Mental Health Nurse Resumes & Guide

In our sample on how to create a captivating Psychiatric Mental-Health Nurse Resume for your future employer, you will be provided with helpful tips and guidelines for creating a perfect resume and customizing it to fit your chosen profession precisely. 

Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Resumes

(Free sample downloads are at the bottom of this page)

Mental Health Nurse Resume Guide

Resume Sections:

1. Contact Information: 

  • Name
  • Address
  • Phone Number
  • Email
  • Optional: LinkedIn

2. Career Summary: 
This section is the first place you have to leave an impression on the hiring manager. Summarize in about three sentences what your work experience is, your degrees and qualifications, as well as skill sets you have acquired in your work history. Also, add any relevant qualities that would make you the perfect candidate for the job. All must be relevant to the position you are applying for.

3. Qualifications Summary:
Becoming a PMHNP requires you to study a degree at a full-time university or via an apprenticeship to obtain a nursing qualification. The application requirements differ from each institution. Usually, a Mental Health Nurse's position requires an Associate’s Degree or a Bachelor’s Degree. In this section, write the full name of your qualification, the full name of the institution where you studied, and when you completed your degree and your GPA score. 

4. Relevant Nursing Experience:
In this section, you must list all work experiences relating to the job you are applying for. Do not forget that employers wish to see the responsibilities and duties that were bestowed on you in your previous positions. Add times where you went beyond your job description requirements and present the skills you cultivated during your time in previous positions in healthcare environments. 

6. Skills Summary/Key Skills: 
Use the job advertisement as a guide to include keywords and skills. This will make your resume stand out above the rest of the applicants. Also mimic the exact words and phrases for your applications to be picked up by the screening bot and the ATS systems, ensuring your resume falls on the shortlist. 

7. Education/Licenses/Certifications/Relevant Coursework/Training
A specific state license is necessary for a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse, especially for a registered nurse job level. Psychiatric Nurses must also maintain their certification and pass industry exams, preparation programs, and internships approved by the state. To be certified, you are required to have an active Registered Nurse (RN) license, two years of clinical work history, 2 000 hours or more working experience in a Mental Health nursing practice, and 30 hours of education in a Mental Health nursing practice. Your certificate will be valid for five years, and to renew your license, you are required to complete 75 hours more of continuing education and one of the following: a presentation or lecture, publication or research, preceptorship, volunteer hours, a minimum of 1,000 practice hours, or a professional assessment. Remember to add all these certifications and accumulated hours accordingly in your education section.

What to Highlight in a Mental Health Nurse Resume

A psychiatric nruse should be responsible, detail orientated, and have a passion for their patients. Therefore, describe your working history in detail to reflect these traits and your qualifications and skillsets to ensure the best possible chance of landing an interview. 

There are a few crucial points that should be included and highlighted in your 2-page resume. 

Firstly, highlight the environment you have worked in. Mental Health Nurses work in hospitals or in a community setting. For example, in a residential area, you could be required to be on standby 24-hour cycles at a time. Recruiters need to know how flexible you are for working shifts, during weekends or holiday periods to ensure that they can place you at the most optimal facility according to your life schedule.

  • Hospital Setting: 

Within a hospital, nurses may work in various areas such as Mental Health intensive care units, Mental Health wards, Outpatient units, or Specialist units dealing with eating disorders. Each of these facilities would require different skills and experience, and you can elaborate on these in your job description section.

  • Community or Residential Setting: 

In the community, you could work at G.P practices surgeries, prisons, community health care centers, residential centers, patients’ own homes, and special schools that serve people with emotional and mental issues.

Next up is the structure of your working environment. In this field, you will generally work in a team structure that includes general practitioners, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, art therapists, and healthcare assistants. It is wise to explain your scope of duties in the ‘’pecking order’’ concerning activities you perform for all these health experts mentioned. Being a team player is a crucial soft skill requirement for any Mental Health Nurse job, and hiring managers would want proof that you can work with colleagues and act professionally.

Also, provide information about your personality traits and how these would equip you to add value as a Mental Health Nurse. For any MH Nurse to achieve success in this field, you need to ooze empathy and sympathy and establish trust and a relationship with your patients. Not being manipulated by your patients and having a firm hand is another vital trait to help them understand the situation they are in and help them with the best possible outcome. Recruiters would also be interested in reading about your work's legal context, how you would execute ethical conduct at all times. Further, the oversight you may exercise to recommend that a patient needs to be submitted to a mental facility.

Then, provide a short description of your classification or specialty as an MH Nurse. The two types of nurses you typically get in this field are: Mental Health Nurses and Psychiatric Health Nurses. Sometimes your role may even involve a combination of both specialties if you have the relevant academic background and industry experience

Mental Health Nurses: If this is you, recruiters would want to know about your experience in crisis interventions, mental health assessments, medications and therapies, and patient assistance, according to the American Mental Health Nurses Association (APNA). Your resume gives examples of how you closely with patients. The process followed when a patient is assigned to you, for example, starting with an interview to assess the patient and learn about their history, symptoms, other ailments, and daily habits. A Mental Health Nurse often works with patients with anxiety disorders (panic attacks and phobias), mood disorders (bipolar disorder and depression), issues with substance abuse (drugs and alcohol), Alzheimer’s disease (dementia). Mental Health Nurses work closely with treatment teams to develop individualized treatments to help their mental condition accurately. They are also required to give each individual patient counseling and get the families to help them. Sometimes, they are needed to help dress and groom their patients and give them their medication. 

