PSYCHIATRIC TECHNICIAN, AS
Yuba College · Marysville, CA
- Cost
- $3,278
- Length
- 40 weeks
- Working 6 months later
- 87%
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
- 28
Small group — treat with caution
- Finished the program
- 81%Based on 21 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
- 87%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
- $12,945A single quarter of earnings, roughly three months, not a yearly salary. Do not compare it directly with the yearly pay shown for the occupation.Typical California program: $10,900 of 1,339 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.
The jobs 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.
Trains for more than one job. The outlook shown is the weakest of them.
No regional figures for this program
This program's ZIP code reaches into more than one of the labor-market areas California publishes, and nothing in the state's own area titles says which one it belongs to. Either answer would look exactly like a correct answer here, so neither is given and the statewide figures stand alone.
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.
- Typical pay in California
- $50,516per year
- Projected openings
- 16,680
- Projected change
- +27.5%
- Usually needs
- Postsecondary non-degree award
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.
Psychiatric Aides
Pay, hiring, and what people studied
Job ads may call this: Psychiatric Aide · Developmental Aide · Psychiatric Assistant · Mental Health Aide (MHA)
- Listen and provide emotional support and encouragement to psychiatric patients.
- Provide patients with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities with routine physical, emotional, psychological, or rehabilitation care under the direction of nursing or medical staff.
- Complete physical checks and monitor patients to detect unusual or harmful behavior and report observations to professional staff.
- Restrain or aid patients as necessary to prevent injury.
Show 4 more things this job involves
- Work as part of a team that may include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, or social workers.
- Record and maintain patient information, such as vital signs, eating habits, behavior, progress notes, treatments, or discharge plans.
- Maintain patients' restrictions to assigned areas.
- Organize, supervise, or encourage patient participation in social, educational, or recreational activities.
- Typical pay in California
- $48,703per year
- Projected openings
- 5,580
- Projected change
- +5.3%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
Getting in
- Experience needed first
- None
- Training after you are hired
- Under a month
No earlier job experience is expected, and new hires are not put through a long training period. For work like this, a program is usually the way in.
Program details
This program provides in-person instruction only.
A FOUR-SEMESTER AND SINGLE-SUMMER SESSION PROGRAM. THE PROGRAM INCLUDES 648 THEORETICAL HOURS OF CLASSRROM WITH 956 CLINICAL PRACTICUM HOURS. SUBJECT MATTER SPECIFIED BY BOARD OF VOCATIONAL NURSING PSYCHITRIC TECH. EDUCATION.
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
Yuba County Office of Education Business CenterComprehensive center
Phone: 530-749-4580(ONE STOP) 530-599-3040 (EDD)
1114 Yuba StreetSuite #214Marysville, CA 95901about 6.1 miles away
Hours: Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (Resource Room 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.)
Has a veterans' representative
Sutter County One StopComprehensive center
Phone: 530-822-5120
875 Harter ParkwayBldg. 1000Yuba City, CA 95993about 10 miles away
Hours: Monday - Friday 8a.m. - 5p.m.
Has a veterans' representative
Business and Career NetworkAffiliate site
Phone: 530-328-1953
988 McCourtney RoadBrighton Greens Resource CenterGrass Valley, CA 95945about 21.6 miles away
Hours: Monday – Friday, Resource Center Open: 8:30am-4:30pm
Has a veterans' representative
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 →