Sunday, November 27, 2011

A Day in the Life of a Mental Health Technician


A mental health technician can be described as a person whose role is to aid people suffering from mental illnesses. They also provide treatment for those who are obsessed with alcohol and drug or are facing retardation problems due to their mental conditions. He or she must be trained as a nursing aide to a certain level. You can find them working in places like normal or psychiatric hospitals, homes for nursing etc. They provide services related to the treatment of addiction and offer care facilities too.
More to know
Psychiatrists, doctors and nurses all come under this term. Note that you do not need to face any licensing hassles or receive any formal education in order to qualify for this job. You can apply for training courses at career universities or communities. A mental health technician is responsible for the care of patients e.g. bathing, cleaning and also their comfort plus security. Frequent communication and inspection with the patients is necessary. Sometimes, there are patients who may be threatening to themselves or the other patients so keeping an eye on them is important if they are to be prevented from doing any harm.
These are not the only duties that a mental health technician is restricted to. Their other tasks include dealing with phone calls, maintaining records or admitting patients in health care organizations. They are also found accompanying patients in exercising, art or rehabilitation sessions. Their job is not an easy one. Having lots of responsibilities require working for almost the whole day. They may be asked to work overtime on holidays or even extra shifts. All these come as a true test of their patience and for that matter, they also need to be physically alert.
General information about a mental health technician includes their salary being an average of $30,600 in the U.S. It is pertinent to mention that they perform their duties under proper supervision from higher authorities and they also receive instructions from them. Due to this, they also provide feedback to the person responsible for their management.
Their salaries vary in different places. Some examples include:
1) A median of $20,800 in California.
2) The middle most range being $19,240 in Florida.
3) The average being $16,120 in Washington.
4) $18,720 as the normal pay rate in New York.
5) $17,347 in New Jersey.
There are many more and all are taken from the statistics collected about the mental health technicians recently (November 2011).
To find out more about being or becoming a mental health technician visit http://www.mentalhealthtechnician.info/