Psychiatric Health Nurse: In this specialty, you will also work closely with patients with mental health issues. You must explain your expertise in assessing, diagnosing, and treating Mental Health problems. Here you would do in conjunction with a whole array of medical professionals, and the physical care component also comes into play. Psychiatric Health Nurses are responsible for evaluating patients' mental health needs, developing treatment plans, providing psychotherapy services, providing personal care, and coordinating with families, doctors, and other health professionals regarding patient appointments, treatment progress, and drug prescriptions. You should also mention what kind of medications you are allowed to administer in according to your license stature.

Make sure to include the following details 

  • The locations you registered in to practice as a Mental Health Nurse
  • Your GPA score if above 3.7
  • Any healthcare related or medical volunteer work (field hospitals, community outreach, rural clinics, mobile clinics, blood drives)
  • Practical and intern placements while at nursing school (mention dates, facility, and hours accumulated)
  • List all clinical rotations and total hours worked during those rotations


Mental Health Nurse Resume Summary

Start your resume summary with your certifications and your experiences. Add your skills and professional development and your highest qualifications. Your personal accomplishments and achievements in the field you are applying for should be the icing on the resume cake. Then end your profile summary with professional achievements and accomplishments. Remember that everything must be relevant to the position.

Your summary should be easy to read, and keywords are essential in these sections. Some recruiters pick up on the concepts you are using to represent your experiences and skillsets.

Examples


Summary example 1:

“Registered Nursing professional with over seven years of experience in handling people with mental health problems. Both detail-oriented and patient-centered. Able to provide quality care, intense situations, and assigned an average of 10 patients per day. Have planned treatments in psychology and monitored patients with mental health conditions.”

Summary example 2:

“Experienced Mental Health Nurse with 15 years of experience in providing care to high-risk youth patients in a Mental Hospital environment. Enthusiastically searching to help physicians as holistic Mental Health Nurse in a private practice environment. Licensed in ANA Certified in Mental Health & Certified as an Alcohol Counselor I (CACI)”

Summary example 3:

“Mental Health Nurse experienced in treating both adult and child patients with disorders such as: bipolar disorder, anxiety, ADHD, and depression. Highly competent in the areas of planning treatments, which include Experienced in psychotropic medication administration and psychotherapy. Efficient in delivering mental health nursing care handling a caseload of up to 17 patients per day.” 

Mental Health Nurse Job Descriptions, Responsibilities, and Duties

Usually, a Hospital Administrator, Principal, or Health Center’s Shareholder’s Board wants to see specific duties and responsibilities with foundational value on your resume. Here are a few examples of job descriptions for a variety of levels for a Mental Health Nurse. This section can get complicated when deciding what must be included and what would be considered irrelevant. Consider these factors when you are applying for the job.

Remember that you should only list the relevant experiences and leave out anything outside of the past ten years.

Keep each experience detailed and try to include numbers to demonstrate how well you fulfilled your duties.

Examples

A Mental Health Nurse is responsible for:

  • Identifying and minimizing barriers to providing coordinated care
  • Providing leadership in the daily operations of a pediatric mental unit
  • Maintaining clinical expertise by giving direct patient care, acting as a charge nurse when required, and serving several hospital departments as a clinical resource
  • Addressing issues related to the severity and intensity of disorders, including motivating reasons for new admissions, continued stays, and also discharges 
  • Collaborating with the healthcare team in the hospital such as social workers, nurses, physicians, and psychologists to monitor and ensure treatment plan progressions and also amendments where required 
  • Responsible for effecting smooth transitions for clinical treatments plans to homecare settings
  • Providing services for individual patients to facilitate optimal patient results in the treatment of chronic mental disorders
  • Maintaining a safe and secure treatment environment for patients, family members, staff, and visitors
  • Performing practice audits, research investigations, and analysis tasks associated with compliant clinical practice
  • Applying appropriate legislation and oversight to local practice operations, for example, medicine management, patient group directives, and counseling sessions
  • Providing an initial health screening of all new patients to the facility within the timeframes governed by the clinical practice
  • Staying abreast with security constraints and regulatory aspects about secure and safe environments
  • Participating and contributing to teaching and supporting new and junior members of staff
  • Informing and counseling patients regarding matters about their physical wellbeing and how that affects their mental health. 
  • Operate within the bounds of confidentiality at all times, adhering to data protection and maintaining private patient records
  • Providing professional advice and support to all health professionals and non-clinical staff members to ensure significant health and social care protocols are maintained
  • Promoting a company culture of positive health, safety, and infection control conduct to ensure a safe environment for all internal and external stakeholders

Highlight Your Accomplishments

By highlighting your accomplishments, you attract the reader's eye to focus on what makes you an excellent candidate for the position. The Achievements and accomplishments you insert must be relevant to the job and be attained in the last 3-5 years. To make these accomplishments easier to read, write them in a short bullet format.

