What does an intake counselor do?
An intake counselor is responsible for monitoring patients with mental disability and substance abuse cases, administering treatment plans according to their medical histories and current needs. Intake counselors diagnose patients' conditions through psychological tests and regular counseling. They also coordinate with the patients' family members, as well as other health professionals, to assess the patients' treatment needs. An intake counselor may also handle the payment for treatment plans and reaching out to the insurance provider upon discussing the patient's case.
Intake counselor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real intake counselor resumes:
- Manage assignments of paying medical bills limit in depth that include organizing and researching regulations as pertain to veterans eligibility.
- Watch the board of AAA drivers for assign area and making sure all service calls are being complete in time allot.
- Interview all incoming beneficiaries in the development of treatment and rehabilitation goal setting.
- Recognized/Suggest cross selling opportunities to enhance member experience; promote AAA automotive relate programs.
- Complete insurance admission criteria and prior authorizations with insurance companies to assist patients and hospital when admitting patients.
- Develop goals for vocational rehabilitation, providing each client multiple realistic objectives; follow through to assess progress.
- Retrieve medical documents from surrounding hospitals, consult safety risk concerning transfer patients with nursing supervisor, and schedule relocation.
- Develop effective, trusting relationships with identify veterans, with a focus on facilitating housing placement, stability, and independence.
- Provide behavior modification and social skills training to children and adolescents with ADHD and other behavioral and emotional disorders.
Intake counselor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 21% of Intake Counselors are proficient in Social Work, Patients, and Crisis Intervention. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Time-management skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Intake Counselors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Social Work, 21%
Experienced in administrative and clinical social work assisting and excels in military operations, and family focused prevention.
- Patients, 14%
Access, organize and utilize available collateral and community resources to determine most appropriate disposition for patients.
- Crisis Intervention, 10%
Provided individual and group therapy on an ongoing basis, crisis intervention and facilitated recovery orientated groups for men and women.
- Triage, 5%
Collaborated with doctors to triage and assess participants in pharmaceutical clinical trials.
- Community Resources, 5%
Interacted and cooperated with other youth agencies to effectively utilize community resources to serve the population
- Phone Calls, 5%
Answered telephone calls from the community concerning treatment for themselves or their loved ones as well as crisis calls.
Common skills that an intake counselor uses to do their job include "social work," "patients," and "crisis intervention." You can find details on the most important intake counselor responsibilities below.
Compassion. The most essential soft skill for an intake counselor to carry out their responsibilities is compassion. This skill is important for the role because "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Additionally, an intake counselor resume shows how their duties depend on compassion: "answer crisis calls at a center with 20,000+ calls per year with composure and compassion. "
Time-management skills. Another essential skill to perform intake counselor duties is time-management skills. Intake counselors responsibilities require that "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." Intake counselors also use time-management skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "completed all necessary paperwork in adherence to ccs, hippa, and medicaid standards and deadlines. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for intake counselors to perform their duties. For an example of how intake counselor responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an intake counselor: "maintain constant communication between different departments in order to ensure efficiency and satisfaction concerning patient care. ".
Interpersonal skills. A big part of what intake counselors do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to intake counselor responsibilities because "social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical intake counselor tasks: "performed as a role model of excellence in professional and interpersonal behavior. "
Organizational skills. Another common skill required for intake counselor responsibilities is "organizational skills." This skill comes up in the duties of intake counselors all the time, as "social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients." An excerpt from a real intake counselor resume shows how this skill is central to what an intake counselor does: "implement excellent customer service and organizational skills on a daily basis. "
Problem-solving skills. Lastly, "problem-solving skills" is an important element of what an intake counselor does. Intake counselor responsibilities require this skill because "social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems." This resume example highlights how intake counselor duties rely on this skill: "perform problem resolution and crisis interventions for clients in need. "
The three companies that hire the most intake counselors are:
- Universal Health Services37 intake counselors jobs
- Dallas County Hospital6 intake counselors jobs
- Mercy Medical Center, Canton, Ohio5 intake counselors jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable intake counselor resume templates
Build a professional intake counselor resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your intake counselor resume.
Compare different intake counselors
Intake counselor vs. Intake specialist
Intake coordinators manage the registration of clients or patients for medical services in a health care facility. They talk to patients and their families, determine their needs, and ask for patients' medical history and their mental and physical state. It is part of their job to obtain the insurance information of the patients. The necessary skills to become an intake coordinator include good writing and reading skills, good communication, and attention to detail.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an intake counselor are more likely to require skills like "triage," "admission process," "chemical dependency," and "risk assessments." On the other hand, a job as an intake specialist requires skills like "customer service," "data entry," "home health," and "veterans." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Intake specialists earn the highest salaries when working in the government industry, with an average yearly salary of $41,839. On the other hand, intake counselors are paid more in the health care industry with an average salary of $48,700.The education levels that intake specialists earn slightly differ from intake counselors. In particular, intake specialists are 17.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an intake counselor. Additionally, they're 1.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Intake counselor vs. Counselor internship
When it comes to Counselor Internship, among the primary responsibilities is to assist in dealing with various activities such as preparing and verifying necessary documentation, observing consultations and outreach programs, guide clients and help develop multiple helpful strategies, and provide assessments. Furthermore, one can conduct counseling and consultation only under supervision. It is also essential to track the information gathered and coordinate with assigned personnel to adhere to the company's regulations and policies.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real intake counselor resumes. While intake counselor responsibilities can utilize skills like "social work," "patients," "triage," and "phone calls," counselor interns use skills like "group therapy sessions," "family therapy," "anger management," and "cognitive behavioral therapy."
On average, counselor interns earn a higher salary than intake counselors. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, counselor interns earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $51,629. Whereas intake counselors have higher pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $48,700.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Counselor interns tend to reach lower levels of education than intake counselors. In fact, they're 8.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for intake counselors in the next 3-5 years?
Virginia Schwindt
MSW Field Director/Associate Professor, Union University
Intake counselor vs. Licensed professional counselor
A licensed professional counselor is a healthcare professional who specializes in providing therapy and counseling to patients with emotional and mental health issues. They listen to their patients and utilize various techniques to address concerns and help through the healing procedures. Their duties entail conducting interviews and evaluations, performing research and assessments, studying the patients' medical histories, providing consultations, and developing treatment plans that suit every patients' needs. Additionally, a licensed professional counselor monitors and records their patients' progress, adjusting treatments and medications as necessary.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an intake counselor is likely to be skilled in "triage," "phone calls," "admission process," and "chemical dependency," while a typical licensed professional counselor is skilled in "lpc," "real estate," "individual therapy," and "therapeutic services."
Licensed professional counselors make a very good living in the real estate industry with an average annual salary of $99,425. On the other hand, intake counselors are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $48,700.When it comes to education, licensed professional counselors tend to earn higher degree levels compared to intake counselors. In fact, they're 19.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.8% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Intake counselor vs. Alcohol and drug counselor
A drug & alcohol counselor treats addicts in either one-on-one or group settings. They help by educating and developing possible treatment plans for patients to support them in coping with their addictive personalities. A drug and alcohol counselor will evaluate to determine the progress has been successfully made towards recovery. They help patients better understand and overcome their addictions. Counselors help through offering support, rehabilitation, and guidance by using various techniques. Drug & alcohol counselors seek to help an addict find the source of their addiction.
Types of intake counselor
Updated January 8, 2025
