What is a Psychiatric Aide?
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a psychiatric aide. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.73 an hour? That's $32,724 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 16,300 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Psychiatric Aide Do
Psychiatric technicians and aides care for people who have mental illness and developmental disabilities. Technicians typically provide therapeutic care and monitor their patients’ conditions. Aides help patients in their daily activities and ensure a safe, clean environment.
How To Become a Psychiatric Aide
Psychiatric technicians typically need postsecondary education, and aides need at least a high school diploma. Both technicians and aides get on-the-job training.
Psychiatric Aide Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a psychiatric aide can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as certified nursing assistant, progress to a title such as registered nurse and then eventually end up with the title nursing director.
Average Salary for a Psychiatric Aide
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Psychiatric Aide
There are several types of psychiatric aide, including:
Aide
Role:
Aides make it possible for patients to stay at home with less severe conditions, instead of staying in hospitals or retirement homes. They monitor the patients' condition, keep them company, and help practicing hygiene and with chores around the house. Aides perform basic health care as well and help with transportation, if necessary.
Home health aides are the fastest-growing occupation in the U.S., with an increase in demand of 70% from 2010 to 2020. This tendency is likely to continue in rapid growth up to 2030, as the Baby Boomer generation reaches seniority.
Aides make $18 per hour, on average, and generally work 40 hours a week, sometimes taking night shifts and working on weekends, too. Part-time and live-in arrangements are both common as well, so you have a lot of options to figure out what works best for you.
- Average Salary: $27,793
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Certified Nurses' Aide
Role:
The duties of certified nurses' aides mainly focus on providing healthcare and well-being assistance to the patients in private clinical establishments, hospitals, hospices, or whatever establishment that provides care for a long period.
It is also a part of your responsibility to aid patients in putting on clothes, ensuring they take their bath, catheter utilization, crucial regular exercise and strolls, and arranging and feeding meals. What is more? You must observe patients' crucial signs and general state. You must cooperate with nurses and other health care personnel by announcing alterations and recovery as well as helping nurses in the direct treatment of trauma patients.
Nurses' Aides don't usually require a university education, but the most frequently used degree for a certified Nurses' aide is a high school diploma, although an associate degree can be used as an alternative. Furthermore, you must demonstrate excellent communication, problem-solving, and writing skills. You should also be detail-oriented and show empathy for patients. You will earn an average yearly salary ranging from $22,000 to $37,000.
- Average Salary: $32,566
- Degree: High School Diploma
Nurses' Aide
Role:
If you have been admitted to a hospital before, the nurse aide is the individual in charge of performing basic chores such as preparing meals, dressing, and bathing. Their primary role is centered around providing welfare and health care assistance, and they're supervised by a registered nurse.
Daily, a nurses' aide will also record vital signs, administer patient medication, and undertake light housekeeping duties. They are in charge of transporting patients to operating rooms, conducting equipment set up, and working with nurses in reporting patient progress.
Employers require nurses' aides to have a minimum high school diploma or G.E.D equivalent. On top of that, they will also need certification as a nurse aide I or nurse aide II, depending on the job scope. This role earns, on average, $13 per hour.