Ad numerical values, this proves you are proficient in a technical term. Incorporate the answers to the following questions in your accomplishment section. 

  • How many patients did you take care of in your ward?
  • How many hours did you accumulate per rotation cycle?
  • How many patients can the hospital accommodate?
  • How long do you take to put in an IV?

Pick 3-5 accomplishments that will make you stand above the rest of the applicants and include action verbs. 


Accomplishment Statement Examples

  1. Educated family members on pharmaceuticals' efficacy and provided attentive patient care, leading to 100% patient/customer retention.
  2. Earned two awards (Pinnacle and Perseverance Awards) via positive patient exit evaluations on excellence in customer service and nursing care quality.
  3. Improved support service and overall quality standards of the facility by 20%.
  4. Developed and spearheaded a new patient care plan, increasing patient confidence by 35%.
  5. Improved support service level by 20% through passion and commitment.

Education Section

In this section of your resume, you must provide details for your credentials that are relevant to Mental Health Nursing. Include your GPA, and SAT scores and if you specialized in a specific field, be sure to add that. 

State these qualifications using this format: Date Completed, Qualification Name, Institution Attended, Location. Add GPA Scores, Major Subjects or Hours Accumulated in bullet points

Education Section Example may look like this:

2020 – Current, Master of Science Degree in Pediatrics Nursing, Joliet University, Chicago, IL

2017 – Basic Life Support (BLS) for Healthcare Providers, American Heart Association, Mecosta Medical Center, Traverse City, MI

2015 – 2016 Bachelor Science in Health Sciences (Advanced Patient Care), Central Pennsylvania College, Summerdale, PA

2014 – Associate of Science – Nursing, University of California New Cityland, CA

Mental Health Nurse Resume Skills

Most hiring managers prefer to see the skills first, your interpersonal traits, and your technical competencies. Your skill section must attract the hiring manager’s attention, and therefore, your skills sections must contain keywords from the advertisement. If your job search has not started, consider researching other resumes for Mental Health Nurses to help you create your resume.

Try to include 6-12 skills that are useful when working with patients

List your soft skills and highlight those you believe are most impressive. Remember to be truthful in this aspect, and do not fear taking advantage of the job description.

Interpersonal Traits

CaringTrustworthy
CompassionateEmpathetic
FriendlyCalm under pressure
ApproachableConfident
MeticulousResilient
HonestAdaptable
PatientResourceful
SupportivePunctual

Technical Competencies

Medical Mastermind EMRAlcoholism
Office Suite ProD.T.s
Medication AdministrationDrug Dependency
Verbal DeescalationManic Depression
BLS/ACLS/PALS certifiedSeizure Disorders
Detox NursingHallucinations
Suicidal IdeationsFeeding Tubes
Assaultive BehaviorDelusions
PsychosisConduct Individual Psychotherapy
Eating DisordersConduct Group Psychotherapy
Admission of Mental Health PatientExperience as Charge Nurse
Initial Nursing Assessment & Care PlanTherapeutic Communication 
Participate in Milieu TherapyInitiating Behavior Modification
Behavioristic ChartingOxygen Administration
Electroconvulsive TherapyCardiopulmonary Resuscitation
Quiet Room / Timeout Room CareLumbar Puncture
Neurological Vital SignsPsychological Mapping

Qualifications/Certifications associated with Mental Health Nurses

Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN)Registered Nurse (RN)Master of Science in Nursing(MSN)
Nurse Practitioner (NP)Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNSAssociates Degree in Nursing (ADN)
National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN)Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)CPR First-Aid and ALS Certification Current
The registered Nurse State of California Diploma in Neuro-Linguistic ProgrammingAdvanced Certificate in Play Therapy Techniques

Professional information on Mental Health Nurses

Sectors: Healthcare, Medical, Clinical, Mental Health, Psychiatry
Career TypeProfessional Care, General Care, Post Op Recovery, Health Education,  Specialized Care, Preventative Care
Person type:  Nurse, Caregiver, Helper, First Responder, Counselor, Educator
Education levelsBachelor’s degree and upwards
Salary indication: (NurseJournal.org)

Entry Level: $51,682

Early Career: $57,017

Mid-Career: $ 63,838

Experienced: $67,539

Late Career: $68,657

Labor market: Estimated 7% from 2018 to 2028 (BLS)

Organizations: Hospitals,, Corporate, Step Down Facilities, Hospices, Schools, Mental Health Institutions, Rehab Facilities, Medical Facilities, , Military

Mental Health Nurse Resume Examples in PDF

Downloads are for free in PDF and JPEG. Make your own resume and download it in any template you like with www.resume.io. A great resume builder tool to craft a stunning, professional resume in minutes!