What does a psychiatric technician do?

A psychiatric technician is responsible for supporting patients with mental issues and disabilities by administering treatment plans and quality therapeutic care. Psychiatric technicians assist the patients through counseling, observing their mental and social behaviors, and suggesting recreational activities to help them interact with others. They also work with other medical professionals to seek advice, especially when performing medical procedures and suggesting medications. A psychiatric technician must have excellent communication and time-management skills, especially when responding to the patients' concerns and looking after them during daily activities.
Psychiatric technician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real psychiatric technician resumes:
- Prioritize and utilize therapeutic communication and CPI skills to diffuse and manage difficult situations.
- Participate in rehabilitation and treatment programs, also lead prescribed individual and group therapy sessions as part of specific therapeutic procedures.
- Respond to emergency situations such as fire evacuation or the administration of first aid and/or CPR.
- Observe patients comfort levels and mood changes, show compassion and respect to minimize clients stress levels.
- Demonstrate triage and emergency assistance when need, including suicide prevention plans (currently CPR and CPI certify).
- Participate in rehabilitation and treatment programs, help with personal hygiene, and assist with administration of oral medications.
- Maintain duties from previous shifts; continue behavior plans, objectives, self-help skills, and daily activities.
- Attend numerous classes on client behavior, PMAB, CPR, neglect and abuse, OSHA rules and regulations.
- Encourage clients to follow daily group and individual schedule according to treatment plan, and to complete ADL's.
- Carry out assign activities and conducts training/treatment programs in areas of daily living, self-help, and social skills.
- Assist, supervise, and provide patient education to ensure activities of daily living (ADL) are maintain, i.e.
- Maintain student s program book (including accurate completion of item lists) and ensure the curriculum correspond to the IEP.
- Assisted/Participate in the application of manual or mechanical restraints.
- Contribute in interdisciplinary team meetings addressing IEP development and behavior modification plans.
- Implement seclusion and/or restraints according to policy in a standard hospital unit environment.
Psychiatric technician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 27% of Psychiatric Technicians are proficient in Patients, Mental Health, and Social Work. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Interpersonal skills, and Observational skills.
We break down the percentage of Psychiatric Technicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 27%
Interviewed patients for admittance, assisted with administering medications per physician instruction and other activities of daily living.
- Mental Health, 9%
Provided nursing care for mentally ill, emotionally disturbed patients in mental health center and participated in rehabilitation and treatment programs.
- Social Work, 6%
Performed clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic procedures and activities relating to clinical psychology, clinical psychiatry and clinical social work.
- Vital Signs, 6%
Monitored patient vital signs and strictly provided treatment according to instruction from doctors and other qualified medical professionals.
- Patient Behavior, 4%
Influence patient behaviors through productive interaction that included encouragement to participate in various activities and group therapy sessions.
- Rehabilitation, 4%
Participate in rehabilitation and treatment programs, helped with personal hygiene, and assisted with administration of oral medications.
"patients," "mental health," and "social work" are among the most common skills that psychiatric technicians use at work. You can find even more psychiatric technician responsibilities below, including:
Compassion. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a psychiatric technician to have is compassion. Their role and responsibilities require that "psychiatric technicians and aides spend much of their time interacting with patients who have mental, emotional, or developmental conditions." Psychiatric technicians often use compassion in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "demonstrated standard of performance (ownership, teamwork communication, compassion) that support patient satisfaction and principles of service excellence. "
Interpersonal skills. Another essential skill to perform psychiatric technician duties is interpersonal skills. Psychiatric technicians responsibilities require that "psychiatric technicians and aides may want to develop a rapport with patients in order to properly care for them." Psychiatric technicians also use interpersonal skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "encouraged patients to participate in social, recreational, and other therapeutic activities that enhance interpersonal skills and develop social relationships. "
Observational skills. This is an important skill for psychiatric technicians to perform their duties. For an example of how psychiatric technician responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "psychiatric technicians and aides must watch patients closely and be sensitive to changes in behavior." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a psychiatric technician: "conduct a variety of patient safety monitoring activities such as observational checks. ".
