Psychiatric Technician-Three Semester: Certificate Program

Cost: $3,766
Length: 48 weeks
Working 6 months later: 100%

Program names and program descriptions appear here in English, because that is the only language the federal and state records publish them in. Occupation titles are translated where O*NET publishes a Spanish name. Everything else on this page is translated.

What happened to people who took this

People enrolled: 138

Finished the program: 100%Based on 123 peopleTypical California program: 85% of 1,951 reportingThat median pools every California program that reported this measure, whatever its length, credential, or field, and leaves out the ones that reported nothing. It is a reference point, not a rating of this program.
Working 6 months later: 100%Typical California program: 69% of 1,690 reportingThat median pools every California program that reported this measure, whatever its length, credential, or field, and leaves out the ones that reported nothing. It is a reference point, not a rating of this program.
Earnings in one quarter after: Not reported

The job this trains for

This describes the jobs people do, not the classes this program teaches. It comes from the U.S. Department of Labor, which asks people already doing the work. The Department publishes it in English only, so the job names and the sentences below stay in English on this page.

Where California publishes a separate figure for Napa MSA (Napa County), it appears beneath the statewide one. Statewide stays the headline: people who train here do not necessarily work here.

Psychiatric Technicians

Job ads may call this: Residential Aide (RA) · Mental Health Associate · Mental Health Specialist · MHW (Mental Health Worker)

Some of what people in this job do. The Department rates how important each one is, and they appear in that order.

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.

Show 4 more things this job involves

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.

What this pays in Napa MSA (Napa County)

Each bar runs from the lowest-paid tenth to the highest-paid tenth. The darker middle is where half the people are, and the line is the median.

Area	The lowest-paid tenth earn under	Half earn under	The highest-paid tenth earn over
Napa MSA (Napa County)	$53,692	$86,310	$95,788
Across California	$42,024	$50,516	$90,556

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for Napa MSA (Napa County) beside the same figures for the whole state. A region can sit well below or above the statewide spread, and the statewide number is the one most often quoted — so where they differ, the local row is the one that describes the work near this program.

Typical pay in California: $50,516per year
Projected openings: 16,680
Projected change: +27.5%
Usually needs: Postsecondary non-degree award

California publishes no separate figure for this job in Napa MSA. The statewide figures above are the only ones there are.

Getting in

Experience needed first: Under 5 years in a related job
Training after you are hired: Under a month

Employers usually expect some time in a related job as well as the training. Ask the provider what their graduates did before they were hired.

These are the federal government's answers for the occupation, not rules this provider sets. California publishes the same two answers for every one of these jobs.

Program details

This is a hybrid or blended program providing both in-person and online instruction.

A program that prepares individuals under the supervision of psychiatrists psychologists nurses and other mental health care professionals to provide direct patient care services assist in developing and implementing treatment plans administer medications and perform related administrative functions. Includes instruction in mental health theory applied psychopathology patient communication and management crisis intervention psychotropic medication mental health treatment procedures substance abuse record-keeping clinical administrative skills and applicable standards and regulations.

Provider's website →

Someone else may be able to pay for this

This program was on California's Eligible Training Provider List when the state last reported it to the U.S. Department of Labor (2026-09-18). Programs on that list can be paid for through an Individual Training Account. Listings are renewed periodically and can lapse, so a program listed when the state last reported may not be listed today. Ask before you rely on it.

Ask before you enroll, not after

The order the rules set out starts at the center rather than at the school. Before a center can find somebody eligible for training services it has to gather enough to decide, at a minimum through an interview, evaluation or assessment and career planning. Referring a person to the provider they have chosen and setting up the account both come after that, and both are the center's to do — the account is a payment agreement with the training provider, and it is the provider that is paid through it. So the call belongs before enrolling and before paying. Anyone who has already done either should still ask, and ask what it means for them.

The place to ask is an America's Job Center of California

YoloWorks! Career Center- WoodlandComprehensive center
Phone: 530-661-2641
25 North Cottonwood StreetGonzalez BuildingWoodland, CA 95695about 21.4 miles away
Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am-4:00pm
CareerPoint NapaComprehensive center
Phone: 707-253-4134
2751 Napa Valley Corporate DriveBldg A. Suite 106Napa, CA 94559about 21.8 miles away
Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30am-4:30pm
America`s Job Center of California - FairfieldAffiliate site
Phone: 707-863-3500
500 Chadbourne RoadSuite AFairfield, CA 94534about 22 miles away
Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm

At a comprehensive center all the required partner programs can be reached; an affiliate site offers some of them. Distances are straight-line, so the drive is longer. Call before you travel: opening hours here are as the federal directory published them, and the state notes its own staff are not present at every location.

Find a center anywhere in California, and check what is on the list today:
CareerOneStop — American Job Center Finder (U.S. DOL) · California EDD — Office Locator · California EDD — Eligible Training Provider List

How this gets paid for, and what to ask →

Whether a person can have a program paid for is decided by their local workforce development board and the America's Job Center staff who interview them — not by this site, and not by the training provider. California has 45 local workforce development areas and each sets its own policies, so the answer can differ between two people in neighboring counties. Nothing here is a promise of funding or a determination of eligibility.

The rules cited here, and the state and federal sites linked to, are published in English.

How this site gets its figures, and what they do not tell you →