What does a support worker do?
A support worker is responsible for supporting the community programs and development efforts to sustain and ensure the citizens' stability, providing them resources for their daily needs, and helping them with financial assistance requests. Support workers conduct family counseling to identify their challenges and needs and coordinate with the necessary organizations to process their requests. They must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in filing documents and guiding the citizens in achieving their healthy lifestyle and make a positive difference.
Support worker responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real support worker resumes:
- Lead support groups with an emphasis on recovery and strength base techniques, DBT, CBT, self-care and coping skills.
- Help children/youth in state custody achieve permanency whether through reintegration, adoption or custodianship.
- Develop and implement work plans for TANF customers according to federal requirements.
- Recognize risk factors quickly, collaborate with interdisciplinary team, nurture positive relationships with patients through consistency and modeling healthy boundaries.
- Shop for groceries and assist consumer with preparing meals.
- Compile and update medical information for each individual serve while following HIPPA protocol.
- Assist service recipients in daily living needs, compliant with HIPPA guidelines, complete documentation and records while maintain filing systems.
- Provide interventions for at-risk children with emotional disabilities, including sexual/physical abuse, delay development, autism, and social impairment.
Support worker skills and personality traits
We calculated that 18% of Support Workers are proficient in Social Work, Crisis Intervention, and Treatment Plan. They’re also known for soft skills such as Time-management skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Support Workers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Social Work, 18%
Consulted with numerous professionals to include social workers, educators, and criminal justice officials and psychologists.
- Crisis Intervention, 7%
Conduct small group facilitation and mediation, provided appropriate behavior correction and minor crisis intervention as needed.
- Treatment Plan, 7%
Implemented and Enforced Behavioral and Mobile Therapist Treatment plans written by the Behavioral Specialist Consultant and Mobile Therapist.
- Social Services, 6%
Assist social services workers and eligibility/referral specialists by performing general clerical duties and providing assistance to clients.
- Substance Abuse, 5%
Facilitated educational groups that provided skill building in the areas of crisis management and recovery from substance abuse.
- Foster Care, 5%
Provide introduction and direction to youth and foster parents upon entry to the therapeutic foster care program and agency.
"social work," "crisis intervention," and "treatment plan" are among the most common skills that support workers use at work. You can find even more support worker responsibilities below, including:
Time-management skills. One of the key soft skills for a support worker to have is time-management skills. You can see how this relates to what support workers do because "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." Additionally, a support worker resume shows how support workers use time-management skills: "support person to engineers and landscape architects, assisting in proposals and presentations and meeting deadlines in a fast-paced office environment. "
Compassion. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling support worker duties is compassion. The role rewards competence in this skill because "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." According to a support worker resume, here's how support workers can utilize compassion in their job responsibilities: "provide compassionate care to clients performs daily household management documenting medical records medication reminders/administered medication monitored vital signs as needed"
Interpersonal skills. While "interpersonal skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to support worker responsibilities. Much of what a support worker does relies on this skill, seeing as "social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of support workers: "provided excellent customer service and quality patient care, interpersonal and intrapersonal communication, team work, flexibility, and reliability. "
The three companies that hire the most support workers are:
- Aramark87 support workers jobs
- State of Georgia: Teachers Retirement System of Georgia52 support workers jobs
- My Florida Regional Mls19 support workers jobs
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Compare different support workers
Support worker vs. Residential instructor
A community support specialist is responsible for supporting and providing care services for citizens with mental health conditions and other medical illnesses. Community support specialists coordinate with organizations and health institutions to generate resources that would help the patients in their daily activities, medications, and treatment plans. They also strategize community events and activities to observe the patients' social and personal behaviors and endorse them to a mental health professional for in-depth examination and counseling.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, support worker responsibilities require skills like "social work," "treatment plan," "social services," and "substance abuse." Meanwhile a typical residential instructor has skills in areas such as "autism," "data collection," "direct supervision," and "community integration." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Residential instructors tend to make the most money working in the education industry, where they earn an average salary of $31,699. In contrast, support workers make the biggest average salary, $42,658, in the manufacturing industry.residential instructors tend to reach similar levels of education than support workers. In fact, residential instructors are 2.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Support worker vs. Community support specialist
A direct support specialist provides care and assistance to individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities. They may work at nursing facilities, government institutions, or at the patients' homes. Their responsibilities usually revolve around helping patients with daily tasks such as bathing, dressing, going to the toilet, and attending appointments. They may also assist patients in taking medications, handle the laundry and dishes, cook and prepare meals according to nutrition plans, and run errands as necessary. Moreover, they are also responsible for coordinating with physicians, maintaining daily records, and processing documents.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real support worker resumes. While support worker responsibilities can utilize skills like "treatment plan," "foster care," "support services," and "criminal justice," community support specialists use skills like "mental health," "rehabilitation," "direct services," and "severe mental illness."
Community support specialists may earn a higher salary than support workers, but community support specialists earn the most pay in the non profits industry with an average salary of $37,451. On the other hand, support workers receive higher pay in the manufacturing industry, where they earn an average salary of $42,658.community support specialists earn higher levels of education than support workers in general. They're 5.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Support worker vs. Residential program worker
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from support worker resumes include skills like "social work," "treatment plan," "social services," and "substance abuse," whereas a residential program worker is more likely to list skills in "patients," "motor vehicle," "mental health," and "adaptive. "
Residential program workers make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $28,780. On the other hand, support workers are paid the highest salary in the manufacturing industry, with average annual pay of $42,658.When it comes to education, residential program workers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to support workers. In fact, they're 4.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Support worker vs. Direct support specialist
Types of support worker
Updated January 8, 2025
