Also called: Mental Health Technician, Behavioral Health Tech
Cares for and monitors patients in psychiatric hospitals and units.
Checks on patients every 15 minutes, leads a coping-skills group, helps de-escalate someone who is agitated, and reports changes to nurses. Many psych grad students start here.
BLS May 2024.
Certificate, about 1 year after high school. High school diploma plus on-the-job training; some states require a certificate or license.
Ways in: On-the-job training, Certification, 2-year college. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Psychology.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Faster than average.
Low risk for 10 years. Monitoring software can track checks, but de-escalation and calm, present support on a psych unit need people.
Age 18+. One way to start: Apply for mental health technician jobs at psychiatric hospitals (outside states that license them)
Classes: AP Psychology, Health-science CTE, Health.
Official data: O*NET occupation 29-2053.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.