OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Care for individuals with mental or emotional conditions or disabilities, following the instructions of physicians or other health practitioners. Monitor patients' physical and emotional well-being and report to medical staff. May participate in rehabilitation and treatment programs, help with personal hygiene, and administer oral or injectable medications.
Explore Pathways
Titles for this career often contain these words
Fewer details
Responsibilities and activities
Psychiatric technicians, sometimes called mental health technicians, typically do the following:
- Observe patients’ behavior, listen to their concerns, and record their condition
- Lead patients in therapeutic and recreational activities
- Give medications and other treatments to patients, following instructions from doctors and other medical professionals
- Help with admitting and discharging patients
- Monitor patients’ vital signs, such as their blood pressure
- Help patients with activities of daily living, including eating and bathing
- Restrain patients who may become physically violent
Psychiatric aides typically do the following:
- Monitor patients’ behavior and location in a mental healthcare facility
- Help patients with their daily living activities, such as bathing and dressing
- Serve meals and help patients eat
- Keep facilities clean by doing tasks such as changing bed linens
- Participate in group activities, such as playing sports and going on field trips
- Help transport patients within a hospital or residential care facility
- Restrain patients who may become physically violent
Many psychiatric technicians and aides work with patients who are severely developmentally disabled and need intensive care. Others work with patients undergoing rehabilitation for drug and alcohol addiction. The work of psychiatric technicians and aides varies with the types of patients they work with.
Psychiatric technicians and aides work as part of a medical team under the direction of physicians and with other team members, who may include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, counselors, and therapists. For more information on the counselors and therapists they may work with, see the profiles on substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors, rehabilitation counselors, and marriage and family therapists.
Because they have such close contact with patients, psychiatric technicians and aides can have a great deal of influence on patients’ outlook and treatment.
Salary
Median salary: $35,030 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $28,660 and $44,020.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
Fewer details
Salary growth for psychiatric technicians
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Psychiatric Technicians
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of psychiatric technicians who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Exposed to Disease or Infections (97%)
- Unpleasant or Angry People (91%)
- Responsible for Others' Health (82%)
- High Conflict Frequency (80%)
- Time Pressure (76%)
- Physically Aggressive People (72%)
- Consequence of Error (44%)
Fewer details
Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Psychiatric Technicians? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Compassion
Because psychiatric technicians and aides spend much of their time interacting with patients, they should be caring and want to help people.
Interpersonal skills
Psychiatric technicians and aides often provide ongoing care for patients, so they should develop a rapport with them. Gaining such rapport makes psychiatric technicians and aides better able to treat their patients and evaluate their condition.
Observational skills
Technicians must watch patients closely and be sensitive to any changes in behavior. For their safety and that of their patients, they must recognize signs of discomfort or trouble among patients.
Patience
Working with the mentally ill can be emotionally challenging. Psychiatric technicians and aides must stay calm in stressful situations.
Physical stamina
Psychiatric technicians and aides must lift, move, and sometimes restrain patients. They must also spend much of their time on their feet.
Injury and Illness
About 779 psychiatric technicians become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 99% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
All multiple traumatic injuries
Bruises and contusions
Fractures
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by psychiatric technicians
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), psychiatric technicians typically hold a postsecondary nondegree award.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as psychiatric technicians as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for psychiatric technicians
Psychiatric technicians typically have a postsecondary certificate. Often, they have experience as a nursing assistant or a licensed practical nurse and have completed postsecondary education in nursing.
Other psychiatric technicians may have a postsecondary certificate or associate’s degree in psychiatric or mental health technology. These programs are offered by community colleges and technical schools and include courses in biology, psychology, and counseling. Psychiatric technician programs may include supervised work experience or cooperative programs, in which students gain academic credit for structured work experience.
Psychiatric aides typically need a high school diploma or equivalent.
Details: Licensing and certification recommended for psychiatric technicians
Most states do not require psychiatric technicians to have a license. California is one of the larger states that requires a license. In those states which license them, technicians usually are required to complete an accredited education program, pass an exam, and pay a fee to be licensed.
The American Association of Psychiatric Technicians offers four levels of certification for psychiatric technicians. The certifications allow technicians to show a high level of professional competency. Requirements vary by certification.
Psychiatric aides are not required to be licensed.
Education level of Psychiatric Technicians
Only 31% of psychiatric technicians have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by psychiatric technicians
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Fewer details
Programs recommended by the Department of Education
The Department of Education recommends the following college degree programs as preparation for this career. You can click the program row to learn more about the program and explore a list of schools that offer the program.
Number of degrees awarded in 2018
Education
Education level of awarded degrees
Assoc./Cert.
Bachelor's
Graduate
Gender
Gender of graduates
Men
Women
Race/Origin
Race/origin of graduates
White
Minority
International
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Psychiatric Technicians per 1,000 workers (ACS)
Fewer details
Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most psychiatric technicians? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as psychiatric technicians. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where psychiatric technicians earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for psychiatric technicians compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for psychiatric technicians.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which psychiatric technicians earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Psychiatric Technicians (ACS)
Employment
23% of Psychiatric technicians are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 23% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 74% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
Fewer details
Distribution: Salaries of psychiatric technicians by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Psychiatric technicians and gender
With 64% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 76% of careers.
Gender of Psychiatric technicians
Men (36%)
Women (64%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
Fewer details
Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for psychiatric technicians, with the
median salary for men 14%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Psychiatric technicians
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Psychiatric technicians.
Race/origin of psychiatric technicians
White (62% )
Black (20% )
Asian (8% )
Other (4% )
Multiracial (4% )
American Indian (1% )
Hispanic (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
