What does a youth counselor do?
A Youth Counselor's role is to provide guidance and interact with children or teenagers in need of care and counseling. The duty of a Youth Counselor is diverse, and it highly depends on the organization or employer. However, the responsibilities mostly revolve around establishing rapport with the youngster while trying to work on their issues, ensuring their welfare by monitoring their emotional and physical state, coordinating with families or other facilities, suggesting treatments, and performing crisis intervention if necessary.
Youth counselor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real youth counselor resumes:
- Instruct students in course work including: reading, writing, mathematics, behavior modification, and social skills.
- Train in physical restraint, conflict resolution, first aide, CPR, blood borne pathogen management and universal precautions.
- Complete functional assessment evaluations of residents and write individualized rehabilitation goals that encourage community integration.
- Monitor behavior, safety and location of juvenile residents that are court mandate, psychological/behavioral disorders, physical disabilities and autism.
- Maintain high standards of cleanliness and presentation in all back-of-house areas and customer areas.
- Supervise teens on maintaining cleanliness of cottage, individual rooms and their individual appearance.
- Develop an excellent rapport with the children, treating them with compassion and dignity.
- Keep a working knowledge of CPR, first aid, and restraint mechanisms for necessary situations
- Prepare Medicaid reports to be submit to the caseworker, clinical director, and DCFS.
- Provide services include working through anxiety, depression, grief, ADHD and many other diagnoses.
- Work in group home setting with adolescent at-risk teen girls in an emergency shelter through DCFS.
- Provide development instruction to minority and limit income high school students in the areas of science, English and mathematics.
- Participate in a number of resident restraints using both physical and mechanical techniques.
- Participate in IEP meetings as a member of an interdisciplinary team of teachers, psychologists, parents, and administrators.
- Prepare weekly IEP's for each student along with monthly parent conferences to update parents on the growth of their children.
Youth counselor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 8% of Youth Counselors are proficient in Direct Care, Mental Health, and Crisis Intervention. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Time-management skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Youth Counselors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Direct Care, 8%
Provided direct care and assistance to adolescents who suffered from mental disabilities, physical disabilities and substance abuse.
- Mental Health, 8%
Completed intake procedures with newly admitted residents including evaluations to determine mental health status, educational needs and appropriate housing assignments.
- Crisis Intervention, 7%
Provided services in a client-centered and culturally appropriate manner, Facilitated crisis intervention, conflict resolution and group problem-solving as needed.
- CPR, 7%
Participated in CPR certification, Fire Safety certification, and Safety something certification.
- Social Work, 7%
Work in collaboration with health professionals, educational professionals, social workers, nurses and occupational therapists and physiotherapists.
- Necessary Paperwork, 6%
Completed any necessary paperwork required for periodic monitoring of clients and maintained detailed log book of clients activities within respected pod.
Common skills that a youth counselor uses to do their job include "direct care," "mental health," and "crisis intervention." You can find details on the most important youth counselor responsibilities below.
Compassion. The most essential soft skill for a youth counselor to carry out their responsibilities is compassion. This skill is important for the role because "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Additionally, a youth counselor resume shows how their duties depend on compassion: "provide youth with guidance, support, compassion and structure through mentoring, role modeling to promote personal growth and development. "
Time-management skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling youth counselor duties is time-management skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." According to a youth counselor resume, here's how youth counselors can utilize time-management skills in their job responsibilities: "complete necessary paperwork on time. "
Communication skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of youth counselors is communication skills. This skill is critical to many everyday youth counselor duties, as "social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "provide positive role modeling behavior; facilitate appropriate communication; model and develop problem solving and conflict resolution skills. "
Interpersonal skills. youth counselor responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues." This resume example shows what youth counselors do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "teach and role model social skills, interpersonal skills and boundaries"
Organizational skills. Another crucial skill for a youth counselor to carry out their responsibilities is "organizational skills." A big part of what youth counselors relies on this skill, since "social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients." How this skill relates to youth counselor duties can be seen in an example from a youth counselor resume snippet: "provide transportation to school, medical appointments, recreational, and organizational events. "
Problem-solving skills. While "problem-solving skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to youth counselor responsibilities. Much of what a youth counselor does relies on this skill, seeing as "social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of youth counselors: "assist in the resolution of crisis situations between residents. "
The three companies that hire the most youth counselors are:
- Good Shepherd Services29 youth counselors jobs
- Youth Villages19 youth counselors jobs
- Advocates14 youth counselors jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable youth counselor resume templates
Build a professional youth counselor resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your youth counselor resume.
