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How to hire a crisis intervention specialist

Crisis intervention specialist hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring crisis intervention specialists in the United States:

  • In the United States, the median cost per hire a crisis intervention specialist is $1,633.
  • It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
  • Human Resources use 15% of their expenses on recruitment on average.
  • On average, it takes around 12 weeks for a new crisis intervention specialist to become settled and show total productivity levels at work.

How to hire a crisis intervention specialist, step by step

To hire a crisis intervention specialist, you should clearly understand the skills and experience you are looking for in a candidate, and allocate a budget for the position. You will also need to post and promote the job opening to reach potential candidates. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hire a crisis intervention specialist:

Here's a step-by-step crisis intervention specialist hiring guide:

  • Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
  • Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
  • Step 3: Make a budget
  • Step 4: Write a crisis intervention specialist job description
  • Step 5: Post your job
  • Step 6: Interview candidates
  • Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new crisis intervention specialist
  • Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a crisis intervention specialist do?

A crisis intervention specialist provides counseling services and intervention to patients in high-stress situations. Their responsibilities include conducting assessments to understand the clients' conditions, studying their medical histories and personal background, developing treatment plans, and regularly monitoring their behavior and progress. They may also coordinate with the patients' families or guardians, provide care advice, or refer patients to other specialists when necessary. Moreover, a crisis intervention specialist gives emotional support and guidance to patients, helping them deal with stress.

Learn more about the specifics of what a crisis intervention specialist does
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  1. Identify your hiring needs

    The crisis intervention specialist hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

    Determine employee vs contractor status
    Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

    A crisis intervention specialist's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, crisis intervention specialists from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

    This list shows salaries for various types of crisis intervention specialists.

    Type of Crisis Intervention SpecialistDescriptionHourly rate
    Crisis Intervention SpecialistSocial workers help people solve and cope with problems in their everyday lives. One group of social workers—clinical social workers—also diagnose and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional issues.$19-35
    Family Support WorkerA family service worker is a social service agent who assesses the needs of family and promotes wellbeing, social justice, and human rights through governmental and social service agencies. Family service workers offer services that can include counseling and mediation to families that will help them navigate the protocols of the social system... Show more$12-25
    Case WorkerCaseworkers are social workers who watch over the welfare of underprivileged individuals and at-risk families by counseling and providing them with assistance. Usually employed under the government or a local non-profit organization, a caseworker must conduct a thorough interview and house visits to determine the needs of the family... Show more$14-26
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common skills:
    • Social Work
    • Patients
    • Substance Abuse
    • Community Resources
    • Crisis Stabilization
    • Triage
    • Emergency Services
    • Mental Illness
    • Mental Health Crisis
    • Crisis Assessment
    • Crisis Calls
    • Stabilization Services
    • Law Enforcement
    • Social Services
    Check all skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Provide clinical assessments, crisis intervention and supportive counseling for patients who are involuntary admissions.
    • Provide content lead support on mathematics assessment projects/contracts.
    • Provide mathematics content expertise and consultation to meet and support customer specify goals.
    • Prepare, arrange, and facilitate involuntary and voluntary inpatient psychiatric hospitalization placement for patients when clinically indicate.
    • Provide individual counseling, weekly psycho-educational groups in DBT and substance abuse prevention, crisis intervention and administration of clinical intakes.
    • Author and review items for ESL assessments, including TOEFL and TOEIC tests.
    More crisis intervention specialist duties
  3. Make a budget

    Including a salary range in the crisis intervention specialist job description is a good way to get more applicants. A crisis intervention specialist salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

    For example, the average salary for a crisis intervention specialist in Tennessee may be lower than in New Jersey, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level crisis intervention specialist. Additionally, a crisis intervention specialist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

    Average crisis intervention specialist salary

    $54,678yearly

    $26.29 hourly rate

    Entry-level crisis intervention specialist salary
    $40,000 yearly salary
    Updated January 30, 2026

    Average crisis intervention specialist salary by state

    RankStateAvg. salaryHourly rate
    1New Jersey$75,501$36
    2Washington$74,231$36
    3California$69,796$34
    4New York$65,842$32
    5District of Columbia$64,590$31
    6Oregon$63,259$30
    7Maine$59,977$29
    8Illinois$56,722$27
    9Michigan$56,470$27
    10Colorado$56,144$27
    11Wisconsin$54,233$26
    12Montana$53,806$26
    13North Carolina$52,110$25
    14Utah$50,634$24
    15Texas$49,952$24
    16Massachusetts$48,071$23
    17Pennsylvania$47,128$23
    18Ohio$46,684$22
    19Florida$45,138$22
    20Arizona$43,458$21

