How To Become A Psychiatric Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a psychiatric assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Sepideh Soheilian Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a psychiatric assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.5 an hour? That's $40,551 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 12,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Psychiatric Assistant?

Sepideh Soheilian Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Baltimore

General advice I would give to a graduate in the field of counseling psychology beginning their career is to be flexible and open minded, especially during these unprecedented times due to the pandemic. Being open to providing mental health services in a variety of formats such as virtual or hybrid (combining virtual, and in-person services) will allow for greater flexibility in providing services to clients. Career development and career satisfaction is an ongoing process. Therefore, I would also encourage graduates to continually evaluate and assess their careers to determine if their current position is still the best fit for their career values, needs, and goals.

ScorePsychiatric AssistantUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $40,551

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

10.0

Growth Rate 9%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.13%

Asian 6.43%

Black or African American 14.26%

Hispanic or Latino 20.09%

Unknown 6.17%

White 51.91%

Gender

female 64.72%

male 35.28%

Age - 30

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 30

Stress Level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.7

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

5.9

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a psychiatric assistant

Explore psychiatric assistant education requirements

Most common psychiatric assistant degrees

Bachelor's

61.2 %

Associate

16.2 %

Master's

10.0 %

Start to develop specific psychiatric assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	41.97%
Vital Signs	9.62%
Mental Health	7.67%
Therapeutic Environment	7.19%
Direct Patient Care	5.02%

Complete relevant psychiatric assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New psychiatric assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a psychiatric assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real psychiatric assistant resumes.

Research psychiatric assistant duties and responsibilities

Prioritize and utilize therapeutic communication and CPI skills to diffuse and manage difficult situations.
Assist with ADL's and daily ROM where need.
Train in restraints and CPR certify.
Assist with activities of daily living (ADL), as needed.

Prepare your psychiatric assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your psychiatric assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a psychiatric assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Psychiatric Assistant Resume templates

Build a professional Psychiatric Assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Psychiatric Assistant resume.

Apply for psychiatric assistant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a psychiatric assistant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do psychiatric assistants rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

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Psychiatric Assistant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2022

Cons

Nothing

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2022

Pros

taking care of people love it been doing it for 34 years and getting patient back home and be able to return to there daily activities

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019