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Mental health case manager skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Kim Jones Ph.D.,

Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen

Mental health case manager example skills

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical mental health case manager skills. We ranked the top skills for mental health case managers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 15.0% of mental health case manager resumes contained mental health as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a mental health case manager needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 mental health case manager skills for your resume and career

1. 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 mental health case managers use mental health:

Participated in the ongoing evaluation and improvement of the Mental Health Case Management system by actively conducting case management projects.
Provide rehabilitation services, consistent with Mental Health Rehabilitation Services guidelines for 35 consumers with persistent, chronic mental illness.

3. Patients

Here's how mental health case managers use patients:

Conduct interviews in order to determine the appropriate services to offer mental health patients Participate in implementation of unit therapeutic programming.
Provided behavioral/emotional support and education for patients and families of patients with diagnoses including dementia and Alzheimer's.

4. Management Services

Management services may refer to a number of supervisory duties depending on the type of work. A manager may be required to oversee a team of employees complete a series of tasks or monitor the quality of a product. Overall, any form of management involves supervising a worksite, whether this is a restaurant, grocery store, or manufacturing plant.

Here's how mental health case managers use management services:

Provided home-and-community-based case management services to children and adults with mental illnesses, substance abuse diagnoses, intellectual & developmental disabilities.
Provided Case Management services including coordinating complex services within complicated service delivery systems, advocating for clients rights and assessing risk.

5. Rehabilitation

Here's how mental health case managers use rehabilitation:

Coordinated, collaborated, and referred to various community agencies to assist in meeting consumer's needs and maximizing their rehabilitation.
Provide Mental Health Targeted Case Management and Rehabilitation Services to adults living in the community who have severe and persistent mental illness

6. Crisis Intervention

Here's how mental health case managers use crisis intervention:

Provide individualized comprehensive case management, clinical services and crisis intervention to veterans deemed at an increased risk for suicide.
Provided crisis intervention and short-term adjustment counseling to assist with emotional, social and economic stresses of illness and disability.

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7. Substance Abuse Issues

Here's how mental health case managers use substance abuse issues:

Advocated for clients with mental illness and substance abuse issues to ensure consistent access to community resources available to them.
Developed and lead the Intensive Stabilization Program for clients with dual diagnoses, substance abuse issues, and personality disorders.

8. Severe Mental Illness

Here's how mental health case managers use severe mental illness:

Case managed veterans who have been diagnosed with a Severe Mental Illness (SMI) and reside in the community.
Assisted clients with severe mental illness to doctor appointments, home visits, shopping, linkage to community services.

9. Medicaid

Here's how mental health case managers use medicaid:

Provided intake assessments for at-risk youth and families to determine eligibility for intensive in-home and therapeutic day treatment services and Medicaid assistance
Assisted consumers with receiving Medicaid for community-based care and insurance counseling regarding changes to Medicare.

10. Discharge Planning

Here's how mental health case managers use discharge planning:

Facilitate and participate in discharge planning and placement with families and community agencies.
Coordinated and responsible for discharge planning and community re-entry following service completion.

12. Intake Assessments

Here's how mental health case managers use intake assessments:

Conducted initial intake assessments with individuals/families.
Conducted intake assessments and linked children to appropriate mental health services and followed up on those services once in place.

13. 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 mental health case managers use cpr:

Certified: CPR - First Aid
Participated in continuing PART, CPR, First Aid , Therapeutic Community and crisis training.

14. Independent Living

Here's how mental health case managers use independent living:

Facilitated psycho-educational groups and educational classes such as parenting skills, independent living skills, anger management and behavior management.
Monitored adolescent client strengths to facilitate methods for developing coping skills and daily living skills to promote independent living.

15. 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 mental health case managers use support services:

Provided timely documentation to support services rendered and provides written reports as required by other agencies.
Coordinate community support services and/or directly provide assistance to clients with activities of daily living.

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What skills help Mental Health Case Managers find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on mental health case manager resumes?

Kim Jones Ph.D.

Professor, Chair of Clinical Concentration, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

The necessary skills for today's market include the ability to implement evidence-informed mental health approaches, the ability to display empathy, knowledge of crisis intervention models, organizational skills, good work ethic, both verbal and written communication skills, cultural competence, and the ability to adapt to changing technology.

What soft skills should all mental health case managers 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 mental health case manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Christina Erickson Ph.D.

Professor and Director of the Bachelor of Social Work Program, Augsburg University

Gap years are welcome for students. Generally, I see a great deal of maturity as students move through the four years of college and this is necessary to prepare them for the demands of being a professional social worker. A gap year often increases the maturity level of students and can provide rich experiences that prepare them for college. A good gap year for a social work student includes human interactions that require students to work across human differences. That difference can be in a variety of forms, age, culture, gender, faith tradition, experiences, or even ways of thinking. What matters most is the student's ability to describe their own growth as they worked across those differences. Not about how other people changed because of their interaction, but how they changed to meet their goals and learn from others. Experience solving problems is helpful, too. Even learning how to take the first steps to deal with a challenge and being able to describe the steps, grows critical thinking and evaluation skills important for the most successful social work practitioners.

What type of skills will young mental health case managers need?

Dr. Eva Moya Ph.D.

Professor, The University of Texas

Graduates of the social work profession need to be able to work with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and mobilize communities to bring about social, economic, political, or environmental change, in addition to being involved in social policy development.

Skills in research, to study social issues, with the intention of developing social policy or micro-level approaches to practice to improve people's lives, and training in relation to multiculturalism, cultural competence, cultural humility practice is vital.

Key skills include:
-Collaboration
-Critical thinking
-Ethics in evidence based-practice
-Assessment, intervention, and evaluation
-Social work competencies to inform behaviors.
-Administration and management
-Community practice
-Policy practice

What technical skills for a mental health case manager stand out to employers?

William Weston

Professor, Centre College

The ability to write clearly and think critically. The deep sense that other people in other cultures, and other positions in our own culture, see the world differently, enabling students to respond to a broad range of people appropriately.

What hard/technical skills are most important for mental health case managers?

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.

Associate Professor; Director, Master of Counseling, Louisiana State University at Shreveport

It is important that counselors are able to effectively take notes and summarize progress, interpret assessments, memorize and recall information, and keep clear yet concise records.

Do you want to know more?

List of mental health case manager skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a mental health case manager resume and required skills for a mental health case manager to have include:

Mental Health
Social Work
Patients
Management Services
Rehabilitation
Crisis Intervention
Substance Abuse Issues
Severe Mental Illness
Medicaid
Discharge Planning
Social Services
Intake Assessments
CPR
Independent Living
Support Services
Community Services
Group Therapy

Community Agencies
Mental Illness
Persistent Mental Illness
Functional Assessments
Social Security
Developmental Disabilities
Medication Management
Mental Health Issues
Mental Health Treatment
Crisis Management
Family Therapy
Service Coordination
Service Delivery
Psychosocial Assessments
Community Resources
Dual Diagnosis
Group Sessions

Individual Therapy
Mental Health Assessments
Mental Health Diagnosis
Crisis Situations
Client Service
Mental Health Clients
Symptom Management
Mental Health Symptoms
Anger Management
SPMI
ADL
Management System
Mental Health Professionals
Medication Compliance
Court Hearings
IEP

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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