Clinical Supervisor - Children's Advantage

Description

SUMMARY:  The Clinical Supervisor provides clinical, administrative, and programmatic oversight for all children's behavioral health services delivered by the agency. This position is responsible for the full scope of the children's office: direct supervision of clinical staff, program quality and fidelity, compliance with multiple county board contracts and funder requirements, and coordination of the agency's school-based, court-involved, and detention/jail assessment services.

A defining responsibility of this position is building clinical capacity in areas where children's behavioral health staff are commonly underprepared: recognizing, diagnosing, and treating co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (dual diagnosis) in youth, and identifying and addressing family-level needs, including parental and household substance use. The Clinical Supervisor is expected to function as the in-house expert in these areas — reviewing staff assessments for missed or misattributed substance use presentations, coaching clinicians who have little or no alcohol and drug training, and ensuring that treatment plans reflect an integrated, family-inclusive approach rather than mental health treatment alone.

The position carries a limited direct service caseload and functions as the senior clinical authority for the children's program.

SUPERVISOR: Director of Behavioral Health or Designee

SUPERVISES:  Therapists, case managers, QMHS/CPST staff, school-based clinicians, interns and licensure candidates

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Clinical Supervision and Staff Development

• Provide individual and group clinical supervision to therapists, case managers, and paraprofessional staff in accordance with state licensure board rules and agency policy.
• Provide board-approved supervision toward independent licensure for licensure candidates (e.g., LSW, LPC) and document supervision hours per licensing board requirements.
• Review and approve diagnostic assessments, treatment plans, discharge summaries, and level-of-care determinations.
• Conduct chart reviews and case consultation to assess clinical quality and model fidelity.
• Assess staff competency, identify training gaps, and deliver or arrange ongoing clinical training, with particular attention to staff who lack alcohol and drug assessment and treatment skills.
• Complete performance evaluations, coach staff on performance concerns, and participate in hiring, onboarding, corrective action, and separation decisions.
• Maintain a supervision schedule that meets contractual, licensure, and accreditation minimums, with documentation available for audit.

Dual Diagnosis: Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders

• Serve as the agency's primary clinical resource on adolescent substance use, recognizing that most children's behavioral health staff have limited training in diagnosing and treating these conditions.
• Build and sustain staff competency through structured training, case consultation, shadowing, and skills coaching in substance use screening, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.
• Ensure universal substance use screening is completed and correctly interpreted, using validated adolescent tools (e.g., CRAFFT, GAIN-SS, S2BI) rather than informal or self-report-only inquiry.
• Review diagnostic assessments for missed, minimized, or misattributed substance use, including symptoms mistakenly attributed solely to mood, anxiety, trauma, or behavioral disorders.
• Apply and teach ASAM criteria for adolescents; oversee level-of-care determinations and referrals to withdrawal management, IOP, residential, or recovery support services.
• Ensure treatment planning addresses mental health and substance use concurrently and in an integrated manner, rather than sequentially or in isolation.
• Oversee use of evidence-based co-occurring interventions (e.g., Motivational Interviewing, A-CRA, Seeking Safety, adolescent CBT for substance use) and monitor fidelity.
• Ensure staff understand and apply 42 CFR Part 2 requirements, adolescent consent rules for substance use treatment, and the confidentiality distinctions between mental health and substance use records.

Family Assessment and Family Needs Identification

• Ensure clinical staff assess the family system, not only the identified child, including parental/caregiver substance use, parental mental health, domestic violence, housing instability, food insecurity, and caregiver capacity.
• Train and coach staff to recognize and appropriately respond to caregiver substance use, including referral, safety planning, and mandated reporting obligations where child safety is implicated.
• Ensure family needs identified during assessment translate into concrete treatment plan objectives, referrals, and coordination , not narrative observations without follow-through.
• Oversee family engagement strategies and monitor family participation rates in treatment.
• Coordinate with children services, kinship caregivers, and adult treatment providers when the treatment needs of a caregiver directly affect the youth's clinical course.

Program Oversight — Children's Office

• Oversee all aspects of daily operations of the children's behavioral health office, including scheduling, caseload assignment, access and intake flow, productivity, and service capacity.
• Monitor referral response times, wait lists, no-show/engagement rates, and length of stay; implement corrective strategies where targets are not met.
• Ensure services are delivered across the continuum, including diagnostic assessment, individual/family/group therapy, CPST/case management, crisis intervention, and psychiatric coordination.
• Coordinate with psychiatry/prescriber staff on medication management, high-risk cases, and complex care planning.

Contract, Board, and Funder Compliance

• Serve as clinical point of contact for multiple county board contracts (e.g., Portage County Mental Health and Recovery Board), ensuring services delivered match the scope, population, deliverables, and outcome expectations of each contract.
• Track and report contract-specific utilization, outcomes, and deliverables; prepare data and narrative for board reports, contract renewals, and funder site visits.
• Maintain working knowledge of the differing requirements across contracting boards and ensure staff apply the correct requirements to the correct funding stream.
• Support grant and levy-funded program implementation, reporting, and renewal processes.
• Coordinate with billing/revenue cycle staff to ensure documentation supports Medicaid, managed care, and board-funded claims; address denials and audit findings related to clinical documentation.
• Participate in state certification, accreditation (e.g., COA, HRSA, Ohiomas), and payer audits, including preparation, on-site response, and plan-of-correction implementation.

