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

What is a psychological assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Dr. Jim Sliwinski Ph.D.

As a psychological assistant, it is your job to aid in the care of patients by working with a licensed psychologist. Your job description involves working closely with the psychologist to assess patients, conducting research, and handling paperwork, calls, and other forms of correspondence. You will be required to work closely with patients by answering inquiries, explaining different types of procedures to them, and conducting initial assessments.

You will be required to prepare and maintain all required treatment records and reports utilizing DMH skills and ensure that all documentation complies with HIPAA guidelines. This role is great if you're trying to garner some experience and decide if becoming a psychologist is the right future career path for you.

Curating treatment plans, mental health diagnosis, psychological services, and crisis intervention skills are highly rated skills by employers and should be included in any great resume. Psychological assistants earn $30.22 an hour, which amounts to about $62,000 yearly. The minimum educational qualification is a bachelor's degree.

What general advice would you give to a Psychological Assistant?

Dr. Jim Sliwinski Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology, Defiance College

I encourage all undergraduate psychology majors to consider graduate school. A bachelor's degree in psychology is becoming much more of a pre-professional program. That's not to say that there are not many jobs out there for individuals who only have a bachelor's, but full-time jobs, with benefits, are becoming harder to come by.

ScorePsychological AssistantUS Average

Salary

5.4

Avg. Salary $68,862

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

8.9

Growth Rate 12%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.01%

Asian 6.89%

Black or African American 12.92%

Hispanic or Latino 20.47%

Unknown 5.91%

White 50.80%

Gender

female 70.52%

male 29.48%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress Level

8.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.1

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.2

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a psychological assistant

Explore psychological assistant education requirements

Most common psychological assistant degrees

Bachelor's

52.4 %

Master's

28.3 %

Doctorate

13.3 %

Start to develop specific psychological assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	20.68%
Crisis Intervention	14.87%
Mental Illness	13.30%
Clinical Supervision	11.91%
PsyD	5.33%

Complete relevant psychological assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New psychological 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 psychological assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real psychological assistant resumes.

Research psychological assistant duties and responsibilities

Lead dialectical-behavioral therapy groups (DBT) for individuals with borderline personality disorder diagnosis.
Work with adults with anxiety, depression, bipolar, ADHD and adjustment disorders.
Conduct psychological assessment, including learning disability, ADHD, substance use disorders, personality, etc.
Administer cognitive assessments to patients presenting with workers compensation and personal injury claims

Prepare your psychological assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your psychological 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 psychological 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 Psychological Assistant Resume templates

Build a professional Psychological 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 Psychological Assistant resume.

Apply for psychological assistant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a psychological 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 psychological assistants rate their job?

-/5

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Psychological Assistant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2019

Pros

Change agent when people are stuck and need support in the process of restoration. One on one and group processing is powerful.