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Relief counselor skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Steven Toepfer Ph.D.,

Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical relief counselor skills. We ranked the top skills for relief counselors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 13.8% of relief counselor resumes contained crisis intervention as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a relief counselor needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 relief counselor skills for your resume and career

1. Crisis Intervention

Here's how relief counselors use crisis intervention:

Managed residential facilities overnight and provided crisis intervention for adults with chronic psychiatric illnesses.
Intervene in behavior management as indicated in individual crisis intervention and behavior modification programs.

2. ADL

ADL is a clinical shorthand for "activities of daily living." It includes tasks such as feeding, dressing, bathing, and caring for one's self and personal hygiene.

Here's how relief counselors use adl:

Administered medications, performed daily ADL's, including communication with families and medical professionals.
Developed weekly group programs and maintained accurate data collection and program implementation to fulfill community inclusion and ADL goals.

3. Behavior Management

Here's how relief counselors use behavior management:

Cared for and supervised residents, was responsible for program implementation and behavior management of residents.
Provide training in activities of daily integration and behavior management.

4. Substance Abuse

Here's how relief counselors use substance abuse:

Provide support for residential program-serving adults with mental Illness, development disabilities and/or substance abuse issues.
Served as secondary counselor in crisis and daily routines for group housing for individuals with mental health and substance abuse problems.

5. Rehabilitation

Here's how relief counselors use rehabilitation:

Encouraged and mentored residents during their recovery and rehabilitation process.
Supervised clients at a residential psychiatric rehabilitation treatment program.

6. Developmental Disabilities

Here's how relief counselors use developmental disabilities:

Assumed responsibilities of live-in houseparents for a 48 hour weekend shift in a residential facility supervising/supporting eight adults with developmental disabilities.
Assist individuals with developmental disabilities to improve their independent living skills such as budgeting.

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7. 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 relief counselors use cpr:

Received medical training, CPR training, First Aid training.
Maintained current CPR and First Aid, medication administration certifications and Safe Crisis Management trainings.

8. Cleanliness

Here's how relief counselors use cleanliness:

Involve individuals in Functional Skill Development including development of communication skills and personal hygiene and cleanliness of living area.
Encouraged and reinforced residents' participation in maintaining established standards of cleanliness and orderliness in their living unit.

9. Meal Planning

Here's how relief counselors use meal planning:

Ensured nutritional meals and individuals participation in meal planning and preparation.
Supervised meal planning and preparation.

10. Medication Administration

Here's how relief counselors use medication administration:

Assisted with medication administration and implemented daily living skills.
Complete documentation of medication administration sheets.

11. Community Outings

Here's how relief counselors use community outings:

Supported, assisted, and actively participated with clients during community outings.
Organized and supervised patient community outings.

12. Residential Program

Here's how relief counselors use residential program:

Worked in crisis, transitional and long-term residential programs and supported independent living program full-time throughout agency.
Counseled at-risk and emotionally disturbed children and adolescents in residential program.

13. Direct Supervision

Direct supervision is a term used to indicate that a person is supervising a certain task or a certain person while being physically present or in close proximity. It refers to the presence of a person and the availability of their supervision in something if it is needed.

Here's how relief counselors use direct supervision:

provided direct supervision and direct care to individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities in a residential group home.
Provided counseling to individuals to identify and solve complex personal and family problems under direct supervision of the program director.

14. Intellectual Disabilities

Here's how relief counselors use intellectual disabilities:

Provide supervision and direct care services to individuals with intellectual disabilities, mental illness and physical disabilities.
Establish working relationships with consumers with intellectual disabilities, while supervising and monitoring their daily living.

15. Role Model

A role model is a person with desirable qualities who inspires other people to emulate their example.

Here's how relief counselors use role model:

Provided parental role modeling while emphasizing skills and personal development.
Be a positive role model for participants by showing enthusiasm, initiative, and a mature work ethic.

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What skills help Relief Counselors find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on relief counselor resumes?

Dr. Steven Toepfer Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Human Development & Family Studies, Kent State University

Generally, resume skills that might stand out include hands-on experience, leadership examples, and various skills related to technology. Always try to tailor your resume to the job you are applying!

What soft skills should all relief counselors 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 hard/technical skills are most important for relief counselors?

Dr. Benjamin Jeppsen

Associate Professor, Augustana University

Obviously, mastering the technology used in teletherapy and virtual counseling is essential. Further, the use of computer programs for therapy notes, documentation, and diagnosis is also important. Assessment and psychometric abilities are also important as psychotherapy research has been very clear about the important role of outcome measurement and objective assessment in psychotherapy. When prospective clinicians demonstrate the ability to work with numbers (and the software needed to make them useful), they show an openness to the objective assessment of their work.

What relief counselor skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Melissa Boas

Director of Professional School Counseling, Assistant Professor, Lancaster Bible College

I believe the most important skill to enhance if taking a gap year is self-awareness. Understanding oneself and why and how self-awareness directly relates to future career decision making is instrumental in ensuring the right decisions are made. Self-awareness is extremely beneficial in all areas of life not just in choosing a career pathway.

What type of skills will young relief counselors need?

Chris Hennington Ph.D.

School Counseling Program Coordinator, Lubbock Christian University

School counselors will be tasked with the usual school counseling responsibilities while also encountering trauma that students experience outside of school and in school. Being well versed in trauma response is going to be a vital aspect of being a school counselor. Kids are experiencing more trauma, but we are getting better at recognizing and treating trauma as well.

Do you want to know more?

List of relief counselor skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a relief counselor resume and required skills for a relief counselor to have include:

Crisis Intervention
ADL
Behavior Management
Substance Abuse
Rehabilitation
Developmental Disabilities
CPR
Cleanliness
Meal Planning
Medication Administration
Community Outings
Residential Program
Direct Supervision
Intellectual Disabilities
Role Model
Mental Health Issues

Persistent Mental Illness
Emergency Situations
Direct Care
Independent Living
Medication Management
Group Therapy
Meal Preparation
Crisis Situations
Medical Care
Community Resources
Incident Reports
Community Integration
Physical Disabilities
Group Sessions
at-Risk Youth
Medical Appointments

Conflict Resolution
Group Homes
Emotional Support
HIV
Residential Facility
Direct Assistance
Medication Compliance
Therapeutic Environment
ISP
Anger Management
Household Maintenance
Adult Residents
Mental Disabilities
Adolescent Girls

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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