Will “Counselor” be Automated?

Core Skills & Abilities

• Take and record measures of patients' physical condition, using devices such as thermometers or blood pressure gauges.

• Interview new patients to complete admission forms, to assess their mental health status, or to obtain their mental health and treatment history.

• Train or instruct new employees on procedures to follow with psychiatric patients.

• Restrain violent, potentially violent, or suicidal patients by verbal or physical means as required.

• Contact patients' relatives to arrange family conferences.

• Monitor patients' physical and emotional well-being and report unusual behavior or physical ailments to medical staff.

• Lead prescribed individual or group therapy sessions as part of specific therapeutic procedures.

• Encourage patients to develop work skills and to participate in social, recreational, or other therapeutic activities that enhance interpersonal skills or develop social relationships.

• Aid patients in performing tasks, such as bathing or keeping beds, clothing, or living areas clean.

• Observe and influence patients' behavior, communicating and interacting with them and teaching, counseling, or befriending them.

• Provide nursing, psychiatric, or personal care to patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities.

• Collaborate with or assist doctors, psychologists, or rehabilitation therapists in working with patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities to treat, rehabilitate, and return patients to the community.

• Develop or teach strategies to promote client wellness and independence.

• Escort patients to medical appointments.

• Issue medications from dispensary and maintain records in accordance with specified procedures.

• Administer oral medications or hypodermic injections, following physician's prescriptions and hospital procedures.