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Work counselor skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.,

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical work counselor skills. We ranked the top skills for work counselors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 38.0% of work counselor resumes contained social work as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a work counselor needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 work counselor skills for your resume and career

2. Discharge Planning

Here's how work counselors use discharge planning:

Case plans, family and risk assessments, child well being scales, discharge planning.
Facilitated relapse prevention, discharge planning, and after-care groups as well as house meetings.

3. Substance Abuse

Here's how work counselors use substance abuse:

Volunteered and performed nursing care responsibilities with supervision on adult residential substance abuse unit to ensured safe and consistent quality care.
Performed psychological and vocational evaluations and formulated rehabilitation action plans round mental health and substance abuse services.

4. Community Resources

Community resources are a set of resources that are used in the day to day life of people which improves their lifestyle in some way. People, sites or houses, and population assistance can come under the services offered by community resources.

Here's how work counselors use community resources:

Transported residents to medical and community resources and facilitated improved medical treatment.
Assisted patient/family and staff in securing and utilizing community resources.

5. 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 work counselors use mental health:

Assist mental health patients with daily living skills in order for patient to develop the skills needed to become independent.
Established referral linkages in the community to assist the transition of breast cancer patients needing long-term mental health care.

6. Crisis Intervention

Here's how work counselors use crisis intervention:

Managed caseload of 69 families providing crisis intervention and individual, family and group counseling; provided community referrals.
Provide crisis intervention and individual and family counseling.

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8. Community Agencies

Community agencies stand for the organizations operated to provide human service in the community.

Here's how work counselors use community agencies:

Identified and referred breast cancer patients to outside community agencies in need of psychiatric assessment and care.
Work with local and area community agencies to educate about disease of addiction and facilitate referrals.

9. Restraints

Here's how work counselors use restraints:

Utilized knowledge physical restraints during necessary situations.
Assist with life skills, behavior modification, medication, and when necessary restraints.

10. Mental Illness

Here's how work counselors use mental illness:

Provided counseling and case management for adults and children with severe and persistent mental illnesses.
Monitor residents from a variety of mental illnesses.

11. Group Homes

Here's how work counselors use group homes:

Tracked/audited group homes to ensure regulatory compliance.
Foster relationships between group homes, clientele, therapists, doctors, and families.

12. 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 work counselors use cpr:

Organized for therapists, school district representatives and other specialized services such as CPR and first-aid trainers to provide parent trainings.
Maintained yearly certifications in CPR and Food Safety

13. Group Therapy

Group psychotherapy or group therapy is the practice of treating a group of clients together in one sitting throughout multiple sessions. This practice allows people to receive encouragement and support from their peers who are taking the same group therapy.

Here's how work counselors use group therapy:

Led group therapy and taught self- sufficiency skills to clients.
Group therapy for Adolescent boys struggling with alcohol and drug addictions

14. Litigation

Here's how work counselors use litigation:

Managed litigation involving the agency, and drafts bills and amendments for legislative consideration.
Adjudicated all motions and controversies that arose during the litigation and prepared and drafted all procedures and discovery orders and decisions.

15. Mental Health Issues

Here's how work counselors use mental health issues:

Provided nightly supervision to 30 residents living with mental health issues and assisted individuals with accurate medication ingestion
Participate in education/training of Safety Assistants and Resident Assistants in understanding and responding to mental health issues.

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What skills help Work Counselors find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on work counselor resumes?

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.

Associate Professor; Director, Master of Counseling, Louisiana State University at Shreveport

Skills that stand out on Counselor resumes include multilingual, critical thinking, conflict resolution, and leadership skills.

What soft skills should all work counselors possess?

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.

Associate Professor; Director, Master of Counseling, Louisiana State University at Shreveport

Soft skills that are essential for counselors include emotional intelligence, empathy, multicultural competency, interpersonal abilities, and authenticity.

What hard/technical skills are most important for work counselors?

Kacie Blalock Ph.D.

Associate Professor; Director, Master of Counseling, Louisiana State University at Shreveport

It is important that counselors are able to effectively take notes and summarize progress, interpret assessments, memorize and recall information, and keep clear yet concise records.

What work 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 work 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 work counselor skills to add to your resume

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

Social Work
Discharge Planning
Substance Abuse
Community Resources
Mental Health
Crisis Intervention
Social Services
Community Agencies
Restraints
Mental Illness
Group Homes
CPR
Group Therapy
Litigation
Mental Health Issues

Developmental Disabilities
Family Therapy
Incident Reports
DBT
Direct Care
Independent Living
In-Home
IPP
Group Sessions
Vocational Rehabilitation
Medicaid
Intellectual Disabilities
IEP
Conflict Resolution
Role Model

Anger Management
Behavioral Issues
IFSP
GED
Direct Supervision
Individual Clients
Crisis Management
Emotional Support
Domestic Violence
Court Reports
SSA
Adolescent Clients
Educational Programs

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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