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Health support specialist skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted experts
Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen,
Sepideh Soheilian Ph.D.
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical health support specialist skills. We ranked the top skills for health support specialists based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 18.3% of health support specialist resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a health support specialist needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 health support specialist skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how health support specialists use patients:
  • Assess patients' mental status through interviews or observations and then developing treatment plans or making referrals to the appropriate services.
  • Administer the patient with food benefits, nutritional assessments, and issue food instruments to patients.

2. Social Work

Here's how health support specialists use social work:
  • Work with other mental health professionals, such as psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists and psychiatrists.
  • Provide clinical social work with children and families in the family home and the community.

3. 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 health support specialists use cpr:
  • Maintained certification in Blood borne Pathogens, Heart Saver First Aid and CPR through the Red Cross.
  • Trained in trauma informed practice, first aid CPR, and individual medication case management.

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 health support specialists use mental health:
  • Provided community-based, comprehensive, recovery oriented mental health support and case management services to individuals with severe mental illness.
  • Provide direct clinical support services to individuals with mental health diagnoses and intellectual disabilities.

5. Substance Abuse

Here's how health support specialists use substance abuse:
  • Provide direct supportive services and therapeutic interventions to residents with chronic mental illness, substance abuse and/or intellectual disabilities.
  • Facilitated community-based substance abuse prevention counseling to adolescents and teens for Newport News Day and Evening program.

6. Persistent Mental Illness

Here's how health support specialists use persistent mental illness:
  • Assist individuals diagnosed with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness in their recovery by finding competitive, community based employment.
  • Provided case management services to those within the community and residential program suffering from persistent mental illness.

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7. Crisis Intervention

Here's how health support specialists use crisis intervention:
  • Provide coordination, participate, and provide assistance within the continued development of crisis intervention.
  • Provided crisis intervention, behavior management and case management.

8. Support Services

Support services are services that support the organization internally and are usually non-revenue generating. Examples include, IT, admin, HR, etc.

Here's how health support specialists use support services:
  • Perform comprehensive support services including assessment of and linkage to available community resources for consumers.
  • Work on the Community Support Services Team as an Employment Specialist.

9. Data Entry

Data entry means entering data into a company's system with the help of a keyboard. A person responsible for entering data may also be asked to verify the authenticity of the data being entered. A person doing data entry must pay great attention to tiny details.

Here's how health support specialists use data entry:
  • Inventory and data entry of the supplies and lab kits needed and used.
  • Performed data entry for detailed documentation.

10. Independent Living

Here's how health support specialists use independent living:
  • Promoted successful community integration and independent living.
  • Worked with adults to develop coping skills, independent living skills, and medication management.

11. Intellectual Disabilities

Here's how health support specialists use intellectual disabilities:
  • Provided counseling and daily living services to adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
  • Tutor and educate (para-professionally) students with emotional, behavioral, and/or intellectual disabilities following the corresponding county's curriculum.

12. Rehabilitation

Here's how health support specialists use rehabilitation:
  • Lead PSR (Psycho-Social Rehabilitation) meeting once a week.
  • Provided direct patient care services in this world-renowned brain injury therapeutic and rehabilitation center, serving individuals with acquired brain injury.

13. Autism

Here's how health support specialists use autism:
  • Worded with individuals with autism.
  • Developed and facilitated residential and inpatient psychiatric groups to treat children with autism and behavioral disorders.

14. Severe Mental Illness

Here's how health support specialists use severe mental illness:
  • Provide training/supports to individuals with severe mental illness.
  • Provide direct support in a residential facility to people with severe mental illness

15. Medication Management

Here's how health support specialists use medication management:
  • Assist Psychiatrist with making copies of prescriptions and escorting clients to be seen for Medication Management and Psychiatric Evaluations.
  • Collaborated with the psychiatrist to determine best options for medication management of shared caseload while also providing clerical services for psychiatrist.
top-skills

What skills help Health Support Specialists find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on health support specialist resumes?

Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen

Associate Professor, Augustana University

In Mental Health Counseling, the ability to work with people from various cultural backgrounds is paramount. Training in multicultural psychology, diversity, and inclusion are all essential in our pluralistic society. I would also emphasize training in empirically supported treatments and a clear theoretical orientation grounded in scientific literature. Finally, the recent pandemic has accelerated the use of teletherapy and remote counseling--effectiveness in connecting with people through technology and making the most of an adapted model for therapy will be very important.

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

Sepideh Soheilian Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Baltimore

If a recent college graduate decides to take a gap year between their undergraduate studies and starting a master's program in Counseling Psychology, my advice would be to try their best to be exposed to or engage in either 1) experiences in the field of mental health, or 2) experiences that will strengthen their social science research skills. Engaging in these types of experiences such as working as an administrative assistant in a private practice, or volunteering on a psychiatric unit at a hospital will provide greater exposure to the field of mental health and hopefully, help the graduate determine if entering the mental health field would be the right fit for their career expectations, goals, and values.

What soft skills should all health support specialists possess?

Treniece Lewis Harris Ph.D.

Associate Professor of the Practice, Program Director, Master's Program in Mental Health Counseling, Boston College

-compassion

-active listening

-perspective-taking

-open-mindedness and respect for differences

-humility

-curiosity and critical observation

-problem recognition and analytical thinking

-creativity and flexibility

-presentation skills

List of health support specialist skills to add to your resume

Health support specialist skills

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

  • Patients
  • Social Work
  • CPR
  • Mental Health
  • Substance Abuse
  • Persistent Mental Illness
  • Crisis Intervention
  • Support Services
  • Data Entry
  • Independent Living
  • Intellectual Disabilities
  • Rehabilitation
  • Autism
  • Severe Mental Illness
  • Medication Management
  • Blood Pressure
  • Direct Support
  • Hippa
  • Mental Health Issues
  • Compassion
  • Discharge Planning
  • Behavioral Issues
  • ADL
  • Emotional Support
  • Clinical Assessments
  • HIPAA
  • Mental Health Diagnosis
  • Community Integration
  • Medicaid
  • Medical Appointments
  • Therapeutic Interventions
  • Community Resources
  • WIC
  • Community Agencies
  • Group Sessions
  • Meal Preparation

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.

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