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Corrections Counselor skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted Experts

Adam Greer,

Michelle Kelley Shuler Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical corrections counselor skills. We ranked the top skills for corrections counselors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 16.2% of corrections counselor resumes contained mental health as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a corrections counselor needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 corrections counselor skills for your resume and career

1. 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 corrections counselors use mental health:

Referred inmates to appropriate community mental health treatment centers, alcohol and abuse programs and educational institutions.
Provide mental health diagnostic evaluations for offenders by referral for emotional adjustment in the community

2. Substance Abuse

Here's how corrections counselors use substance abuse:

Facilitated various treatment groups including domestic violence, anger management, substance abuse, and cognitive restructuring.
Participated in the development and implementation of substance abuse policies and programs within the facility.

4. Crisis Intervention

Here's how corrections counselors use crisis intervention:

Provided trauma informed and gender responsive case management and crisis intervention for clients in the maximum-security cell house.
Provided rehabilitation services to incarcerated adolescent males to include crisis interventions, individual and, psycho educational groups.

5. Rehabilitation

Here's how corrections counselors use rehabilitation:

Participated in the development and implementation of specific plans and goals for rehabilitation and gradual reintegration into the community.
Developed and implemented treatment plans for each student working toward rehabilitation and release from custody.

6. Criminal Justice

Here's how corrections counselors use criminal justice:

Recommend treatment plan for clients to program manager and criminal justice officials.

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7. Correctional Facility

A correctional facility is a place where people who commit crimes and have been lawfully arrested are kept for some time. The facility is also reserved to correct bad behaviors in citizens of a particular region. A correctional facility can be a prison, jail, penitentiary, detention center, or any other building exclusive for housing incarcerated people (people sentenced to jail terms by law).

Here's how corrections counselors use correctional facility:

Provide individual and group guidance and related counseling services to institutionalized residents in the correctional facility.
Performed professional counseling work supervising a caseload of approximately 150 incarcerated offenders inside a correctional facility.

8. Treatment Programs

Here's how corrections counselors use treatment programs:

Participated in the development and implementation of new/revised treatment programs.
Developed and implemented various treatment programs and projects.

9. Unit Management

Here's how corrections counselors use unit management:

Coordinated with classification staff and unit management team in order to facilitate preparation for release of the offenders.
Supervised a staff of 20-30 Correctional Officers while overseeing general unit management for offender living quarters.

10. Direct Supervision

Direct supervision is a term used to indicate that a person is supervising a certain task or a certain person while being physically present or in close proximity. It refers to the presence of a person and the availability of their supervision in something if it is needed.

Here's how corrections counselors use direct supervision:

Direct supervision of 3- 5 Counselors at 3 locations and responsible for the daily/weekly work schedules of the department.
Give direct supervision, monitoring the safety of residents.

11. Law Enforcement

Law enforcement is the task of certain members of the community who work together to uphold the law by identifying, preventing, rehabilitating, or prosecuting others who break society's laws and norms. The phrase refers to the police, the judiciary, and the correctional system.

Here's how corrections counselors use law enforcement:

Build positive reports with law enforcement officers, court officials, and community service agencies.
Responded to all inquiries from FBI, USINS, and other law enforcement agencies.

12. Intake Process

Here's how corrections counselors use intake process:

Questioned, assessed, and collaborated with other professionals during the initial intake process.
Interviewed and assessed 30 to 100 new inmates each week through intake process.

13. CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is a medical procedure that involves chest compression to help a patient breathe. This artificial ventilation helps in keeping the brain function in place and regulates blood throughout the body. CPR is a lifesaving procedure that is used in emergencies.

Here's how corrections counselors use cpr:

Trained all personnel on First Aid and CPR.
Facilitate groups and team building activities On site CPR & First Aid Training

14. Group Therapy

Group psychotherapy or group therapy is the practice of treating a group of clients together in one sitting throughout multiple sessions. This practice allows people to receive encouragement and support from their peers who are taking the same group therapy.

