Director of Mental Health

I.       POSITION PURPOSE:

The Director of Mental Health represents the Community Health Centers (CHC) in the community and provides vision and execution of strategy of internal programming regarding behavioral health program development, policy, grants, workforce development as well as clinical and research initiatives regarding care.   This position works closely with the Behavioral Health team and other departments on Behavioral Health clinical and procedural techniques, documentation and medico-legal matters and supervises management of all aspects of the Behavioral Health and Substance Use Treatment Teams.  They will also serve as a direct liaison with other community agencies with the goal of fostering partnerships, expanding programming, and incorporating evidence-based treatments to benefit CHC patients.  

II.     BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

A)     Education & Experience:

• Masters or Doctoral Degree in Social Work, Counseling, or Psychology from an accredited college or university program
• Five years of experience in supervising clinical staff
• Five years of experience in Behavioral Health program development

B)     Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

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• Knowledge of business and management principles involved in planning, resource allocation, production, and coordination of people and resources.
• Knowledge of human behavior, individual differences in ability, personality, interests, learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.  
• Thorough knowledge of mental health and substance abuse assessment and diagnostic skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense; and to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (deductive and inductive reasoning).
• Ability to consider relative costs and benefits of potential actions.
• Ability to motivate, develop, and direct people as they work, identifying the best people for the job, conducting performance reviews.
• Proficiency in computer technology applicable to clinical operations

C)     Licensure, Certification or Other Requirements:

       1.     Licensed Independent Social Worker, Licensed Psychologist, or Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counsellor in the State of Vermont, required

       2.     Licensed Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor (LADC), preferred

       3.      BLS Certification

The information below is intended to describe the general nature and level of work required for this position.  The information is not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and/or duties required.  Community Health Center of Burlington (CHCB) reserves the right to add, remove or revise job duties and responsibilities as demanded by business needs.

III.    ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

A)    Departmental Responsibilities

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• Network with community leaders and agencies re: coordinating services, seeking and obtaining grants, etc.
• Looking at implementing and growing new programs within CHC that pertain to Behavioral Health and substance abuse treatment.
• Supervises schedules, assigns and evaluates daily work activities of departmental personnel according to workload, space and equipment availability.  
• Responsible for programming of behavioral health programs at all CHC locations, in the services, the medication assisted therapy teams, and other programs and clinicians as needed.  
• Provide oversight, clinical training, and consultation for mental health and substance abuse services within the primary care setting.  
• Reviews and investigates incident reports pertaining to inappropriate patient behavior and works with clients in behavioral contracting and with interdisciplinary staff in providing therapeutic support to the patients involved.   
• Continually seeks, identifies, recommends and implements quality improvement initiatives.
• Investigates both internal (employee) and external (patient) service complaints relating to behavioral health and works to ensure a satisfactory resolution, including interviewing patients to identify and resolve problems.
• Strengthen and maintain external relationships by attending local, state and regional behavioral health forums.

B)     Clinical Practice

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• Maintains a small therapy practice and provides other clinical duties, including consultation within CHC’s medical clinic.

C)    Interdepartmental Responsibilities

• Encourages and models open communication between staff and other departments, ensuring effective interdepartmental functioning.  Makes recommendations as appropriate.
• Reviews facility activities and data to aid risk management and to improve service utilization; including maximizing use of available resources.

D)    Compliance Responsibilities

• Ensures departmental work activities are in compliance with CHC policies, procedures and protocols, and risk management standards.  Participates in the development of and revisions to CHC policies, procedures and protocols as required.
• Ensures compliance with applicable Mental Health, Social Work, and Substance Abuse Counseling laws, ethics, regulations and standards of care.  Including governing laws/regulations and guidelines such as HIPAA, OSHA, Vermont Department of Health, FQHC’s, health insurance regulations, etc.

E)   Personnel Management Responsibilities

• Recruits staff, and is responsible for conducting performance management activities including performance reviews, performance improvement plans, corrective action, disciplinary actions and terminations.  
• Provides clinical training and supervision of staff, encouraging and ensuring professional development as appropriate.
• Reviews staff documentation for accuracy, completeness and compliance with regulations.   
• Conducts or delegates management of staff meetings and communicates effectively with staff as appropriate/necessary.

F)   Budgetary and Reporting Responsibilities

• Provides input into CHC budget process and operates department within established budget. --Responsible for developing and meeting program revenue goals.
• Responsible for reporting of data/statistics as needed and/or requested by Management.   Makes recommendations based on findings.
• Responsible for conducting department audits as needed and/or requested by Management.   Makes recommendations based on findings.
• Conducts grant reporting and performs grant responsibilities as needed.

IV.    NON-ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

·         Conducts presentations in the community as requested.  

·         Other duties as assigned

V.     PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORKING CONDITIONS:

·         Work performed in an indoor, environmentally controlled atmosphere.

·         Ability to lift, push, and pull up to 25 lbs.