What does a Therapist do?

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.
Therapist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real therapist resumes:
- Manage ventilator and BiPAP's and create or update care plans per patient needs.
- Demonstrate working knowledge of community mental health services identify in the Medicaid guidelines and attain contractual outcomes within designate time frames.
- Provide on-call crisis intervention as well as standard treatment, rehabilitation and support services with some interventions requiring specialize therapy services.
- Develop and implement an effective curriculum of DBT inform group and art therapy classes specifically tailor for chemically dependent patients.
- Provide trauma-inform individual psychotherapy, TREM group treatment protocol, and EMDR.
- Utilize current brain base therapeutic techniques to teach clients adaptive skills to utilize in daily lives.
- Utilize therapeutic techniques such as family therapy, CBT, TF-CBT, play therapy, and other modalities.
- Provide applied behavioral analysis to a variety of exceptional children and young adults with autism.
- Receive weekly individual and group supervision, psychopathology education, DBT and other therapeutic skill training.
- Provide weekly individual sessions to children and adolescents in a residential treatment facility using DBT inform treatment.
- Organize and update database of insurance companies and physicians to efficiently and effectively provide medical devices to patients.
- Implement assessment and treatment plans for individuals with autism spectrum disorders, behavioral problems and other developmental disabilities.
- Assist consumer and families to ensure client entitlements are active and Medicaid documentation is completed within appropriate standards.
- Demonstrate culturally competent counseling and psychotherapy services to facilitate change and enhance quality of life for veterans and family.
- Provide training for federal and public organizations regarding the psychological aspects of veterans having experience combat or military sexual trauma.
Therapist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Therapists are proficient in Social Work, Patients, and Group Therapy Sessions. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Dexterity, and Physical stamina.
We break down the percentage of Therapists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Social Work, 23%
Exercised independent and authoritative judgment, utilized full range of professional experience in mental health counseling and social work with adolescents.
- Patients, 12%
Provided Individual Therapy services to patients in the intensive inpatient detoxification unit, partial hospitalization program, and intensive outpatient programs.
- Group Therapy Sessions, 8%
Facilitate individual therapy sessions, Complete Intake Session, Facilitate/Co-facilitate group therapy sessions, Converse with consumers in individual and group sessions
- Crisis Intervention, 7%
Completed agency and other statistical reports, case recording and other appropriate regulatory forms, and provided support and crisis intervention.
- Mental Health, 4%
Coordinated and collaborated with Niagara County Probation and departments, community based human services organizations, mental health and educational institutions.
- Patient Care, 3%
Promote safe and therapeutic interdisciplinary patient care through consultation, supervision, effective communication and training of direct care staff.
Common skills that a therapist uses to do their job include "social work," "patients," and "group therapy sessions." You can find details on the most important therapist responsibilities below.
Detail oriented. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a therapist to have is detail oriented. Their role and responsibilities require that "like other healthcare providers, physical therapists should have strong analytic and observational skills to diagnose a patient’s problem, evaluate treatments, and provide safe, effective care." Therapists often use detail oriented in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "completed detailed mental health assessments using dsm-v and collaborated with clients to develop individualized treatment plans. "
Dexterity. Many therapist duties rely on dexterity. "physical therapists must use their hands to provide manual therapy and therapeutic exercises," so a therapist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways therapist responsibilities rely on dexterity: "provided hands on activities focusing on team work, communication, problem solving, anger management and cultural diversity. "
Physical stamina. therapists are also known for physical stamina, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to therapist responsibilities, because "physical therapists spend much of their time on their feet, moving to demonstrate proper techniques and to help patients perform exercises." A therapist resume example shows how physical stamina is used in the workplace: "conducted aba therapy with children with physical, mental, behavioral, and learning disabilities and coordinated offsite fieldtrips. "
Time-management skills. For certain therapist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "time-management skills." The day-to-day duties of a therapist rely on this skill, as "physical therapists typically treat several patients each day." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what therapists do: "complete and submit all documentation on time (session notes, treatment plans, and discharge summaries).7. "
Resourcefulness. A commonly-found skill in therapist job descriptions, "resourcefulness" is essential to what therapists do. Therapist responsibilities rely on this skill because "physical therapists customize treatment plans for patients." You can also see how therapist duties rely on resourcefulness in this resume example: "provided client and family support, clinical assessment and psychoeducation to promote mental health wellness and resourcefulness. "
Compassion. While "compassion" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to therapist responsibilities. Much of what a therapist does relies on this skill, seeing as "physical therapists spend a lot of time interacting with patients, so they should have a desire to help people." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of therapists: "provide high quality, compassionate and ethical outpatient mental health therapy to clients as scheduled. "
The three companies that hire the most therapists are:
- Thriveworks1,189 therapists jobs
- WakeMed963 therapists jobs
- Talkspace706 therapists jobs
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Therapist vs. Clinician
A clinician specializes in providing diagnosis, treatment, and direct care to patients with different illnesses. A clinician's duties mainly revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis, providing medical care through various therapies, and improving one's overall health condition. Furthermore, a clinician must obtain and analyze a patient's complete medical history, provide diagnostic tests, always monitor the effects of treatment on a patient, provide prognosis and consider the overall impact on a patient's health and well-being.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, therapist responsibilities require skills like "therapy services," "medicaid," "individual therapy sessions," and "aba." Meanwhile a typical clinician has skills in areas such as "individual therapy," "treatment services," "home health," and "compassion." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, clinicians reach similar levels of education than therapists. Clinicians are 1.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Therapist 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.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, therapist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patient care," "therapeutic services," "therapy services," and "substance abuse issues." Meanwhile, a mental health nurse has duties that require skills in areas such as "psychiatric mental," "pmhnp," "medication management," and "cpr." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Mental health nurses may earn a higher salary than therapists, but mental health nurses earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $113,936. On the other hand, therapists receive higher pay in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $55,972.In general, mental health nurses achieve lower levels of education than therapists. They're 24.4% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Therapists in the next 3-5 years?
Associate Professor, Director, Industrial/Organizational Psychology Masters Program, Angelo State University
Therapist vs. Behavioral health technician
A behavioral health technician participates in treating patients with behavioral problems caused by mental health issues. They are primarily responsible for monitoring the behavior of the patient, following the guidelines of treatment from a mental health professional, and regularly reporting any progress or problems. Moreover, a behavioral health technician must also carry out administrative tasks, which include producing reports and assessments, answering inquiries and correspondence, maintaining schedules, and keeping records. Furthermore, it is essential to give emotional support to a patient, providing them with a safe and healthy environment at all times.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a therapist is likely to be skilled in "mental health," "patient care," "therapeutic services," and "therapy services," while a typical behavioral health technician is skilled in "behavioral health," "cpr," "vital signs," and "substance abuse."
Behavioral health technicians earn the highest salary when working in the non profits industry, where they receive an average salary of $36,944. Comparatively, therapists have the highest earning potential in the government industry, with an average salary of $55,972.Most behavioral health technicians achieve a lower degree level compared to therapists. For example, they're 34.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Therapist vs. Outpatient physical therapist
An outpatient physical therapist specializes in diagnosing and treating a patient's movement dysfunction often caused by an illness or injury. Their responsibilities revolve around studying a patient's medical history, performing initial assessments, crafting a specific care and treatment plan, and discussing the extent of treatments with patients and their families. An outpatient physical therapist may also provide advice to families or guardians on how to assist and care for patients at home, prescribe medication, and perform follow-up consultations.
Types of therapist
Updated January 8, 2025