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Psychiatric technician skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Quoted expert
Sepideh Soheilian Ph.D.
Psychiatric technician example skills
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical psychiatric technician skills. We ranked the top skills for psychiatric technicians based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 26.9% of psychiatric technician resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a psychiatric technician needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 psychiatric technician skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how psychiatric technicians use patients:
  • Interviewed patients for admittance, assisted with administering medications per physician instruction and other activities of daily living.
  • Analyzed, implemented and developed conflict resolution for patients and staff, effectively increasing effective communication.

2. 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 psychiatric technicians use mental health:
  • Provided nursing care for mentally ill, emotionally disturbed patients in mental health center and participated in rehabilitation and treatment programs.
  • Assisted individuals with a mental health or intellectual disability diagnosis to develop self-sufficiency and maintenance of physical/emotional health for independent living.

3. Social Work

Here's how psychiatric technicians use social work:
  • Performed clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic procedures and activities relating to clinical psychology, clinical psychiatry and clinical social work.
  • Performed comprehensive patient assessment; facilitated coordination of services and maintained communication with nurses and social workers throughout the treatment process.

4. Vital Signs

Vital signs are a set of values indicating different body systems' performance. They are measurements of the body's most basic functions. The four major vital signs used in medicine to assess a patient are body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure.

Here's how psychiatric technicians use vital signs:
  • Monitored patient vital signs and strictly provided treatment according to instruction from doctors and other qualified medical professionals.
  • Conducted vital sign administration and administered patient medications of a patient caseload of 9 individuals.

5. Patient Behavior

Patient behavior is frequently described as disturbing behavior as they have an altered mental stage. They might live in a conceived state of fear and anxiety and have modification of lifestyle if suffering from a chronic illness.

Here's how psychiatric technicians use patient behavior:
  • Influence patient behaviors through productive interaction that included encouragement to participate in various activities and group therapy sessions.
  • Maintained a safe therapeutic environment, by observing patient behavior and reporting changes in physical or psychiatric behavior.

6. Rehabilitation

Here's how psychiatric technicians use rehabilitation:
  • Participate in rehabilitation and treatment programs, helped with personal hygiene, and assisted with administration of oral medications.
  • Participated in rehabilitation and treatment programs, helped with personal hygiene, and administered oral medications and hypodermic injections.

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7. Crisis Intervention

Here's how psychiatric technicians use crisis intervention:
  • Deal effectively with physically and verbally combative clients' to include verbal deescalation as well as physical crisis intervention.
  • Observed individuals for typical and atypical behavior, and provided therapeutic and crisis interventions, followed by required documentation.

8. Compassion

Here's how psychiatric technicians use compassion:
  • Provided support, compassion and assistance to persons with a dual diagnosis of a Developmental Disability and a co-existing Psychiatric Disorder.
  • Demonstrated proper work methods, seizure management, and compassion in the caring for one blind adolescent with Batten's Disease.

9. Therapeutic Milieu

Here's how psychiatric technicians use therapeutic milieu:
  • Provided observation assessments of mentally diagnosed and chemically dependent adolescents to psychiatrist, psychologist and nursing staff in a therapeutic milieu.
  • Provided supervision for acute care adolescents and adults in a therapeutic milieu environment by providing support and encouragement for growth development

10. Restraints

Here's how psychiatric technicians use restraints:
  • Implemented seclusion and/or restraints according to policy in a standard hospital unit environment.
  • Assisted/participated in the application of manual or mechanical restraints.

11. Therapeutic Environment

Here's how psychiatric technicians use therapeutic environment:
  • Help maintain therapeutic environment, provide/assist with AD's, Verbal/Physical management of aggressive behaviors on psych unit
  • Participated in the facilitating of a therapeutic environment to prepare criminal defendants for competency hearings.

12. CPI

CPI Consumer Price Index is a monthly comprehensive measurement of the prices of goods and services representing the economy's consumption expenditure. This presents the inflation or rising of prices and deflation or falling prices. CPI keeps track of the costs of around 700 goods and services utilized by a typical household, and CPI shows how their price change each month. The changes in CPI are used to assess price changes related to the cost of living.

Here's how psychiatric technicians use cpi:
  • Demonstrated triage and emergency assistance when needed, including suicide prevention plans (currently CPR and CPI certified).
  • Followed treatment plans and intervened during crisis situations using CPI techniques.

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 psychiatric technicians use cpr:
  • Attended numerous classes on client behavior, PMAB, CPR, neglect and abuse, OSHA rules and regulations.
  • Trained in certified in First Aid, CPR, Defensive Driving, and Safe Crisis Management.

14. Patient Safety

Here's how psychiatric technicians use patient safety:
  • Provided over 50 hours of direct patient care stateside promoting patient safety and mental stability to Operation Iraq Freedom/Operating Enduring Freedom patients
  • Monitored for patient safety and maintained calming and reliable demeanor in order to relieve patient anxieties and encourage verbalization skills.

15. Substance Abuse

Here's how psychiatric technicians use substance abuse:
  • Perform intake and out processing procedures (Confiscation/return of contraband items)* Observe and document alcohol/substance abuse or developmental disabilities.
  • Collaborate with multidisciplinary treatment team in the care of adolescents through geriatrics with acute mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse disorders.
top-skills

What skills help Psychiatric Technicians find jobs?

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

What psychiatric technician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Sepideh Soheilian Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Baltimore

If a recent college graduate decides to take a gap year between their undergraduate studies and starting a master's program in Counseling Psychology, my advice would be to try their best to be exposed to or engage in either 1) experiences in the field of mental health, or 2) experiences that will strengthen their social science research skills. Engaging in these types of experiences such as working as an administrative assistant in a private practice, or volunteering on a psychiatric unit at a hospital will provide greater exposure to the field of mental health and hopefully, help the graduate determine if entering the mental health field would be the right fit for their career expectations, goals, and values.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about psychiatric technician

List of psychiatric technician skills to add to your resume

Psychiatric technician skills

The most important skills for a psychiatric technician resume and required skills for a psychiatric technician to have include:

  • Patients
  • Mental Health
  • Social Work
  • Vital Signs
  • Patient Behavior
  • Rehabilitation
  • Crisis Intervention
  • Compassion
  • Therapeutic Milieu
  • Restraints
  • Therapeutic Environment
  • CPI
  • CPR
  • Patient Safety
  • Substance Abuse
  • Mental Illness
  • Discharge Planning
  • Direct Patient Care
  • Team Work
  • Money Management
  • Emergency Situations
  • Medication Administration
  • Group Therapy Sessions
  • Developmental Disabilities
  • ADL
  • Treatment Programs
  • Eating Disorders
  • Safety Checks
  • Psych Tech
  • Crisis Intervention Training
  • Early Intervention
  • EKG
  • Reports Observations
  • Crisis Situations
  • Physical Means
  • Emotional Support
  • Oral Medications
  • Patient Charts
  • Psychosis
  • Anger Management
  • Hippa
  • Behavioral Issues
  • Hands-On Care
  • Hospital Procedures
  • Medical Appointments
  • Social Relationships
  • Family Conferences

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
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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