A mental health technician is someone who has completed at least a certified nursing assistant level of training. They assist people who are mentally ill, recovering from drug or alcohol addiction, suffering from mental illnesses such as cognitive impairment, or who are experiencing other types of crises. Long-term care facilities, psychiatric hospitals, addiction treatment facilities, standard hospitals, nursing homes, and possibly schools for people with disabilities are all places where techs work. Psychiatric techs, mental health aides, and psychiatric aides are all terms used to describe them.
The mental health technician is usually part of a team that includes doctors, therapists, psychiatrists, and nurses. In many hospitals, technicians report directly to nurses. They may also communicate with other members of the health-care team, particularly allied health professionals such as occupational or standard therapists.
Many mental health technician jobs entail providing direct patient care. This could include assisting patients with self-care, such as grooming or bathing, or assisting a patient in settling into a hospital by inspecting their belongings for anything dangerous and assisting them in making a bed and putting their belongings away. It also usually implies that the technician is constantly watching, observing, and interacting with patients. These observations are critical because they are used to determine how each patient’s care should be delivered, and they help to keep patients safe, especially those who are at high risk of harming themselves or others. It is sometimes necessary for a mental health technician, especially in a psychiatric hospital, to calm down patients who have become agitated or potentially dangerous, and maintaining vigilance is essential to ensure that this happens quickly so that patients do not harm themselves or others.
Many different types of detail-oriented jobs are available to a mental health tech. Techs may be in charge of admitting patients, answering phones, staffing a front desk, or assisting with record keeping. They may administer medication or assist nurses in doing so in some cases. They may also work with patients in groups to carry out specific activities. Art, exercise, and therapy are examples of such activities. Alternatively, they can participate in these groups and assist those who are leading them by remaining vigilant and simply lending a helping hand to the group leader and patients.
Mental health technician jobs are frequently physically demanding and necessitate long periods of “on the feet” work. The majority of jobs in this field are full-time, and because many of the facilities where a tech might work are open 24 hours a day, techs should expect to work weekends and holidays on a regular basis. Because many of the places where techs work are open 24 hours a day, people may be required to work a variety of shifts. Depending on how shifts are organized, an average day can last anywhere from 8 to 12 hours.