Patience. psychiatric technician responsibilities often require "patience." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "working with people who have mental, emotional, or developmental conditions may be challenging." This resume example shows what psychiatric technicians do with patience on a typical day: "learned and experienced autism face to face while growing patience and managing behaviors. "
Physical stamina. Another common skill required for psychiatric technician responsibilities is "physical stamina." This skill comes up in the duties of psychiatric technicians all the time, as "psychiatric technicians and aides must lift, move, and sometimes restrain patients." An excerpt from a real psychiatric technician resume shows how this skill is central to what a psychiatric technician does: "recorded general physical conditions of assigned patients and administered oral medications and hypodermic injections following physician's prescriptions and hospital procedures. "
The three companies that hire the most psychiatric technicians are:
- The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD
36 psychiatric technicians jobs
- Hca Hospital Services Of San Diego
22 psychiatric technicians jobs
- WellSpan Health20 psychiatric technicians jobs
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Psychiatric technician vs. Mental health nurse
A mental health nurse is responsible for assisting with the diagnosis and treatment plans of patients with mental health complications. Mental health nurses handle high-quality nursing care under mental health professionals' supervision within a hospital or mental health institution. They support in performing therapeutic activities, administering medical examinations, and counseling patients to know more about their conditions. A mental health nurse also does administrative tasks as needed, such as organizing and updating patients' information on the database, processing treatment payments, and responding to the family's inquiries and concerns.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a psychiatric technician are more likely to require skills like "patient behavior," "restraints," "cpi," and "mental illness." On the other hand, a job as a mental health nurse requires skills like "psychiatric mental," "pmhnp," "medication management," and "psychiatric services." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Mental health nurses tend to make the most money working in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $113,936. In contrast, psychiatric technicians make the biggest average salary, $33,642, in the government industry.The education levels that mental health nurses earn slightly differ from psychiatric technicians. In particular, mental health nurses are 9.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a psychiatric technician. Additionally, they're 1.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Psychiatric technician vs. Therapist
A therapist is responsible for improving the patients' health conditions by evaluating their needs and providing physical and mental support. Therapists are licensed, medical professionals who specialize in different areas to perform treatments and bring relief to patients. Some of their duties include diagnosing patient's problems, performing counseling services, monitoring medication progress, customizing therapy activities for pain management, and consulting other health professionals as needed. Therapists must have extensive knowledge with the medical industry to detect patients' conditions easily and provide effective medications.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that psychiatric technician responsibilities requires skills like "vital signs," "patient behavior," "compassion," and "therapeutic milieu." But a therapist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "patient care," "community resources," "therapeutic services," and "therapy services."
Therapists earn a higher average salary than psychiatric technicians. But therapists earn the highest pay in the government industry, with an average salary of $55,972. Additionally, psychiatric technicians earn the highest salaries in the government with average pay of $33,642 annually.In general, therapists achieve higher levels of education than psychiatric technicians. They're 34.3% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Psychiatric technician vs. Mental health worker
A mental health worker is an individual who provides basic care and therapy to patients who are inflicted with mental disabilities or developmental disabilities. Mental health workers assist patients with their daily activities, monitor their conditions, and administer therapeutic care. They may be directly supervised by a registered nurse and can work in facilities such as psychiatric hospitals and residential mental health facilities. They may also help develop treatment plans and strategies with other staff members to best meet patient needs.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from psychiatric technician resumes include skills like "restraints," "team work," "emergency situations," and "psych tech," whereas a mental health worker is more likely to list skills in "direct supervision," "mental health issues," "excellent interpersonal," and "therapeutic relationships. "
Mental health workers earn the highest salary when working in the professional industry, where they receive an average salary of $39,268. Comparatively, psychiatric technicians have the highest earning potential in the government industry, with an average salary of $33,642.When it comes to education, mental health workers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to psychiatric technicians. In fact, they're 4.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Psychiatric technician vs. In home therapist
An in-home therapist provides case management, counseling, resource system development, support system development, and crisis intervention services for family members and children. They provide goal-oriented and structured therapy on referral issues for families that help recover from neglect, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, or physical abuse. Also, they provide time-limited, goal-oriented, and structured therapy in the families' natural environment for families that need help to recover from neglect, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse.
Types of psychiatric technician
Updated January 8, 2025











