Mental Health Services Technician

Types of Degrees 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	1,233
Undergraduate Certificate	643
Bachelor’s Degree	539
Basic Certificate	338

What Mental Health Services Technician Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, psychiatric/mental health services technician majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the 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

A major in psychiatric/mental health services technician will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• 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 Mental Health Services Technician Major?

People with a psychiatric/mental health services technician degree often go into the following careers:

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

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Mental Health Services Technician?

The major attracts more women than men. About 84% 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	75
Black or African American	274
Hispanic or Latino	255
White	544
International Students	17
Other Races/Ethnicities	68

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician, too. About 1.4% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Mental Health Services Technician Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $31,090 to $37,760 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to psychiatric/mental health services technician. This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to 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. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for psychiatric/mental health services technician careers below.

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 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	4
Certificate (2-4 Years)	1	0
Associate’s Degree	70	9
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

Is a Degree in Mental Health Services Technician Worth It?

The median salary for a psychiatric/mental health services technician grad is $31,090 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

Trades Related to 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	8,344
Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling	5,915
Other Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions	3,697
Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling	3,683
Clinical/Medical Social Work	2,864
Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling	2,419
Genetic Counseling/Counselor	299
Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling	217
Trauma Counseling	104
Medical Family Therapy/Therapist	12
Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy	12
Hospice and Palliative Care	3

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.