What does a mental health aide do?
Mental health aides receive psychiatric training that allows them to help people in a number of settings. The duties of a mental health aide include helping patients with therapeutic activities, making sure patients are taking medication, documenting treatment progress, teaching patients living skills, and offering recreational therapy to improve patients' social skills. Depending on the environment, a mental health aide may also be known as a mental health technician, behavioral health aide, or psychiatric aide.
Mental health aide responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real mental health aide resumes:
- Respond to and assist in behavioral codes working as a team member to successfully manage patient using methods obtain in CPI training
- Facilitate client ADL's and assist patients with attending any therapeutic requirements, as well as educational and recreational activities.
- Certify in CPR and first aide
- Possess current CPR certification as well as current training in restraint/ control.
- Follow daily schedules and record in the ADL and observation notes, provide and implement treatment programs and daily living plans.
- Assist consumers in residence with ADL s and skill building; write ISP s, billable notes; monitor medication compliance.
- Participate in rehabilitation and treatment programs.
- Provide daily care for quadriplegic and develop appropriate treatment and rehabilitation plans for dual diagnose patient.
- Help and encourage clients to take responsibility for personal responsibilities such as personal cleanliness and group participation.
- Present peer to peer health education and provide administrative support to student health center including filing medical records using HIPPA compliant procedures
Mental health aide skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Mental Health Aides are proficient in Patients, Mental Illness, and Rehabilitation. They’re also known for soft skills such as Emotional skills, Communication skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Mental Health Aides that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 23%
Facilitated client ADL's and assisted patients with attending any therapeutic requirements, as well as educational and recreational activities.
- Mental Illness, 10%
Provide direct treatment and rehabilitation to individuals diagnosed with mental illness that receive services in an institutional based setting.
- Rehabilitation, 8%
Provide daily care for quadriplegic and developed appropriate treatment and rehabilitation plans for dual diagnosed patient.
- CPR, 7%
Received CPR and CPI Certification.
- Direct Services, 7%
Coordinate treatment services for youth by providing direct services to their families and following established program protocols.
- Patient Care, 6%
Prepared food and served meals, cleaned living areas, and assisted nurses and other entities with direct patient care issues.
Common skills that a mental health aide uses to do their job include "patients," "mental illness," and "rehabilitation." You can find details on the most important mental health aide responsibilities below.
Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling mental health aide duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "clients talk to social workers about challenges in their lives." According to a mental health aide resume, here's how mental health aides can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "managed client behaviors through verbal communication when necessary. "
Organizational skills. mental health aides are also known for organizational skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to mental health aide responsibilities, because "social workers must help and manage multiple clients, often assisting with their paperwork or documenting their treatment." A mental health aide resume example shows how organizational skills is used in the workplace: "resume building, organizational skills, and role playing interview scenario's) face-to-face crisis intervention"
Problem-solving skills. mental health aide responsibilities often require "problem-solving skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "social workers must analyze their clients’ complex situations and develop practical solutions." This resume example shows what mental health aides do with problem-solving skills on a typical day: "handle all aspects of patient care including vital signs, status checks and problem resolution. "
Interpersonal skills. A commonly-found skill in mental health aide job descriptions, "interpersonal skills" is essential to what mental health aides do. Mental health aide responsibilities rely on this skill because "social workers must be able to work with different groups of people." You can also see how mental health aide duties rely on interpersonal skills in this resume example: "developed good interpersonal crisis management skills. "
The three companies that hire the most mental health aides are:
- Maxim Healthcare Group16 mental health aides jobs
- Universal Health Services7 mental health aides jobs
- Northern Rivers Family of Services4 mental health aides jobs
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Compare different mental health aides
Mental health aide vs. Program counselor
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.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between mental health aides and program counselor. For instance, mental health aide responsibilities require skills such as "rehabilitation," "patient care," "emergency situations," and "administer medications." Whereas a program counselor is skilled in "community integration," "medication administration," "substance abuse," and "behavioral interventions." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Program counselors tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $41,845. In contrast, mental health aides make the biggest average salary, $33,627, in the manufacturing industry.program counselors tend to reach higher levels of education than mental health aides. In fact, program counselors are 7.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.9% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Mental health aide vs. Family therapist
A Family Therapist works with couples and families to help ameliorate marital and family issues. They can work in hospitals, treatment programs, government agencies, health organizations, and private practices.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real mental health aide resumes. While mental health aide responsibilities can utilize skills like "cpr," "direct services," "patient care," and "emergency situations," family therapists use skills like "group therapy," "child abuse," "mental health," and "foster care."
On average, family therapists earn a higher salary than mental health aides. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, family therapists earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $50,267. Whereas mental health aides have higher pay in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $33,627.family therapists earn higher levels of education than mental health aides in general. They're 39.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for mental health aides in the next 3-5 years?
Logan Lamprecht Ph.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor, Counseling Clinic Director, Idaho State University
Mental health aide vs. Aide
Aides are personal employees of their clients who commonly have health issues that render them unable to do certain tasks. They help out their clients with activities they may need assistance in. They may do personal errands such as grocery shopping, cleaning, and cooking. They also provide care for their clients by helping them bathe, dress, brush their teeth, and other personal hygiene activities. Aides also help their clients walk, sit, and eat if their clients' motor functions are compromised. Aides are expected to be patient, caring, and trustworthy.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, mental health aides are more likely to have skills like "mental illness," "rehabilitation," "direct services," and "emergency situations." But a aide is more likely to have skills like "compassion," "home health," "customer service," and "direct supervision."
Aides make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $27,848. On the other hand, mental health aides are paid the highest salary in the manufacturing industry, with average annual pay of $33,627.aides typically earn similar educational levels compared to mental health aides. Specifically, they're 3.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Mental health aide vs. Residential counselor
A residential counselor is responsible for guiding and providing the residents with their basic needs and other resources to support them in their daily living. Residential counselors' duties include maintaining the safety of the community by enforcing safety guidelines and procedures for the residents' compliance, organizing productive and engaging community activities, updating the residents of any changes and policies in the community, and resolving conflicts by counseling and understanding each resident's differences. A residential counselor must have excellent communication and decision-making skills to ensure the development of residents in a living facility.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between mental health aides and residential counselors, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a mental health aide might have more use for skills like "direct services," "patient care," "emergency situations," and "administer medications." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of residential counselors require skills like "medication administration," "mental health," "autism," and "cleanliness. "
The education industry tends to pay the highest salaries for residential counselors, with average annual pay of $35,120. Comparatively, the highest mental health aide annual salary comes from the manufacturing industry.In general, residential counselors hold similar degree levels compared to mental health aides. Residential counselors are 1.1% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of mental health aide
Updated January 8, 2025
