Psychiatric Attendant Overview
Working as a Psychiatric Attendant
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a psychiatric attendant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.49 an hour? That's $30,141 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 Attendant Do
There are certain skills that many psychiatric attendants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed physical stamina, observational skills and compassion.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a psychiatric attendant, we found that a lot of resumes listed 11.6% of psychiatric attendants included patient care, while 7.4% of resumes included independent living, and 7.3% of resumes included behavioral issues. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the psychiatric attendant job title. But what industry to start with? Most psychiatric attendants actually find jobs in the health care and hospitality industries.
How To Become a Psychiatric Attendant
If you're interested in becoming a psychiatric attendant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 28.2% of psychiatric attendants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 9.2% of psychiatric attendants have master's degrees. Even though some psychiatric attendants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a psychiatric attendant. When we researched the most common majors for a psychiatric attendant, we found that they most commonly earn associate degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on psychiatric attendant resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a psychiatric attendant. In fact, many psychiatric attendant jobs require experience in a role such as certified nursing assistant. Meanwhile, many psychiatric attendants also have previous career experience in roles such as customer service representative or mental health technician.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
Psychiatric Attendant Jobs
Psychiatric Attendant 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 attendant 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.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Psychiatric Attendant
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Washington State Dshs WSH Psychiatric Security Attendant Dshs WSH Psychiatric Security Attendant | Washington State Washington State | 08/17/2020 08/17/2020 | $39,52808/17/2020 $39,528 |
Washington State Dshs WSH Psychiatric Security Attendant Dshs WSH Psychiatric Security Attendant | Washington State Washington State | 04/01/2020 04/01/2020 | $38,37604/01/2020 $38,376 |
Washington State Dshs WSH Psychiatric Security Attendant Dshs WSH Psychiatric Security Attendant | Washington State Washington State | 02/29/2020 02/29/2020 | $38,37602/29/2020 $38,376 |
Washington State Psychiatric Attendant Psychiatric Attendant | Washington State Washington State | 01/16/2020 01/16/2020 | $38,37601/16/2020 $38,376 |
Calculate your salary
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Entry Level Jobs For Becoming A Psychiatric Attendant
Top Skills For a Psychiatric Attendant
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, 11.6% of psychiatric attendants listed patient care on their resume, but soft skills such as physical stamina and observational skills are important as well.
- Crisis Intervention, 8.2%
- Independent Living, 7.4%
- CPR, 7.4%
- Behavioral Issues, 6.5%
- Direct Care, 6.3%
- Other Skills, 64.2% See All Psychiatric Attendant Skills