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Counseling specialist skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Kim Jones Ph.D.,

Jennifer Randles Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical counseling specialist skills. We ranked the top skills for counseling specialists based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 24.8% of counseling specialist resumes contained social work as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a counseling specialist needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 counseling specialist skills for your resume and career

2. 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 counseling specialists use mental health:

Provide highly specialized individual and diversified mental health and substance abuse counseling and case management.
Provide overall oversight of a crisis stabilization mental health and substance abuse residential unit.

3. Crisis Intervention

Here's how counseling specialists use crisis intervention:

Deliver effective and proven therapeutic crisis intervention and prevention, adhering to agency protocols and leveraging best practices in counseling.
Maintain all treatment documentation, clinical reporting on weekly activities, and crisis intervention prevention planning.

4. HIPAA

Here's how counseling specialists use hipaa:

Developed and maintained relationships with pharmaceutical client and ensured internal intake compliance with contract terms and HIPAA guidelines.
Maintain confidentiality of patient information according to HIPAA rules and regulations and follow company policies.

5. Substance Abuse

Here's how counseling specialists use substance abuse:

Specialized skills in suicide intervention and substance abuse counseling.
Facilitate classroom Substance Abuse Education.

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 counseling specialists use community resources:

Make immediate referrals to community resources.
Provide appropriate linkages to community resources related to education, medical and social services fields.

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7. Compassion

Here's how counseling specialists use compassion:

Provided phenomenal customer service with sympathy, empathy and compassion while staying within protocol.

8. Rehabilitation

Here's how counseling specialists use rehabilitation:

Developed social histories and rehabilitation treatment plans.
Facilitated vocational rehabilitation groups weekly.

9. Crisis Situations

Here's how counseling specialists use crisis situations:

Intervene in crisis situations, oversee disciple and behavior modification of youth and enforce or recommend appropriate actions.
Counseled clients through a variety of crisis situations.

10. Treatment Services

Here's how counseling specialists use treatment services:

Worked directly with insurance companies to obtain preauthorization for treatment services.

11. Child Care

Child care means the care, supervision, or guidance of a child by a person other than the child's parent, guardian, or custodian for periods of less than 24 hours. Childcare could be either center-based such as a daycare or a nursery or home-based care such as nannies or family daycare.

Here's how counseling specialists use child care:

Educate parents on child development, licensing regulations, and search for quality child care.
Case management duties, served parents with financial assistance for child care vouchers.

12. Outbound Calls

An outbound call is made by the call center representative to the customers on behalf of the company. Such calls help increase sales and generate revenue for the organization.

Here's how counseling specialists use outbound calls:

Utilized the automated dialer for both inbound and outbound calls to service accounts more than 60 days delinquent.
Answer inbound and initiate outbound calls to individuals identified as interested in quitting tobacco.

13. Motivational

Motivational is defined as something related to the reason or drive behind why a person does what they do. It is related to the motivation behind why a person or an animal acts a certain way. Motivation is the practice through which a person finds the drive to do a certain task.

Here's how counseling specialists use motivational:

Performed counseling to terminally ill clients via Motivational Interviewing methodologies Supported client in process of documenting and declaring vital medical decisions.
Utilize evidence-based treatments such as Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing.

14. Statewide Medicaid

Here's how counseling specialists use statewide medicaid:

Provide unbiased information and education regarding the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Program.
Respond to Statewide Medicaid inquiries and complaints.

15. Inbound Calls

Here's how counseling specialists use inbound calls:

Serviced inbound calls for loan mortgage borrowers.
Resolve outbound and inbound calls to applicant and members daily related to routine and complex questions regarding eligibility and benefit determination.

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What skills help Counseling Specialists find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on counseling specialist resumes?

Kim Jones Ph.D.

Professor, Chair of Clinical Concentration, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

The necessary skills for today's market include the ability to implement evidence-informed mental health approaches, the ability to display empathy, knowledge of crisis intervention models, organizational skills, good work ethic, both verbal and written communication skills, cultural competence, and the ability to adapt to changing technology.

What counseling specialist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Jennifer Randles Ph.D.

Chair and Associate Professor, California State University, Fresno

If students need to take a gap year, I recommend enhancing their research, writing, and critical thinking skills in the interim. These skills are beneficial for any employment field, especially for those who ultimately plan to pursue graduate school in sociology.

What type of skills will young counseling specialists need?

Dr. Joslyn Armstrong Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Lewis and Clark College

Recent graduates in the mental health counseling field will need to clinically work with diverse families such as racial-ethnic families and LGBT+ and queer families. Our world is becoming more varied, and clinicians see rising numbers of racially and ethnically diverse clients or sexual and gender minorities. Thus, beginning mental health professionals will need to have experienced clinically working with various families. An essential skill that mental health professionals will need is to approach clinical work from a relational and systemic perspective. Being a marriage and family therapist (MFT), MFT graduates are trained from a relational and systemic lens.

I believe having a relational and systemic theoretical framework is a strength for MFTs to work with multiple persons and from a family perspective. Additionally, graduates will need to be proficient in working with significant mental health diagnoses and be informed on clients' DSM criteria. Finally, in the context of COVID, teletherapy has been influential within our field. All mental health programs have implemented clinical training that encompasses teaching or clinical cases involving teletherapy. Thus, master's level graduates in the mental health counseling field will need skills related to practicing and implementing teletherapy in their clinical practice. Also, within the context of COVID, graduates will need to have flexibility and adaptability in their therapeutic services.

What hard/technical skills are most important for counseling specialists?

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.

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

It is important that counselors are able to effectively take notes and summarize progress, interpret assessments, memorize and recall information, and keep clear yet concise records.

Do you want to know more?

List of counseling specialist skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a counseling specialist resume and required skills for a counseling specialist to have include:

Social Work
Mental Health
Crisis Intervention
HIPAA
Substance Abuse
Community Resources
Compassion
Rehabilitation
Crisis Situations
Treatment Services
Child Care

Outbound Calls
Motivational
Statewide Medicaid
Inbound Calls
Plan Changes
Term Care
Care Program
Conflict Resolution
Group Therapy
HUD
Discharge Planning

HIV
Customer Inquiries
Health Insurance
Anger Management
CPR
Community Agencies
Domestic Violence
Ahca
ISP

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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