize goals for patients on caseload.
- Complete CPR and first aid training.
- Participate in IEP meetings and academic action plans.
- Develop new techniques to engage teenage males with autism in focuse areas of activity.
- Provide direction to the program's register nurse and ensure compliance with OPWDD regulations.
- Train in restraints, CPR, first aid, medication monitoring, and sign language.
- Pass medications, assist on outings, as well as help maintain the cleanliness of the home facility and residents rooms.
- Participate in CSW on-call rotation scheduling.
- Complete Medicaid billable documentation daily that reflect service provision.
- Document all interventions and client responses electronically for Medicaid and DMH.
- Follow confidentiality regarding clients, including HIPPA guidelines, and agency privacy and confidentiality policies.
- Provide behavioral interventions when necessary following the least restrictive OPWDD approve techniques require by the situation.
- Collaborate these develop plans/individuals needs with family members/advocates, Medicaid service coordinators and other pertinent parties.
- Document procedures for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement and communicate with service coordinators in relation to participant progress.
Community support specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Community Support Specialists are proficient in Social Work, Mental Health, and Rehabilitation. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Time-management skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Community Support Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Social Work, 11%
Collaborated with treatment team of clinical social workers, psychologists, and rehabilitation counselors to develop individualized treatment plans.
- Mental Health, 10%
Follow up with consumers regarding medical and mental health appointments, completion of necessary paperwork, returning forms and other similar activities
- Rehabilitation, 10%
Provided direct patient care services in this world-renowned brain injury therapeutic and rehabilitation center, serving individuals with acquired brain injury.
- Community Resources, 6%
Promoted and developed relations to community resources to ensure successful integration back into society; generated short and long-term treatment plans.
- Independent Living, 5%
Participated in person centered planning and daily life skills including independent living skills with several children and teenagers.
- Substance Abuse, 5%
Provided clinical monitoring and oversight to individuals who were diagnosed with varying mental illnesses and sometimes substance abuse.
"social work," "mental health," and "rehabilitation" are among the most common skills that community support specialists use at work. You can find even more community support specialist responsibilities below, including:
Organizational skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a community support specialist to have is organizational skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients." Community support specialists often use organizational skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "demonstrated outstanding organizational strengths in creating, customizing, and implementing recovery-oriented programs and mental health support strategies for 300 clients. "
Time-management skills. Another essential skill to perform community support specialist duties is time-management skills. Community support specialists responsibilities require that "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." Community support specialists also use time-management skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "completed clinical documentation duties thoroughly, accurately, and on time. "
Communication skills. community support specialists are also known for communication skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to community support specialist responsibilities, because "social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help." A community support specialist resume example shows how communication skills is used in the workplace: "assisted clients with communication with community resources, including advocacy and support in mental health court. "
Compassion. A big part of what community support specialists do relies on "compassion." You can see how essential it is to community support specialist responsibilities because "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical community support specialist tasks: "care of dd clients to assist in daily independent living accurate logging and organizational skills great attention to detail caring & compassionate"
Problem-solving skills. Another crucial skill for a community support specialist to carry out their responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." A big part of what community support specialists relies on this skill, since "social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems." How this skill relates to community support specialist duties can be seen in an example from a community support specialist resume snippet: "planned and implemented activities to develop and enrich interpersonal and independent living skills, including conflict resolution. "
Interpersonal skills. Lastly, "interpersonal skills" is an important element of what a community support specialist does. Community support specialist responsibilities require this skill because "social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues." This resume example highlights how community support specialist duties rely on this skill: "used interventions based on individual needs to develop interpersonal/social, family, community and independent living functional skills. "
The three companies that hire the most community support specialists are:
- Burrell Behavioral Health41 community support specialists jobs
- Washington County Mental Health Services40 community support specialists jobs
- Preferred Family Healthcare29 community support specialists jobs
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Compare different community support specialists
Community support specialist vs. Service worker
A service worker is responsible for assisting the community welfare development by providing social services to an organization or specific individual groups, supporting their needs, and addressing their community concerns. Service workers also offer counseling services to their clients to guide them on how they manage their life crises, developing community activities and job opportunities to help citizens with their financial needs by consulting local organizations. A service worker must have strong leadership and communication skills, as well as deep engagement with the community to assess the client's situation properly.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a community support specialist are more likely to require skills like "direct services," "severe mental illness," "medicaid," and "community integration." On the other hand, a job as a service worker requires skills like "customer service," "cleanliness," "patients," and "excellent interpersonal." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Service workers tend to make the most money working in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $36,743. In contrast, community support specialists make the biggest average salary, $37,451, in the non profits industry.service workers tend to reach lower levels of education than community support specialists. In fact, service workers are 5.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Community support specialist vs. Residential counselor
A residential counselor is responsible for guiding and providing the residents with their basic needs and other resources to support them in their daily living. Residential counselors' duties include maintaining the safety of the community by enforcing safety guidelines and procedures for the residents' compliance, organizing productive and engaging community activities, updating the residents of any changes and policies in the community, and resolving conflicts by counseling and understanding each resident's differences. A residential counselor must have excellent communication and decision-making skills to ensure the development of residents in a living facility.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that community support specialist responsibilities requires skills like "direct services," "severe mental illness," "social services," and "medicaid." But a residential counselor might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "autism," "cleanliness," "money management," and "home health."
Residential counselors earn a lower average salary than community support specialists. But residential counselors earn the highest pay in the education industry, with an average salary of $35,120. Additionally, community support specialists earn the highest salaries in the non profits with average pay of $37,451 annually.In general, residential counselors achieve similar levels of education than community support specialists. They're 4.5% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Community support specialist vs. Support worker
A support worker is responsible for supporting the community programs and development efforts to sustain and ensure the citizens' stability, providing them resources for their daily needs, and helping them with financial assistance requests. Support workers conduct family counseling to identify their challenges and needs and coordinate with the necessary organizations to process their requests. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in filing documents and guiding the citizens in achieving their healthy lifestyle and make a positive difference.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a community support specialist is likely to be skilled in "mental health," "rehabilitation," "direct services," and "severe mental illness," while a typical support worker is skilled in "treatment plan," "foster care," "support services," and "criminal justice."
Support workers earn the best pay in the manufacturing industry, where they command an average salary of $42,658. Community support specialists earn the highest pay from the non profits industry, with an average salary of $37,451.Most support workers achieve a lower degree level compared to community support specialists. For example, they're 5.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Community support specialist vs. Support staff
School support staff provide specialized instructional and student support while utilizing school facilities. They often include diverse staff members whose main role is to ensure that students learn in a supportive and safe learning environment. It is also their duty to enhance school climate by promoting the involvement of parent and family in education as well as to encourage trusting, positive student relationships. They should inhibit positive behavior and send uplifting messages to students as they often connect with them throughout the day.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between community support specialists and desk clerks supervisors, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a community support specialist might have more use for skills like "social work," "rehabilitation," "substance abuse," and "direct services." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of desk clerks supervisors require skills like "customer service," "home maintenance," "direct support," and "support services. "
In general, desk clerks supervisors earn the most working in the finance industry, with an average salary of $32,113. The highest-paying industry for a community support specialist is the non profits industry.In general, desk clerks supervisors hold lower degree levels compared to community support specialists. Desk clerks supervisors are 7.8% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of community support specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