    Average crisis intervention specialist salary by company

    RankCompanyAverage salaryHourly rateJob openings
    1Legacy Health$65,121$31.3126
    2University of California$64,722$31.1255
    3Centene$64,143$30.8414
    4UMass Memorial Health$62,483$30.0447
    5Westside Regional Medical Center$61,991$29.80
    6Guardian Life$61,528$29.58
    7University of Massachusetts Boston$60,246$28.961
    8Hackensack Meridian Health$59,739$28.7251
    9Bozeman Health$59,633$28.671
    10Dayton Children's Hospital$59,168$28.457
    11Mercy Medical Center, Canton, Ohio$58,963$28.35
    12Des Moines, Washington$58,871$28.303
    13The Children's Village$58,694$28.2241
    14City of Olympia$58,647$28.20
    15Snohomish County$58,114$27.944
    16Washington County$58,096$27.931
    17HealthTrust$57,979$27.87
    18Hca Hospital Services Of San Diego$57,913$27.84
    19Telecare$57,851$27.81100
    20Pine Street Inn$57,846$27.8138
  4. Writing a crisis intervention specialist job description

    A job description for a crisis intervention specialist role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a crisis intervention specialist job description:

    Crisis intervention specialist job description example

    US-OR-Portland

    Type: Regular Full-Time
    Unity

    Overview

    Relocation assistance available for employees new to Legacy.

    In times of crisis, you are there for our patients, their family members and our practitioners. With a supportive approach, you offer short-term, urgent behavioral health services that are focused, effective and patient-driven. Through your use of evidence-based behavioral interventions, you diffuse an often tense situation to bring hope and healing. In short, you exemplify the Legacy mission of making life better for others.

    Partnerships in transforming health:

    Unity Center for Behavioral Health is a one-of-a-kind center for people facing a mental health crisis. Unity Center features a Psychiatric Emergency Service, where patients receive care by specialists in behavioral health in a calming, non-hospital-like setting. Unity also has inpatient care for adults and teens. It is a collaboration between Adventist Health, Kaiser Permanente, Legacy Health and Oregon Health & Science University.



    Responsibilities

    The Crisis Intervention Specialist at Unity Center for Behavioral Health provides primarily patient-centered, trauma-informed, short term, urgent and emergent behavioral health (mental health and addictions) services in adult and pediatric emergency settings across the health continuum. Works both independently and collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary team. Provides behavioral health consultations by supporting or assisting practitioners, family members and patients. Provides focused, effective and evidence-based behavioral interventions. Key services include but are not limited to: brief psychosocial assessment, brief drug and alcohol assessment, crisis intervention, hold assessment, supportive counseling, ED diversion, care coordination and communication with medical team, family, referents, access workers and other community-based providers, and transitions of care/ discharge planning. Incumbents in this job provide a variety of key services in guiding the patient through the continuum of care. This position is specific to Unity Center for Behavioral Health.



    Qualifications

    Education:

    Master's degree in Social Work, Counseling or other behavioral health field as required by licensure.

    Experience:

    One year of experience diagnosing adults with mental illness in a crisis settings and knowledge of mental health issues.

    Knowledge/Skills:

    Ability to independently conduct psychosocial assessments and provide psychosocial treatment to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, educational and other diverse backgrounds.

    Demonstrated strong organizational skills, including an ability to effectively triage patient and family needs, prioritizing clinically urgent and emergent needs.

    Ability to engage in patient/family discussions of health care goals and decisions with attention to cultural and health literacy implications.

    Demonstrated problem solving skills and the ability to deal effectively with complex situations.

    Demonstrated strength in verbal and written communication for effective and appropriate interactions with patients, families, physicians and staff.

    Ability to effectively engage in care coordination and transition planning.

    Ability to navigate and document in the electronic medical record and effectively utilize basic computer programs.

    Knowledge of legal, regulatory and compliance requirements and an ability to be a resource to all team members regarding such issues and knowledge of current health care environment.

    Keyboard skills and ability to navigate electronic systems applicable to job functions.

    LEGACY'S VALUES IN ACTION:

    Follows guidelines set forth in Legacy's Values in Action

    Equal Opportunity Employer/Vet/Disabled



    PI193296711

  5. Post your job

    To find crisis intervention specialists for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

    • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
    • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any crisis intervention specialists they would recommend.
    • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level crisis intervention specialists with the right educational background.
    • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.
    Post your job online:
    • Post your crisis intervention specialist job on Zippia to find and recruit crisis intervention specialist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
    • Use field-specific websites.
    • Post a job on free websites.
  6. Interview candidates

    To successfully recruit crisis intervention specialists, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

    You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

    The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

  7. Send a job offer and onboard your new crisis intervention specialist

    Once you've found the crisis intervention specialist candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

    It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

    After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new crisis intervention specialist. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

  8. Go through the hiring process checklist

    • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
    • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
    • Define job responsibilities and requirements
    • Establish budget and timeline
    • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
    • Write job description
    • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
    • Promote the job internally
    • Process applications through applicant tracking system
    • Review resumes and cover letters
    • Shortlist candidates for screening
    • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
    • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
    • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
    • Conduct background checks on top candidates
    • Check references of top candidates
    • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
    • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
    • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
    • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
    • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
    • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire a crisis intervention specialist?

Before you start to hire crisis intervention specialists, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire crisis intervention specialists pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

You can expect to pay around $54,678 per year for a crisis intervention specialist, as this is the median yearly salary nationally. This can vary depending on what state or city you're hiring in. If you're hiring for contract work or on a per-project basis, hourly rates for crisis intervention specialists in the US typically range between $19 and $35 an hour.

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