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Major · Health Professions

A direct-care credential for psychiatric and mental-health units

Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician (CIP 51.1502) trains you to work alongside psychiatrists, nurses, and counselors on inpatient psychiatric wards, residential mental-health facilities, and crisis-stabilization centers. About 1,773 students complete it across 65 institutions; bachelor’s grads earn $51,792, associate’s grads $40,919.

Schools offering
65
Annual completions
1,773
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$46k

About this major

Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician (CIP 51.1502) trains you for direct-care work inside psychiatric hospitals, behavioral-health units, residential treatment programs, and crisis-stabilization centers. The CIP definition centers on supervised patient care under psychiatrists, psychologists, and nurses — observing patient behavior, supporting treatment plans, helping administer medications, running group activities, and managing the documentation and crisis-response work that keeps a unit running. Coursework typically covers applied psychopathology, crisis intervention, psychotropic medication, mental-health treatment procedures, substance abuse, and clinical record-keeping.

The major fits students drawn to mental-health work who want to be in the room with patients rather than in a graduate classroom. Comfort with locked units, behavioral crises, and shift work matters more than academic credentials at this level. The job rewards careful observation, steady documentation, and the kind of emotional regulation that lets you stay calm during de-escalation. Day-to-day looks less like therapy sessions and more like vigilant patient monitoring, structured group activity, and tight clinical handoffs at shift change.

One grounded observation about scale: 1,773 students complete this CIP across 65 institutions, with Grand Canyon University producing 568 bachelor’s completions — about 32% of the national total — through online programs, while Ivy Tech (209) and CUNY Kingsborough (113) anchor the community-college associate’s side. The named BLS occupation, Psychiatric technicians ($42,590, 20% projected growth, postsecondary nondegree typical entry), shows a strong labor-market signal; psychiatric aides ($41,590, -0.4% growth, high school typical entry) sit below the technician credential and are declining. The 5-year graduate median of $45,952 lands between those numbers — a floor for direct-care work, with the bachelor’s and a clinical-hours track toward counseling, nursing, or social work as the realistic ramp upward.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Psychiatric technicians $43k +20.0% Postsecondary nondegree award
Psychiatric aides $42k -0.4% High school diploma or equivalent
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$46k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$41k

Bachelor's

$52k

Who this major is for

Good signs this major fits: you want to do mental-health work without waiting through six years of graduate school first; you can stay grounded during behavioral crises and locked-unit shifts; you’re comfortable with documentation-heavy work and the emotional weight of repeated patient interactions; the 20% projected growth in psychiatric technician roles signals real hiring demand; and you see the credential as a stepping stone — gaining paid clinical hours while planning a counseling, nursing, or social-work master’s later.

Reasons to pause: the named technician SOC requires only a postsecondary nondegree award, so a four-year bachelor’s here is more expensive than the labor market strictly requires unless you’re using it as a graduate-school ramp. Grand Canyon University produces 568 bachelor’s completions (32% of the total) through online programs — a different product than a traditional in-person undergraduate degree, so verify the program model fits your situation. Psychiatric aide roles are projected to decline -0.4%, signaling that lower-credential variants of this work are getting squeezed. The work itself involves real emotional toll, shift schedules, and exposure to patients in acute crisis — careers that look meaningful on paper can be hard to sustain without strong support structures.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Grand Canyon University Phoenix, AZ 0 568 568
Ivy Tech Community College Indianapolis, IN 209 0 209
CUNY Kingsborough Community College Brooklyn, NY 113 0 113
Columbia Southern University Orange Beach, AL 0 111 111
University of Maine at Augusta Augusta, ME 8 61 69
Lone Star College System The Woodlands, TX 46 0 46
CUNY LaGuardia Community College Long Island City, NY 46 0 46
Gateway Technical College Kenosha, WI 39 0 39
San Bernardino Valley College San Bernardino, CA 36 0 36
Columbus State Community College Columbus, OH 35 0 35
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling

1,708 completions/yr

Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling

1,429 completions/yr

Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions, Other

977 completions/yr

Clinical/Medical Social Work

264 completions/yr

Mental Health Counseling/Counselor

137 completions/yr

Considering this direction?

We've taken a hard look at the debt, earnings trajectory, and degree-level tradeoffs for the Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician field. Read our verdict before you commit.

Is Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician worth it? Read verdict
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What does a psychiatric/mental-health services technician actually do?
Day-to-day, you observe patients on locked psychiatric units or residential mental-health facilities, record behavior and medication response, run group activities, support de-escalation during crises, and assist with admissions and discharge paperwork. The CIP coursework covers applied psychopathology, crisis intervention, psychotropic medications, patient communication, and clinical documentation. Most graduates start in inpatient psychiatric hospitals, behavioral-health units of general hospitals, or residential treatment programs.
Do I need a bachelor’s, or is an associate’s enough?
The named SOC code for this major — Psychiatric technicians (29-2053) — has a typical entry of postsecondary nondegree award, meaning a certificate or short associate’s is the actual labor-market floor. The packet shows the associate’s pays $40,919 and the bachelor’s pays $51,792 — about a $10,000 gap. The bachelor’s makes sense if you want to ladder into counseling, social work, or nursing later; for a direct-care job today, the associate’s is enough.
What’s the pay like and is the field growing?
Psychiatric technicians earn $42,590 nationally with 20% projected growth — a high figure tied to expanding behavioral-health capacity. Psychiatric aides earn $41,590 but are projected to decline -0.4%, signaling that the technician credential matters more than the aide role going forward. The packet’s 5-year median for graduates is $45,952, which sits between those two figures.
Where do graduates typically work?
Inpatient psychiatric hospitals, behavioral-health units inside general hospitals, residential treatment centers for adolescents or adults with severe mental illness, crisis-stabilization units, and substance-use treatment facilities. Top producers in the packet skew toward Grand Canyon University (568 bachelor’s), Ivy Tech Community College (209 associate’s), and CUNY Kingsborough (113 associate’s) — a mix of online bachelor’s pathways and community-college direct-entry programs.
How does this compare to substance abuse/addiction counseling (CIP 51.1501)?
Both sit in the same CIP-4 family (51.15, mental and social-health services). Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling (1,708 completions) trains you specifically for state addiction-counselor licensure and outpatient counseling work; this CIP is more direct-care and inpatient-oriented. If you want to do counseling intake, group facilitation, and individual sessions, 51.1501 is the better fit; if you want clinical observation, medication monitoring, and crisis response, 51.1502 fits better.
What if I want to become a counselor or therapist later?
The bachelor’s in 51.1502 is a reasonable starting point but not a finishing one. State-licensed mental-health counselor and clinical social worker roles require a master’s plus 2-3 years of supervised clinical hours; psychologist roles require a doctorate. Many students use the technician credential to gain paid clinical hours while finishing a bachelor’s and applying to a master’s in counseling, social work, or psychiatric nursing.