Community Mental Health Worker

Community Mental Health Worker handles primary responsibilities and this page shows 20 real tasks that reflect everyday required skills. Expect clear actions, typical interruptions, and outcomes that matter to clients. Each one shows where we found it, and comes with an AI prompt you can copy and use straight away.

20evidenced tasks
20ready prompts
3tools of the trade
31-1133.00O*NET-SOC code
35,520hold this job (US, BLS 2025)
$44,910median pay/yr (US)
Open Community Mental Health Worker in the interactive atlas →

What it pays

Government survey numbers — not estimates, not ads.

Half of all Psychiatric Aides in the U.S. earn more than $44,910 a year — the middle 80% land between $32,090 and $60,440. About 35,520 people in the U.S. do this work. Figures are for the U.S. occupation group “Psychiatric Aides”. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, published 2025.) In India, Service and sales workers earn about ₹15,575 a month on average — around ₹1.9 lakh a year (government PLFS survey via ILOSTAT, occupation-family figure).
$44,910typical pay / year
35,520people in this work
$60,440+top 10% earn
₹1.9 lakha year in India (family avg)
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The work, task by task

These are the real jobs-to-be-done, not a wish list. Each task shows where we found it, and the prompt underneath is written for that exact task.

Move2

Interview patients upon admission

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Conduct a structured admission interview with Maria Gonzalez, cover presenting problem, medication list, risk…
Conduct a structured admission interview with Maria Gonzalez, cover presenting problem, medication list, risk and safety questions, social supports, and consent for treatment, then upload completed admission note and signed consent form before end of shift Tuesday.
The tools that do the workPatient managementjob descriptionsO*NET

Escort patients within a facility

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Escort James Patel from dayroom to group therapy at 10:30, keep him within sight, de-escalate if he becomes…
Escort James Patel from dayroom to group therapy at 10:30, keep him within sight, de-escalate if he becomes agitated, hand him to the therapist at the door and note time and any incidents in the patient log immediately after.
The tools that do the workPatient managementjob descriptionsO*NET
Keeping the record2

Answer telephone calls and maintain records

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Answer incoming calls on the unit line for the morning shift, triage messages for Dr. Ahmed and the duty…
Answer incoming calls on the unit line for the morning shift, triage messages for Dr. Ahmed and the duty nurse, document caller name, reason, and any follow-up required in the call log, and email urgent messages to the on-call clinician within 15 minutes.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft OutlookPatient managementjob descriptionsO*NET

Record and maintain patient information

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Update Liam O'Connor's chart with today's vitals, medication changes, and the social work discharge plan,…
Update Liam O'Connor's chart with today's vitals, medication changes, and the social work discharge plan, verify entries are signed, and run a weekly report of open care plans to ensure no items are overdue before I leave at 5pm.
The tools that do the workPatient managementjob descriptionsO*NET
Care2

Keep facilities clean and change linens

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Change bed linens in room 12 and room 14 after morning meds, dispose of used linens per infection control,…
Change bed linens in room 12 and room 14 after morning meds, dispose of used linens per infection control, replace pillows and check the mattress for damage, and log the linen change and cleaning completion in the facility maintenance record.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft Wordjob descriptionsO*NET

Restrain or aid patients to prevent injury

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Respond to an escalating situation with Sara Bell in the courtyard, apply approved physical support…
Respond to an escalating situation with Sara Bell in the courtyard, apply approved physical support techniques to prevent harm while calling for assistance, document the restraint start and stop times, behaviors that led to it, and notify the on-call psychiatrist and Sara's guardian within one hour.
The tools that do the workPatient managementjob descriptionsO*NET
The daily work14

Listen and provide emotional support and encouragement to psychiatric patients.

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Sit with Jamal for their scheduled 20-minute check-in, listen without interrupting about what’s on their…
Sit with Jamal for their scheduled 20-minute check-in, listen without interrupting about what’s on their mind, validate feelings, offer one concrete coping suggestion, and note any safety concerns to the care lead before lunch.
The tools that do the workPatient managementO*NET

Organize, supervise, or encourage patient participation in social, educational, or recreational activities.

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Set up and run the weekly community art group on Tuesday afternoon, welcome new members, adapt activities for…
Set up and run the weekly community art group on Tuesday afternoon, welcome new members, adapt activities for differing energy levels, encourage participation gently, and follow up with anyone who left early about barriers.
The tools that do the workPatient managementO*NET

Work as part of a team that may include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, or social workers.

