Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician

Types of Degrees Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many psychiatric/mental health services technician graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Associate Degree	1,081
Undergraduate Certificate	687
Bachelor’s Degree	614
Basic Certificate	256
Doctor’s Degree	8
Graduate Certificate	2

What Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to psychiatric/mental health services technician and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in psychiatric/mental health services technician should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

Skills for Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician Majors

A major in psychiatric/mental health services technician prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.

Abilities for Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician Majors

Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with psychiatric/mental health services technician:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Psychiatric Aides	5.6%	$29,180
Psychiatric Technicians	5.9%	$32,870

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician?

The major attracts more women than men. About 87% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of psychiatric/mental health services technician majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	7
Black or African American	110
Hispanic or Latino	107
White	321
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	69

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician

Some careers associated with psychiatric/mental health services technician require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to psychiatric/mental health services technician have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	57.0%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	1.7%
Some College Courses	10.0%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	2.9%
Bachelor’s Degree	8.7%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	3.6%
Master’s Degree	16.0%

Online Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	32	3
Certificate (2-4 Years)	1	0
Associate’s Degree	61	8
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to psychiatric/mental health services technician.

Major	Number of Grads
Mental Health Counseling/Counselor	9,563
Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling	5,724
Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling	3,908
Other Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions	3,475
Clinical/Medical Social Work	3,189
Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling	2,378
Genetic Counseling/Counselor	361
Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling	177
Trauma Counseling	108
Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy	12
Medical Family Therapy/Therapist	5
Hospice and Palliative Care	2

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.