- Average Salary: $30,496
- Degree: High School Diploma
States With The Most Psychiatric Aide Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active psychiatric aide jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where psychiatric aides earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Psychiatric Aide Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pennsylvania | 1,423 | $29,196 |
| 2 | New York | 1,408 | $32,675 |
| 3 | Texas | 1,292 | $27,349 |
| 4 | California | 1,275 | $33,791 |
| 5 | Illinois | 997 | $32,179 |
| 6 | Florida | 884 | $22,771 |
| 7 | Michigan | 867 | $32,595 |
| 8 | Indiana | 831 | $32,545 |
| 9 | New Jersey | 781 | $32,617 |
| 10 | Georgia | 732 | $24,012 |
| 11 | Ohio | 731 | $33,095 |
| 12 | North Carolina | 728 | $25,644 |
| 13 | Massachusetts | 599 | $31,308 |
| 14 | Minnesota | 589 | $29,264 |
| 15 | Tennessee | 564 | $28,557 |
| 16 | Virginia | 460 | $27,581 |
| 17 | Wisconsin | 432 | $33,659 |
| 18 | Maryland | 408 | $30,373 |
| 19 | Missouri | 385 | $31,467 |
| 20 | Washington | 369 | $34,025 |
| 21 | Kansas | 346 | $30,475 |
| 22 | Iowa | 323 | $31,901 |
| 23 | Arizona | 307 | $27,491 |
| 24 | Oregon | 296 | $29,717 |
| 25 | Kentucky | 290 | $31,140 |
| 26 | Colorado | 279 | $32,534 |
| 27 | South Carolina | 248 | $28,008 |
| 28 | Alabama | 247 | $23,992 |
| 29 | Connecticut | 204 | $31,144 |
| 30 | Oklahoma | 201 | $26,348 |
| 31 | Nebraska | 199 | $32,488 |
| 32 | Maine | 160 | $33,999 |
| 33 | Louisiana | 158 | $25,126 |
| 34 | Mississippi | 150 | $27,784 |
| 35 | Arkansas | 148 | $28,559 |
| 36 | Montana | 146 | $33,702 |
| 37 | Utah | 137 | $33,314 |
| 38 | West Virginia | 124 | $32,238 |
| 39 | New Mexico | 121 | $30,111 |
| 40 | Idaho | 118 | $33,844 |
| 41 | Nevada | 93 | $32,195 |
| 42 | Delaware | 92 | $31,925 |
| 43 | New Hampshire | 92 | $31,245 |
| 44 | Rhode Island | 86 | $32,563 |
| 45 | Alaska | 83 | $32,096 |
| 46 | Vermont | 71 | $31,121 |
| 47 | South Dakota | 61 | $33,357 |
| 48 | North Dakota | 58 | $33,614 |
| 49 | Hawaii | 49 | $30,335 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 33 | $28,768 |
Top Skills For a Psychiatric Aide
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 34.0% of psychiatric aides listed patients on their resume, but soft skills such as compassion and patience are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Psychiatric Aide Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Psychiatric Aide templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Psychiatric Aide resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Psychiatric Aide diversity
Psychiatric Aide Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among psychiatric aides, 63.4% of them are women, while 36.6% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among psychiatric aides is White, which makes up 48.1% of all psychiatric aides.
- The most common foreign language among psychiatric aides is Spanish at 59.4%.
Online Courses For Psychiatric Aide That You May Like
1. Foundations for Assisting in Home Care
This course is intended as a self-study course for those interested in exploring a career as a Home Health Aide or Personal Care Aide...
2. Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care
This course presents basic principles of cancer survivorship to primary-care physicians. Developed by a team of experts in caring for cancer survivors, and narrated by a primary-care physician, this course provides practical tips and tools that can be easily integrated into medical practice. You will learn about the complex physical and psychosocial needs and concerns of the growing number of cancer survivors, along with the key role that primary care physicians have in guiding these patients...
3. Home Health Aide, Nurse Aide, Caregiver Certification Course
Become A Certified Home Health Aide, Personal Care Aide, Nurse Aide/ Caregiver At The End Of This Course. Enroll Now!...
Best States For a Psychiatric Aide
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a psychiatric aide. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Maine, Idaho, and California. Psychiatric aides make the most in Washington with an average salary of $34,025. Whereas in Maine and Idaho, they would average $33,999 and $33,844, respectively. While psychiatric aides would only make an average of $33,791 in California, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Indiana
$32,545
Avg. Salary
2. Wisconsin
$33,659
Avg. Salary
3. Montana
$33,702
Avg. Salary
How Do Psychiatric Aides Rate Their Jobs?
Top Psychiatric Aide Employers
Most Common Employers For Psychiatric Aide
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brunswick | $42,137 | $20.26 | 5 |
| 2 | Psychiatric Medical Care | $38,768 | $18.64 | 2 |
| 3 | Westchester Medical Center | $36,204 | $17.41 | 14 |
| 4 | North Texas Medical Center | $35,790 | $17.21 | 8 |
| 5 | Crown Holdings | $35,413 | $17.03 | 2 |
| 6 | SoutheastHEALTH | $34,957 | $16.81 | 11 |
| 7 | Austin State Hospital | $34,870 | $16.76 | 4 |
| 8 | Acadiana Center for the Arts | $33,774 | $16.24 | 2 |
| 9 | Clarks Summit State Hospital | $33,213 | $15.97 | 9 |
| 10 | South Oaks Hospital | $32,860 | $15.80 | 5 |
Psychiatric Aide Videos
