Dedicated Juvenile Counselor with 10 years of experience helping juvenile offenders grow and transform into productive, happy, and law-abiding citizens. Proven success counseling offenders in private and group rehabilitation settings, and supporting their return to a purposeful, crime-free life in the community. Effectively developed and fostered positive and influential relationships with at-risk and troubled youth, providing them with helpful mentoring and guidance. Committed to integrity, safety, and the mental and physical health of clients.
08/2017 - 08/2022, Juvenile Counselor, Fort Wayne Rehabilitation Center, Dallas
- Worked with up to six juveniles at a time in a private housing unit, creating personalized plans and goals for each, achieving 14% higher compliance rates and 12% fewer relapses.
- Assisted with teaching a variety of vocational and social skills, credited with 18% boost to post-rehab employment rates.
- Provided counseling to residents in one-on-one and group settings, often resulting in communication breakthroughs when they overcame trust issues.
- Provided crisis intervention methods and safe physical restraint practices when necessary, helping mitigate four suicide attempts, a hostage-taking incident and many threats of harm to self or others.
- Worked collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team to plan and implement an encouraging and safe environment for all residents.
- Reported and documented concerns and made changes to individual and group plans as needed.
09/2012 - 07/2017, Juvenile Counselor, Levine County Correctional Facility, Austin
- Served as a mentor and educator to troubled youth seeking lifestyle changes, with 86% positive outcomes recorded in one-month follow-up visits and 69% after three years.
- Trained residents in positive emotional and mental practices to avoid relapses in behavior.
- Assisted in the constant preservation of safety by performing daily searches of residents and their facilities, with the incident rate of discovering contraband drugs or prohibited items declining by 23%.
- Presented individuals and groups with challenging situations to discuss and modeled effective and appropriate responses.
- Worked with families of residents to update them on the progress and or concerns related to their family member resident.
- Implemented a behavior management reward system with an 82% success rate,, encouraging and supporting residents working towards their personal goals.
08/2010 - 08/2014, Master of Arts in Criminal Justice, University of Texas, Austin
- Graduated with Distinction.
08/2006 - 05/2010, Bachelor of Psychology, Saint John's University, New York
- Graduated summa cum laude.
- Counseling
- Coping Skills
- Regulatory Compliance
- Crisis Intervention
- Group Counseling
- Mediation Skills
Juvenile Counselor Resume Example
Patience, empathy, and compassion are hallmarks of your career as a juvenile counselor. Now you just have to show them off in an amazing resume. Get started on landing your dream job now!
.jpg)
.jpg)
Related Resume Examples
Youth Services Specialist resume example
Perfectly suited to roles in youth advocacy, this template’s clean layout and structured sections highlight your counseling expertise and case management skills. Its balanced design lets your dedication to at-risk youth shine for hiring managers.
Social Worker resume example
Structured for compassionate professionals, this clean, organized layout highlights your advocacy, counseling, and crisis intervention expertise as a Social Worker. Its balanced design emphasizes your skills while fostering trust with schools and families.
Child Psychologist resume example
Shaped for compassionate professionals, this clean, calming layout highlights your expertise in child psychology. Its balanced structure and soft color accents amplify your therapeutic skills, fostering trust and connection with families and care-focused organizations.
Psychotherapist resume example
Perfectly suited to professionals in mental health, this calming, minimalist design highlights your expertise with clean sections and subtle tones. Its balanced layout emphasizes your therapeutic skills, fostering trust and connection with clients and employers alike.
Marriage and Family Therapist resume example
Customized for Marriage and Family Therapists, this calming, well-structured template mirrors the empathy and professionalism essential to your role. Its clean layout and soft tones highlight your counseling expertise, fostering trust with clients and employers alike.
Drug and Alcohol Counselor resume example
Geared toward compassionate professionals, this clean, structured layout highlights your expertise in addiction therapy and mental health. Its calming color palette and organized sections emphasize your dedication, fostering trust with clients and employers alike.
Behavioral Therapist resume example
Customized for Behavioral Therapists, this clean, calming layout mirrors the profession’s focus on structure and clarity. Its balanced design highlights your expertise in counseling, ABA, and treatment planning, building trust with patients and employers alike.
School Counselor resume example
Created for compassionate school counselors, this template’s clean layout and soft color accents highlight your expertise in student support and emotional well-being. Its structured sections showcase your skills and achievements, inspiring trust in educators and families.
Camp Counselor resume example
Built for energetic leaders, this vibrant, well-structured template highlights your teamwork, leadership, and child-focused expertise as a Camp Counselor. Its playful yet professional design showcases your skills and certifications to captivate camp directors.
Counselor resume example
Perfectly suited to counselors, this clean, calming layout mirrors the profession’s empathetic nature. Its balanced structure highlights your therapeutic expertise and interpersonal skills, helping you connect with mental health organizations seeking compassionate, skilled professionals.
Using this guide to developing a youth counselor resume, our resume templates, and our builder tool, you will learn how to:
- Focus your resume for each job listing
- Highlight your professional personality and people skills in your profile
- Describe your work experience in the most impressive manner
- Choose a layout that will catch the eye of hiring personnel.
A great juvenile counselor resume will help you begin to help at-risk youth and teens sooner, so let’s get started!
Looking for more resumes examples to advise and inspire you, take a glimpse at these resume examples from the same social work field:
- Caregiver resume sample
- Social Worker resume sample
- Geriatric Social Worker resume sample
- Drug and Alcohol Counselor resume sample
- Healthcare Social Worker resume sample
- Case Manager resume sample
- Community Outreach Coordinator resume sample
- Youth Services Specialist resume sample
- Babysitter resume sample
- Nanny resume sample
- Medical Social Worker resume sample
Profile Example
This is the one spot on your counselor resume where you can demonstrate your ability to connect to others. You can list your interpersonal, or soft, skills in other sections, but here you have three to five sentences (100-150 words, 200 - in exceptional cases) to display your professional personality and ability to help youths with mental health, substance abuse, or emotional and behavioral challenges.
