What does a life skills instructor do?
A life skills instructor advises people that are seeking support and coaching. They are responsible for helping them learn and develop skills like doing day-to-day tasks, interacting with other people, caring for themselves, as well as doing basic duties. Also, they can offer to coach for playing sports, learning new things, doing different exercises, and tips for employment.
Life skills instructor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real life skills instructor resumes:
- Train and experience at managing challenging classroom situations using CPI methods and positive behavior reinforcement practices.
- Conduct classes to certify individuals in first aid, CPR, a, environmental emergencies, and pediatric asthma care.
- Teach lifesaving CPR, a (automate external defibrillator), and first aid courses for the medical and non-medical communities.
- Provide educational, residential, and support services for children and adolescents with development disabilities, including autism.
- Provide services to adolescents and adults requesting treatment and educational programs that have been diagnose with autism and behavior disorders.
- Provide leadership and direction to new and existing staff members; identify training development assuring that training/certification are obtained and maintain.
Life skills instructor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Life Skills Instructors are proficient in Developmental Disabilities, CPR, and Kids. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Communication skills, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Life Skills Instructors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Developmental Disabilities, 10%
Establish and enforce rules for appropriate behavior for adults with developmental disabilities to facilitate living independently or in a different environment.
- CPR, 8%
Teach lifesaving CPR, AED (automated external defibrillator), and first aid courses for the medical and non-medical communities.
- Kids, 7%
Helped teach kids different life skills and kept them occupied and safe while their mothers were in their weekly skills meeting.
- Adaptive, 6%
Instruct clients in Adaptive Living Skills as authorized by the regional centers.
- Independent Living, 6%
Provided a safe, structured environment meeting functional rehabilitation of adults with Acute Brain Injury while providing independent living skills/ support.
- Incident Reports, 5%
Maintained accurate and detailed records of enrollments, attendance, health and safety, emergency contact and incident reports.
"developmental disabilities," "cpr," and "kids" are among the most common skills that life skills instructors use at work. You can find even more life skills instructor responsibilities below, including:
Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a life skills instructor to have is customer-service skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "many fitness trainers and instructors sell their services, motivating clients to hire them as personal trainers or to sign up for the classes they lead." Life skills instructors often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "team member performing guest service and food preparation duties. "
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform life skills instructor duties is communication skills. Life skills instructors responsibilities require that "fitness trainers and instructors must be able to clearly explain exercises that they demonstrate to clients." Life skills instructors also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "assist clients in acquiring necessary household and communication skills for independent living. "
Listening skills. life skills instructors are also known for listening skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to life skills instructor responsibilities, because "fitness trainers and instructors must listen carefully to what clients tell them in order to determine the clients’ fitness levels and desired fitness goals." A life skills instructor resume example shows how listening skills is used in the workplace: "communicated with families and mental health agencies as needed to ensure proper health of residents. "
Motivational skills. life skills instructor responsibilities often require "motivational skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "to keep clients coming back for more classes or to continue personal training, fitness trainers and instructors must keep their clients motivated." This resume example shows what life skills instructors do with motivational skills on a typical day: "provide supportive counseling and crisis intervention via using motivational interviewing technique and cognitive behavioral therapy. "
Physical fitness. A commonly-found skill in life skills instructor job descriptions, "physical fitness" is essential to what life skills instructors do. Life skills instructor responsibilities rely on this skill because "fitness trainers and instructors must be able to lead classes and to demonstrate exercises to participants or their clients." You can also see how life skills instructor duties rely on physical fitness in this resume example: "direct care of residents: supporting daily activities, fitness, therapeutic treatment, building relationships, and, recreational activities. "
Problem-solving skills. Lastly, "problem-solving skills" is an important element of what a life skills instructor does. Life skills instructor responsibilities require this skill because "fitness trainers and instructors must evaluate members’ or client’s fitness levels and create appropriate fitness plans to meet their needs." This resume example highlights how life skills instructor duties rely on this skill: "facilitate high risk crisis intervention and conflict resolution for client base. "