Here's how corrections counselors use group therapy:

Provided group therapy facilitation in the protective custody unit.
Develop and deliver rehabilitative group therapy to offenders.

15. Group Sessions

Here's how corrections counselors use group sessions:

Conduct individual counseling sessions as well as psycho educational group sessions.
Provide group sessions including anger management, life skills, and HIV/AIDS education.

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What skills help Corrections Counselors find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on Corrections Counselor resumes?

Adam Greer

Career Services Specialist, Auburn University

Clearly, the distance/online working skills will stand out with our HDFS majors. Our students have a strong foundation in learning to work with people, and now they have a new way to work with people and remove barriers that might have previously prevented an in-person meeting.

What hard/technical skills are most important for Corrections Counselors?

Michelle Kelley Shuler Ph.D.

Department Chair: Human Services, Austin Community College

a. Must have strong basic computer skills and knowledge of software such as excel spreadsheets, google docs, etc. Most, if not all, agencies use electronic health records and treatment planning, so it is necessary to be competent in this area.
b. A degree and additional certifications will assist you in seeking employment. It will also increase your level of competency and diversify the communities you serve. For example, at Austin Community College, we offer our students a chance to complete a certification in Mental Health First Aid Training. This increases their marketability and skill level.

What soft skills should all Corrections Counselors possess?

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.

Associate Professor; Director, Master of Counseling, Louisiana State University at Shreveport

Soft skills that are essential for counselors include emotional intelligence, empathy, multicultural competency, interpersonal abilities, and authenticity.

What Corrections Counselor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Julie Alonzo Ph.D.

Research Associate Professor; Director D.Ed. Program, University of Oregon

Cultural competency, knowledge of social emotional learning, and familiarity with the tenets of Response to Intervention (RTI) are all skills that will help enhance educators' competitiveness. If a graduate needs to take a gap year, there are many ways to ensure that they continue to develop these skills. They might serve as a mentor to an at-risk student (many schools have active mentor programs), teach in an after-school tutoring program (these can be set up for remote or in-person instruction), or work on improving their knowledge of the different languages spoken by families in the community where they are hoping to work. Enhancing one's knowledge of anti-racism teaching practices will help make a graduate more effective as an educator as well as more competitive in the job market.

What type of skills will young Corrections Counselors need?

Samantha Fletcher Ph.D.

Executive Director, National Association of Social Workers, New York State

The core skills of social work do not change over time. These skills include empathy, active listening, critical thinking, assessment, intervention, evaluation, advocacy, policy analysis, and adaptability. Social workers also need to evaluate the organizations they work in to assess for oppressive practices and policies. One of the profession's core values is social justice, which directs social workers to "pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. Social workers' social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice" (National Association of Social Workers, 2017). As a profession, social workers aim to dismantle racist, sexist, heterosexist, xenophobic, ableist, classist, and religiously biased systems and structures.

What technical skills for a Corrections 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?

List of corrections counselor skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a corrections counselor resume and required skills for a corrections counselor to have include:

Mental Health
Substance Abuse
Social Work
Crisis Intervention
Rehabilitation
Criminal Justice
Correctional Facility
Treatment Programs
Unit Management
Direct Supervision
Law Enforcement
Intake Process
CPR
Group Therapy
Group Sessions

Re-Entry
Anger Management
Risk Assessments
Motivational
Emergency Situations
Discharge Planning
Conflict Resolution
Security Checks
Community Resources
Incident Reports
Emotional Problems
Social Histories
Youth Offenders
Disciplinary Hearings
Disciplinary Reports

NCIC
Domestic Violence
Educational Programs
Stress Management
Juvenile Offenders
Board Reports
Sex Offenders
Protective Custody
Casework Services
Prea
Institutional Policies
Correctional Setting
Correctional Programs

Updated January 8, 2025

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

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