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Join the care team meeting on Wednesday, present concise updates on my five clients’ current mood, medication…
Join the care team meeting on Wednesday, present concise updates on my five clients’ current mood, medication adherence, and social risks, raise any concerns about imminent crises, and record agreed actions into each client’s plan.
The tools that do the workPatient managementO*NET

Monitor patients' behavior and location

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Do two rounds between 9–11am to observe and log each assigned client’s location, activity, and any behaviour…
Do two rounds between 9–11am to observe and log each assigned client’s location, activity, and any behaviour changes, escalate immediately to the nurse if someone is missing or distressed, and update the incident log afterwards.
The tools that do the workPatient managementjob descriptions

Serve meals and assist with eating

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Serve lunch to the residential group at noon, assist Sara and Ahmed with cutting and feeding as needed,…
Serve lunch to the residential group at noon, assist Sara and Ahmed with cutting and feeding as needed, monitor intake for swallowing difficulties, and report any refusal or choking to the on-call nurse.
The tools that do the workPatient managementjob descriptions

Organize, supervise, or encourage social activities

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Organise Friday evening social time, confirm transport for two clients, set up a low-stimulation seating…
Organise Friday evening social time, confirm transport for two clients, set up a low-stimulation seating area, prompt quieter members to join gently, and log attendance and any incidents in the activity record.
The tools that do the workPatient managementjob descriptions

Use automatic programming

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Prepare a weekly caseload update that flags clients with care-plan tasks overdue by more than seven days,…
Prepare a weekly caseload update that flags clients with care-plan tasks overdue by more than seven days, auto-generate suggested next actions for each flagged case based on last contact notes, and send the update to team leads by Tuesday morning.
The tools that do the workPatient managementESCOsee the evidence ↗

OpenEdge Advanced Business Language

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Run a data extract of service contacts for the last quarter, translate the extract into a compact report that…
Run a data extract of service contacts for the last quarter, translate the extract into a compact report that maps referral source to appointment no-shows, and attach the report to an email for the service manager by Friday.
The tools that do the workPatient managementESCOsee the evidence ↗

Common Lisp

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Write and attach a short Common Lisp script that anonymises the clinic caseload export, replace patient names…
Write and attach a short Common Lisp script that anonymises the clinic caseload export, replace patient names with unique IDs, keep date-of-birth month and year only, save as a UTF-8 plain text file, run it against the latest caseload extract and report any rows it skips.
The tools that do the workPatient managementESCOsee the evidence ↗

Scratch (computer programming)

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Build a small Scratch project that teaches a young client breathing exercises using animated sprites, export…
Build a small Scratch project that teaches a young client breathing exercises using animated sprites, export the project file and a one-page caregiver guide describing the blocks used, then upload both to the client record and flag the clinician.
The tools that do the workPatient managementESCOsee the evidence ↗

Objective-C

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Create an Objective-C helper that reads our session notes file, extracts flagged risk phrases, writes a…
Create an Objective-C helper that reads our session notes file, extracts flagged risk phrases, writes a summary with timestamps, compile into a single executable, then run it on last week's notes and attach the summary to the risk folder.
The tools that do the workPatient managementESCOsee the evidence ↗

Python (computer programming)

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Write a Python script that validates phone numbers and emergency contacts for clients due this month,…
Write a Python script that validates phone numbers and emergency contacts for clients due this month, corrects obvious formatting, outputs a CSV of invalid entries, then upload the CSV to the team's inbox and request confirmations from assigned workers.
The tools that do the workPatient managementESCOsee the evidence ↗

Pascal (computer programming)

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Translate the legacy referral parser into Pascal-style logic that accepts the intake text, extracts referral…
Translate the legacy referral parser into Pascal-style logic that accepts the intake text, extracts referral source and urgency, produce a log of any ambiguous cases, then run it on the backlog and hand the log to the intake supervisor.
The tools that do the workPatient managementESCOsee the evidence ↗

Computer programming

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Create a small codebase that automates weekly outcome score aggregation across active clients, include…
Create a small codebase that automates weekly outcome score aggregation across active clients, include scripts for import, calculation, and a human-review checklist, run it on this week's data and post the results to the team folder.
The tools that do the workPatient managementESCOsee the evidence ↗

Says who?

These are the pages we read to build this. Open any of them and check us.

O*NET 31-1133.00BLS pay surveyBLS OEWS 2025WikipediaESCOwvu.edunccareers.orgwhat people in this job say

The logs, files & records this job keeps

Shared with other careers — the same record means something different in each.

maintenancecaseclient

Related careers

Same family of work — each with its own tasks and prompts.

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