Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code SIC

Psychiatric Technicians

Care for individuals with mental or emotional conditions or disabilities, following the instructions of physicians or other health practitioners. Monitor patients' physical and emotional well-being and report to medical staff. May participate in rehabilitation and treatment programs, help with personal hygiene, and administer oral or injectable medications.

Also called: Mental Health Associate, Mental Health Technician (MHT), MHW (Mental Health Worker), Psychiatric Technician (PT), BHT (Behavioral Health Technician), Health Care Technician (Health Care Tech), LPT (Licensed Psychiatric Technician), Mental Health Specialist.

O*NET 29-2053.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $45,130; Middle half earn $38,430 to $50,160. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Some College Courses; 40% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Provide nursing, psychiatric, or personal care to patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities.
Administer oral medications or hypodermic injections, following physician's prescriptions and hospital 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.
Restrain violent, potentially violent, or suicidal patients by verbal or physical means as required.
Lead prescribed individual or group therapy sessions as part of specific therapeutic procedures.
Issue medications from dispensary and maintain records in accordance with specified procedures.
Monitor patients' physical and emotional well-being and report unusual behavior or physical ailments to medical staff.
Take and record measures of patients' physical condition, using devices such as thermometers or blood pressure gauges.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening4.0 / 5
Monitoring4.0 / 5
Speaking3.9 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.8 / 5
Critical Thinking3.6 / 5
Writing3.3 / 5

Knowledge areas

Psychology4.2 / 5
Therapy and Counseling4.1 / 5
English Language4.1 / 5
Customer and Personal Service4.0 / 5
Medicine and Dentistry3.7 / 5
Education and Training3.5 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic38
Investigative60
Artistic19
Social99
Enterprising8
Conventional41

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

occupational therapist · DE Ergotherapeut/Ergotherapeutin · FR ergothérapeute
occupational therapy assistant · DE Ergotherapieassistent/Ergotherapieassistentin · FR assistant ergothérapeute/assistante ergothérapeute
recreational therapist · DE Aktivierungstherapeut/Aktivierungstherapeutin · FR ludothérapeute
clinical psychologist · DE Klinischer Psychologe/Klinische Psychologin · FR psychologue clinicien/psychologue clinicienne
psychotherapist · DE Psychotherapeut/Psychotherapeutin · FR psychothérapeute
mental health social worker · DE Sozialarbeiter im Bereich Psychische Gesundheit/Sozialarbeiterin im Bereich Psychische Gesundheit · FR assistant social en santé mentale/assistante sociale en santé mentale

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Occupational therapists (2222)56,000 employed
Psychotherapists and cognitive behaviour therapists (2224)53,300 employed
Podiatrists (2256)16,200 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.22. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (29-2053).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test