Your juvenile counselor resume should clearly demonstrate your commitment to working with troubled and at-risk youth. In your profile, you should focus on one or two of your proudest accomplishments and demonstrate patience, trustworthiness, and ability to remain calm in stressful situations. Think about a situation that illustrates your sincerity and the ability to establish and foster positive relationships with young people.
Highlight your biggest accomplishments and attributes here. Use powerful action verbs and job specific information as you can. For example: “Mentored at-risk teens” is better than “worked with at-risk teens.”
If you have work experience in mental health counseling, but have worked with other populations, be sure that you explain your desire to work with juveniles at this time. You can also include this information in your cover letter, but be aware that your resume is likely to be read first.
See juvenile counselor profile section resume sample below.
Dedicated and experienced Juvenile Counselor with over five years of experiencing helping juvenile offenders grow and transform into productive, happy, and law-abiding citizens. Experienced in counseling offenders in private and group settings, rehabilitating them and helping them return to a normal and ordinary life. Experienced in developing and fostering positive and influential relationships with at-risk and troubled youth, providing them with helpful mentoring and guidance. A commitment to integrity, safety, and the mental and physical health of clients.
Employment History Example Sentences
Your Employment History section should reflect your growth as a juvenile counselor. Think back to all your experience working with children and teens. Were you a camp counselor? Did you coach a team? Have you worked in a different social work capacity? These jobs show your dedication to working with young people. Any internships and externships you completed to earn your counseling license also count as work experience.
As a juvenile counselor, you may work with troubled youth in a variety of settings including the juvenile system, schools, and various social service organizations. Your goal is to provide them with beneficial supervision and guidance. You may work with troubled youth who have committed crimes or are being identified as troubled or at-risk for contact with the criminal justice system. Sometimes, juvenile counselors live in the group home or other facility where they work. If they do live in the facility, they may be responsible for around-the-clock supervision of residents.
As you craft the descriptions of each of your jobs, steer clear of simply listing job responsibilities. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What are my biggest accomplishments?
- What problems did I solve? How did I solve them? What were the results?
- Did I develop any youth treatment programs? What were my goals? Do I have evidence that I achieved them?
- Did I specialize in one area, such as substance abuse or crisis intervention?
Answering these questions should be the basis for each job description. The more data or hard evidence you can provide to enhance your claims, the better. Remember that prospective employers want to know what you will add to the team and see evidence of your growth as a counselor.
See juvenile counselor employment history section resume example below.
- Worked with juveniles in a private housing unit, creating personalized plans and goals for each juvenile.
- Assisted with teaching a variety of vocational and social skills.
- Provided counseling to residents in one-on-one and group settings.
- Provided crisis intervention methods and safe physical restraint practices when necessary.
- Worked collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team to plan an encouraging and safe environment for all residents.
- Helped residents to develop positive life skills, plans, and goals.
- Reported and documented concerns and made necessary changes to individual and group plans as needed.
Education Section Example
Most employers will require you to have a bachelor’s degree, preferably in a field related to psychology or social work. You may also be mandated by the state or your organization to complete professional development credits. If you have participated in seminars or courses — such as first aid or a Crisis Prevention Institute Nonviolent Crisis Intervention training — that add to your desirability as a candidate, list those here.
If you have many years of experience, leave this section lower down on your resume, however, if you have just earned your degree, you may want to move this section up. An ideal candidate holds a Bachelor’s Degree in a related field such as Social Work, Psychology, or Counseling.
Any honors or distinctions should be noted here as well. If you hold a degree higher than a Bachelor's Degree, you may leave out your high school.
See juvenile counselor education section resume sample below.
- 1997-2001 Norwell High School, High School Diploma Norwell, MA
- 2001-2005 Hunter College, Bachelor of Psychology NY, NY
Skills Section Example
This section consists of five to ten skills or attributes necessary to be an outstanding youth counselor. Pay attention to the specific requirements for the job to which you are applying. Try to match the skills you list here with the top skills your potential employer seeks. Use the exact wording you found in the job listing because many employers use Applicant Tracking Systems that will scan for specific words in your youth counselor resume.
Juvenile counselors must be able to positively influence the lives of troubled and at-risk youth by providing them with excellent supervision, services, programs, and resources. Youth counselor jobs place an emphasis on interpersonal skills, but you also need to be organized to track data and the behavior management and treatment plans of your charges.
You are expected to act as positive role models for the youths in your care, helping them to cope with hardships, while working toward a more positive future. Juvenile counselors should possess excellent communication and leadership skills, allowing them to oversee the growth and progress of the youth they work with.
Don't neglect to list the hard skills that are a requirement of your job, including counseling methods, first aid, crisis intervention, data collection and research techniques, and an understanding of how socioeconomic factors affect the youth you work with.
See juvenile counselor skills section resume example below.
- Counseling
- Coping Skills
- Crisis Intervention
- Regulatory Compliance
Layout and Formatting
The layout is a key component of your resume. Busy human resources people want to be able to scan your resume now! You can make it easy for them by using clearly defined section headings and obvious titles. Here are the items hiring managers scan for first:
- Contact information
- Current job and title
- Previous job and title
Our resume templates take the guesswork out of this process. Try our Simple (timeless classics) or Modern designs to give a sleek first-impression. Then, use our resume builder tool to avoid formatting errors and create consistency of style.
You’re on your way to your dream job!