Compare different youth counselors
Youth counselor vs. Counselor internship
When it comes to Counselor Internship, among the primary responsibilities is to assist in dealing with various activities such as preparing and verifying necessary documentation, observing consultations and outreach programs, guide clients and help develop multiple helpful strategies, and provide assessments. Furthermore, one can conduct counseling and consultation only under supervision. It is also essential to track the information gathered and coordinate with assigned personnel to adhere to the company's regulations and policies.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a youth counselor are more likely to require skills like "direct care," "mental health," "cpr," and "social work." On the other hand, a job as a counselor internship requires skills like "intake assessments," "substance abuse issues," "mental health issues," and "family therapy." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Counselor interns tend to make the most money working in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $51,629. In contrast, youth counselors make the biggest average salary, $38,048, in the professional industry.On average, counselor interns reach higher levels of education than youth counselors. Counselor interns are 11.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Youth counselor vs. Intensive in-home counselor
An Intensive In-Home Counselor conducts individual counseling sessions for parents and deals with delicate issues like sexual addiction. They also prepare progress reports for clients.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real youth counselor resumes. While youth counselor responsibilities can utilize skills like "direct care," "cpr," "social work," and "necessary paperwork," intensives in-home counselor use skills like "family therapy," "mental health issues," "intensive in-home," and "discharge planning."
Intensives in-home counselor earn a higher average salary than youth counselors. But intensives in-home counselor earn the highest pay in the utilities industry, with an average salary of $56,398. Additionally, youth counselors earn the highest salaries in the professional with average pay of $38,048 annually.In general, intensives in-home counselor achieve higher levels of education than youth counselors. They're 16.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for youth counselors in the next 3-5 years?
Juleen Buser Ph.D.
Professor and Director, School Counseling and Coaching Programs, Rider University
Youth counselor vs. Counselor and coach
Rehabilitation counselors are professional counselors who are responsible for helping individuals cope with their disabilities to live independently. These counselors are required to consult other professionals, family members, and individuals when developing a treatment plan based on the goals, strengths, limitations, and personal values of their clients. They must make connections with community support so that individuals with disabilities can avail of the types of services that are available. Rehabilitation counselors must also find employers and educate them in understanding the needs and abilities of disabled people.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, youth counselors are more likely to have skills like "direct care," "social work," "necessary paperwork," and "behavioral issues." But a counselor and coach is more likely to have skills like "mediation," "skill development," "emergency situations," and "punctuality."
When it comes to education, counselor and coaches tend to earn similar degree levels compared to youth counselors. In fact, they're 3.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Youth counselor vs. Rehabilitation counselor
Even though a few skill sets overlap between youth counselors and rehabilitation counselors, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a youth counselor might have more use for skills like "necessary paperwork," "behavioral issues," "emergency first aid," and "direct supervision." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of rehabilitation counselors require skills like "rehabilitation," "patients," "management system," and "vocational rehabilitation. "
Rehabilitation counselors enjoy the best pay in the government industry, with an average salary of $43,146. For comparison, youth counselors earn the highest salary in the professional industry.In general, rehabilitation counselors hold higher degree levels compared to youth counselors. Rehabilitation counselors are 17.8% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of youth counselor
Updated January 8, 2025
