Mental Health Worker Job Description, Duties, and Responsibilities

This post presents detailed information on the mental health worker job description, including the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities they commonly perform.

It also highlights the major requirements that you may be expected to meet to be hired for the mental health worker role.

What Does a Mental Health Worker Do?

Mental health workers are also known as psychiatric technicians. They help to provide care, therapy, and recovery assistance to mentally ill patients.

The mental health worker job description entails monitoring the conditions of their patients daily.

It also involves assisting to make reports on patients’ mood, mental alertness, aggressiveness, sleeping habits, and eating patterns.

They look out for strange signs such as changes in behavioral patterns in patients.

The role of a mental health worker in the health industry is so critical to the extent that doctors, nurses, and psychiatrists depend on their reports before they can draw up treatment plans for their patients.

The information or reports provided is then used to diagnose patients, plan treatments, and monitor the medications given to patients.

Mental health workers usually work under the supervision of a Registered Nurse or other professionals. They usually work in a hospital or a residential mental health home.

Depending on how severe the conditions of patients are, the work description of a mental health worker can involve helping their patients with daily routines such as bathing, using the toilet, brushing, dressing, recreation, and general grooming.

A mental health worker can work in different settings such as in patients’ homes, special units, hospital outpatients departments, and community healthcare centers.

Mental Health Worker Job Description Example/Sample/Template

Mental health workers perform various functions in helping patients suffering from mental illness with effective care, therapy, and recovery support.

An example of the kind of job description that individuals who work as mental health workers are commonly assigned, including the typical duties, tasks, obligations, and responsibilities that characterize the role are provided below:

• Collaborate with other professionals to develop treatment plans for patients
• Provide care and support daily to patients and also intervene during crisis periods
• Constantly monitor and supervise patients to ensure their safety within the facility
• Always on the lookout for behavioral changes in patients
• Engage in individual therapy or group sessions with patients and their families
• Document and keep patients’ records properly
• Help patients with their daily activities
• Recommend patients to the doctors or psychiatrists for further examination
• Build a relationship with patients and their families so as to build trust
• Assist patients to manage their emotions through de-escalation strategy
• Give patients evidence-based therapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for tackling anxiety and depression
• Assess patients carefully while discussing their problems with them
• Educate patients’ families about the mental health problems faced by patients and how to help them recover
• Carry out thorough risk assessments on patients
• Ensure patients do not harm themselves or others with sharp or dangerous objects
• Help to find out or point out the root cause of patients’ mental health problems

Mental Health Worker Requirements – Skills, Abilities, and Knowledge for Career Success

To succeed in your career as a mental health worker, you need to possess certain abilities, skills, knowledge, and qualities.

These will help you to be effective in carrying out the objectives, purpose, and obligations of the role for your employers.

They also form the requirements that employers or recruiters commonly set for applicants for the mental health worker job to meet to qualify to access the position when they are hiring.

If you are seeking the job of a mental health worker, below are major requirements employers may ask you to meet for them to be certain that you will be able to effectively carry out the work description that will be assigned to you:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Mental Health Technology or Nursing
• At least 3-year cognate experience
• A Master’s degree in Mental Health Technology will be an added advantage
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Impressive interpersonal and relationship skills
• Computer skills and the ability to do data entry or processing
• Excellent problem-solving skills are important
• Must possess great observational skills so as to be able to look out for behavioral changes in patients
• Must understand de-escalation in order to properly handle crisis or emergency situations
• Ability to work under intense pressure
• Must possess time management skills
• Ability to show mental and emotional toughness so as to have the upper hand to care for patients emotionally and mentally
• Must possess excellent psychological skills
• Ability to show empathy with patients
• Ability to listen to patients without being judgmental
• Ability to assist patients to develop social skills
• Ability to participate in conferences, workshops, and seminars in order to improve in skills and knowledge

Conclusion

If you are an employer, recruiter, or HR Manager looking to employ a mental health worker for your organization, you can quickly and conveniently apply the sample job description provided in this post to effectively describe the position to attract qualified individuals who may be interested in the job.

According to reports, publishing a good job description that effectively captures all the duties and responsibilities successful candidates will be expected to carry out if hired for a position can significantly increase the chances of attracting the best people to the job offer.

Therefore, employers can go ahead to apply the information contained in this article to create a great description for the available mental health worker position in their health facilities.

You can also use this post to improve your knowledge of what mental health workers do if you are looking to start a career in the mental health industry.

You will find helpful information about the duties and responsibilities of the job, and the requirements for success in the career.