Behavioral Therapist Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Behavioral Therapist resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Behavioral therapists help patients manage mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD. They use a variety of therapeutic approaches—including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and more—to help patients identify and change unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviors that could be holding them back from living a full, healthy life.
Because behavioral therapy can be such an effective treatment for mental health conditions, this field is growing rapidly. And because the nature of mental health issues means that behavioral therapists are often working with patients one-on-one, this is a very personally rewarding career.
If you’re interested in pursuing a career as a behavioral therapist or are looking for a new job in this field, here are some resume tips to follow plus an example to look at when writing yours.
How to Write a Behavioral Therapist Resume
Here’s how to write a behavioral therapist resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most important part of your resume because they’re the first thing recruiters will see. And they have to be compelling enough to make them want to read the rest of your resume.
So rather than just listing your responsibilities, you can use bullet points to describe the results of your work. For example, rather than saying you “provided therapy services to children with autism,” you could say you “provided therapy services to children with autism and helped them improve their social skills by 20% in six months.”
The second bullet point is much more compelling because it provides specific details about what you did and the results of your work.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
Most behavioral therapy positions require that you submit your resume through an applicant tracking system (ATS). This system will scan your resume for certain keywords related to the job opening. If your resume doesn’t include enough of the right keywords, the ATS might not rank it highly enough to be seen by a recruiter.
To make sure your resume makes it past the ATS, focus on including relevant keywords throughout all sections of your document. Here are some of the most commonly used behavioral therapy keywords:
- Behavioral Health
- Psychotherapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Working with Adolescents
- Mental Health Counseling
- Crisis Intervention
- Psychology
- Family Therapy
- Group Therapy
- Mental Health
- Social Services
- Motivational Interviewing
- Community Outreach
- Counseling Psychology
- Clinical Supervision
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children (CBTc)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Trauma Therapy
- Program Development
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with Adolescents
- Trauma Informed Care
- Parenting
- Play Therapy
- Cardiovascular Research
- Behavior Modification
- Life Coaching
- Peer Support
- Individual Counselling
- Social Work
- Interventions
Showcase Your Technical Skills
Behavioral therapists use a variety of technology in their work, including iPads, laptops, and patient monitoring systems. They also need to be familiar with programs like Microsoft Office Suite and SPSS. So if you have experience with any of these programs, be sure to list them on your resume.