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

What is a psychiatric attendant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted Expert

Sepideh Soheilian Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a psychiatric attendant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.53 an hour? That's $38,548 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 Attendant?

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 AttendantUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,548

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 56.21%

male 43.79%

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

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Key steps to become a psychiatric attendant

Explore psychiatric attendant education requirements

Most common psychiatric attendant degrees

Bachelor's

34.4 %

Associate

27.2 %

High School Diploma

19.2 %

Start to develop specific psychiatric attendant skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	22.60%
CPR	9.92%
Behavioral Issues	8.79%
Direct Care	8.64%
Incident Reports	8.02%

Complete relevant psychiatric attendant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New psychiatric attendants 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 attendant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real psychiatric attendant resumes.

Research psychiatric attendant duties and responsibilities

Prioritize and utilize therapeutic communication and CPI skills to diffuse and manage difficult situations.
Provide direct care to mentally impair or emotionally disturb patients while monitoring and reporting unusual or harmful behaviors to senior staff.
Train in CPR and therapeutic intervention.
Follow procedures for restraints, drills and emergencies.

Prepare your psychiatric attendant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your psychiatric attendant 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 attendant 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 Attendant Resume templates

Build a professional Psychiatric Attendant 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 Attendant resume.

Apply for psychiatric attendant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a psychiatric attendant 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