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Lead counselor skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Steven Toepfer Ph.D.,

Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical lead counselor skills. We ranked the top skills for lead counselors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 15.9% of lead counselor resumes contained legal advice as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a lead counselor needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 lead counselor skills for your resume and career

1. Legal Advice

Here's how lead counselors use legal advice:

Provided legal advice, interpreted applicable HIPAA regulations, and proposed HIPAA compliant policies, procedures, and business solutions.
Provide cradle to grave legal advice on all aspects of Federal Acquisition policy, procedures, regulations and laws.

2. Litigation

Here's how lead counselors use litigation:

Operated a full service litigation office that evolved from general litigation to criminal litigation to federal criminal trials.
Focused practice on the representation of dentists and health care professionals in malpractice litigation and general business matters.

3. Work Ethic

Here's how lead counselors use work ethic:

Trained in clinical documentation and using social work ethics and principles to guide practice.

4. Substance Abuse

Here's how lead counselors use substance abuse:

Performed psycho-education regarding parenting skills, psychotropic medications, and basic mental health as well as offered substance abuse related interventions.
Conduct screenings and collect detailed substance abuse history to determine person served's eligibility for admission to program.

5. Crisis Intervention

Here's how lead counselors use crisis intervention:

Managed crisis intervention, case management services, and coordinated/maintained the delivery of therapeutic services while concurrently managing the EAP program.
Directed community counselors; ensured safe and therapeutic milieu; performed crisis interventions; supervised activities of daily living.

6. 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 lead counselors use group therapy:

Facilitated group therapy both therapeutic and psycho-educational
Counseled troubled children and adolescents with behavioral problems in group therapy sessions.

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7. Behavioral Issues

Behavioral issues are the tendencies of individuals displaying unpleasant behavior as a result of sickness or addiction.

Here's how lead counselors use behavioral issues:

Managed resident and staffing crisis, including medical emergencies and major behavioral issues.
Monitored participants with behavioral issues or special needs.

8. Clinical Supervision

Clinical supervision refers to how practicing nurses get professional and moral support from their experienced colleagues. The practice aims to promote their ability to make a concrete decision that values the patient's well-being.

Here's how lead counselors use clinical supervision:

Supervised professional and/or paraprofessional social services staff and/or provided clinical supervision/training to social services students, staff and other personnel.
Facilitate weekly Didactic Training and Clinical Supervision Meetings for all Clinical Staff.

9. 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 lead counselors use cpr:

Ensured staff members possessed current CPR, First Aid, and any other applicable credentials or certifications.
Blood Borne Pathogens, CPR, archery, and belay certified (Rock Wall).

10. Mental Health Professionals

Here's how lead counselors use mental health professionals:

Notified mental health professionals of potential unmet mental health needs as identified during admissions process.
Collaborate with mental health professionals and parents/guardians, establishing trusting relationships.

11. Family Therapy

Here's how lead counselors use family therapy:

Provided individual, group and family therapy for clients participating in long-term residential alcohol and drug treatment/program.
Facilitated weekly family therapy and psycho-educational sessions.

12. Direct Care

Direct care is the act of identifying people with special needs and offering the necessary care for them.

Here's how lead counselors use direct care:

Provided direct care to the consumers by supporting each in a variety of capacities through their daily lives.
Direct care and advocacy of individuals in SLS (Wavier) home in Brooklyn Center, MN.

13. 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 lead counselors use community resources:

Organized working relationships with community resources to ensure holistic support for residents during and after treatment.
Established and maintained effective communication with natural, and community resources.

14. Group Sessions

Here's how lead counselors use group sessions:

Counseled clients in individual and group sessions to overcome dependencies, recover from illness, and attain personal goals.
Provide individual counseling sessions to determine specific needs of each participant and also facilitate group sessions as well.

15. Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution is an often necessary skill in business, employed for processes such as contract negotiations, legal matters, and even personal, emotional situations and conflicts. It is the ability to find and create an appropriate and peaceful solution to some sort of dilemma or argument in which two or more parties are involved. The resolution itself must benefit and satisfy all parties and this is what makes it so difficult to reach a peaceful point sometimes.

Here's how lead counselors use conflict resolution:

Conflict resolution through focused conversation, conflict management problem solving.
Reinforced therapeutic conflict resolution and crisis management skills.

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What skills help Lead Counselors find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on lead counselor resumes?

Dr. Steven Toepfer Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Human Development & Family Studies, Kent State University

Generally, resume skills that might stand out include hands-on experience, leadership examples, and various skills related to technology. Always try to tailor your resume to the job you are applying!

What soft skills should all lead counselors possess?

Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen

Associate Professor, Augustana University

Cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills are important, including openness to work with people with varying religious views. The ability to easily connect with others and put people at ease in your presence is valuable in working with clients and collaborating with a treatment team. As more and more agencies interact with the medical field, spiritual leaders, and other holistic approaches to health, counselors need to see their role in an interdisciplinary approach to healing and work effectively with other departments. With teletherapy/virtual therapy, just the simple difficulty of creating eye contact when one's camera is not directly aligned with their viewscreen can complicate important connections in the therapeutic relationship. Learning to effectively connect through screens is essential.

What hard/technical skills are most important for lead counselors?

Treniece Lewis Harris Ph.D.

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

-Differential diagnosis to determine whether a person is experiencing an adjustment problem related to everyday life stressors or mental illness
-Knowledge and application of developmental and personality theory to human behavior.
-Experience in using multiple evidence-based psychotherapy models
-Psychological assessment, especially in neuropsychological testing
-Research design and implementation to study
-Program development
-Curriculum design and teaching skills

What lead counselor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Melissa Boas

Director of Professional School Counseling, Assistant Professor, Lancaster Bible College

I believe the most important skill to enhance if taking a gap year is self-awareness. Understanding oneself and why and how self-awareness directly relates to future career decision making is instrumental in ensuring the right decisions are made. Self-awareness is extremely beneficial in all areas of life not just in choosing a career pathway.

What type of skills will young lead counselors need?

Chris Hennington Ph.D.

School Counseling Program Coordinator, Lubbock Christian University

School counselors will be tasked with the usual school counseling responsibilities while also encountering trauma that students experience outside of school and in school. Being well versed in trauma response is going to be a vital aspect of being a school counselor. Kids are experiencing more trauma, but we are getting better at recognizing and treating trauma as well.

Do you want to know more?

List of lead counselor skills to add to your resume

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

Legal Advice
Litigation
Work Ethic
Substance Abuse
Crisis Intervention
Group Therapy
Behavioral Issues
Clinical Supervision
CPR
Mental Health Professionals
Family Therapy
Direct Care
Community Resources
Group Sessions
Conflict Resolution

Behavior Management
Role Model
Discharge Planning
Crisis Situations
Anger Management
Individual Therapy
Individual Sessions
Incident Reports
Clinical Documentation
Mathematics
ADHD
Direct Supervision
at-Risk Youth
Medical Appointments
Lead Support

Developmental Disabilities
Staff Training
Therapeutic Interventions
Dual Diagnosis
Family Sessions
Leadership
Eating Disorders
IEP
Professional Development
CBT
Arbitration
Domestic Violence
District Court
ISP
Bible

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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