The three companies that hire the most life skills instructors are:
- Aspire Health13 life skills instructors jobs
- Alternative Services-Connecticut Inc7 life skills instructors jobs
- Fairview Health Services4 life skills instructors jobs
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Compare different life skills instructors
Life skills instructor vs. Direct support professional
Direct support professionals are responsible for taking care of patients with physical or mental limitations. They do a variety of tasks for their patients, such as doing household chores, running errands for them, cooking for them, feeding them, bathing and dressing them, and helping them with their medication, among others. They also provide their patients with companionship, accompanying their patients to appointments, providing emotional support, and being with their patients for the most part of the day. They should be familiar with their patients' prescribed medicines, meal plans, therapy schedules, and other items related to the betterment of the patients' condition. Direct support professionals help the patients overcome their challenges and assist them in acclimating themselves with their current environment.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a life skills instructor are more likely to require skills like "cpr," "kids," "adaptive," and "meal preparation." On the other hand, a job as a direct support professional requires skills like "autism," "dsp," "home health," and "compassion." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Direct support professionals earn the highest salaries when working in the government industry, with an average yearly salary of $29,464. On the other hand, life skills instructors are paid more in the professional industry with an average salary of $30,119.direct support professionals tend to reach lower levels of education than life skills instructors. In fact, direct support professionals are 8.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.1% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Life skills instructor vs. Direct care professional
A Program Counselor is an essential part of a school's faculty. It's the counselor's responsibility to ensure that students are benefiting from the school's educational curriculum. This person is also tasked to help students resolve issues and problems that may hinder any educational progress. They are also part of the disciplinary team intended to instill good morals, ethics, and decency in students. The Program Counselor is one of the teacher or professor who has expertise or has a high educational degree in a particular subject or field.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real life skills instructor resumes. While life skills instructor responsibilities can utilize skills like "cpr," "kids," "adaptive," and "meal preparation," direct care professionals use skills like "autism," "social work," "compassion," and "behavior management."
Direct care professionals may earn a lower salary than life skills instructors, but direct care professionals earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $29,735. On the other hand, life skills instructors receive higher pay in the professional industry, where they earn an average salary of $30,119.In general, direct care professionals achieve lower levels of education than life skills instructors. They're 7.9% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Life skills instructor vs. Program counselor
A Direct Care Staffer specializes in providing personal care and supervision to the disabled or elderly. Among the responsibilities include administering medication, managing schedules, assisting in hygienic tasks, preparing meals, and doing light to moderate household chores. Furthermore, A Direct Care Staffer also helps in transportation and preparation of daily meals, running various errands, purchasing groceries and daily necessities, and as well as monitoring health conditions. It is also essential for a Daily Care Staffer to update supervisors and guardians regularly.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a life skills instructor is likely to be skilled in "kids," "adaptive," "culinary," and "mental health," while a typical program counselor is skilled in "patients," "social work," "behavioral interventions," and "compassion."
Program counselors earn the highest salary when working in the health care industry, where they receive an average salary of $41,845. Comparatively, life skills instructors have the highest earning potential in the professional industry, with an average salary of $30,119.Most program counselors achieve a similar degree level compared to life skills instructors. For example, they're 4.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Life skills instructor vs. Direct care staffer
Even though a few skill sets overlap between life skills instructors and direct care staffers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a life skills instructor might have more use for skills like "kids," "adaptive," "meal preparation," and "culinary." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of direct care staffers require skills like "patients," "autism," "role model," and "behavior management. "
The manufacturing industry tends to pay the highest salaries for direct care staffers, with average annual pay of $30,329. Comparatively, the highest life skills instructor annual salary comes from the professional industry.The average resume of direct care staffers showed that they earn lower levels of education compared to life skills instructors. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 8.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 1.2%.Types of life skills instructor
Updated January 8, 2025