School-Based and Community Treatment Services

• Oversee school-based behavioral health programming, including staff placement, service delivery models, and school-year/summer coverage planning.
• Establish and maintain relationships with district administrators, principals, school counselors, and special education staff; participate in MOU development and renewal.
• Ensure clinical practice in schools complies with FERPA, HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2, IDEA, and consent/release requirements, and that information sharing is properly authorized.
• Support staff participation in IEP, 504, MTSS/PBIS, and school-based team meetings as clinically indicated.
• Ensure school-based staff are equipped to identify and respond to student substance use rather than routing all concerns to discipline.
• Monitor school-based service data for contract and grant reporting.

Court, Juvenile Justice, and Detention/Jail Assessments

• Oversee the agency's assessment services for youth involved with juvenile court, probation, detention, and, where applicable, young adults in county jail settings.
• Ensure timely completion of court-ordered assessments, substance use assessments, and disposition-related clinical recommendations.
• Review assessment reports for clinical soundness, defensibility, and compliance with court timelines and formatting requirements, with particular scrutiny of co-occurring findings and level-of-care recommendations.
• Maintain working relationships with juvenile court judges, magistrates, probation officers, detention staff, prosecutors, defense counsel, guardians ad litem, and children services caseworkers.
• Provide or coordinate expert clinical testimony as needed.
• Ensure staff conducting facility-based assessments are trained in facility security protocols, safety procedures, and the confidentiality limits specific to court-ordered evaluations.
• Coordinate reentry and step-down planning for youth transitioning from detention or residential placement into community services, including linkage to substance use treatment and recovery supports.

Quality Assurance, Risk, and Compliance

• Lead clinical quality improvement activities, including outcome measurement, fidelity monitoring, and performance improvement projects.
• Oversee incident reporting, critical incident review, and follow-up for the children's program, including suspected abuse/neglect reporting obligations.
• Oversee risk assessment protocols for suicidality, self-harm, aggression, overdose risk, and safety planning; ensure staff competency in risk assessment and documentation.
• Ensure compliance with HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2, mandated reporting laws, client rights, and agency policy.
• Maintain and update clinical policies, procedures, forms, and workflows for the children's office.
• Ensure timely, accurate documentation in the electronic health record by all supervised staff.

Direct Service

• Carry a reduced direct service caseload as assigned, which may include complex, high-acuity, or co-occurring cases requiring senior-level clinical skill.
• Provide crisis response and clinical coverage during staff absences or surge demand.

Collaboration and Community Representation

• Represent the agency at county board meetings, family and children first councils, juvenile justice work groups, school partnership meetings, and community coalitions.
• Collaborate with children services agencies, adult substance use treatment providers, primary care, residential providers, and other community partners on shared cases and system-level initiatives.
• Participate in agency leadership meetings and contribute to strategic planning, program development, and budget input for the children's office.
• Other duties as assigned.

The Duties and Responsibilities above represent the most significant duties of this position, but do not exclude other assignments that would be within the qualification and responsibility levels of this position.  

Requirements

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  

• Master's degree in social work or counseling from an accredited institution.
• Current, unrestricted license as an LISW-S (Licensed Independent Social Worker with Supervision Designation) or LPCC-S (Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with Supervision Designation) in the state of Ohio, in good standing. These are the only two licenses that meet the clinical and supervisory requirements of this position; candidates without the active supervision designation will not be considered.
• Minimum of five (5) years of post-master's clinical experience in behavioral health, with at least three (3) years serving children, adolescents, and families.
• Minimum of two (2) years of supervisory, lead, or program oversight experience.
• Demonstrated experience assessing, diagnosing, and treating co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders in youth, and the ability to teach those skills to staff who do not have them.
• Demonstrated experience conducting family assessments and identifying family-level needs, including caregiver substance use.
• Demonstrated experience with court-involved youth, including completion of assessments in detention, jail, or other secure/correctional settings.
• Experience with school-based or community-based treatment service delivery.
• Working knowledge of Medicaid behavioral health billing, medical necessity, and documentation standards.
• Proficiency with electronic health records and standard office software.
• Valid driver's license, reliable transportation, and insurance meeting agency minimums.
• Ability to pass all required background checks (BCI/FBI, child abuse registry, sex offender registry, exclusion lists) and any facility-specific clearances required for detention/jail access.

Preferred

• Chemical dependency credential, LICDC or LICDC-CS,  in addition to the required independent license.
• Experience administering multiple simultaneous county board contracts and associated reporting requirements.
• Experience with state certification and CARF or Joint Commission accreditation processes.
• Training or certification in evidence-based youth and co-occurring practices (e.g., TF-CBT, MST, FFT, DBT, Motivational Interviewing, A-CRA, Seeking Safety, Trauma-Informed Care, Triple P).
• Forensic training or experience providing clinical testimony.
• Bilingual capability.
• Strong Organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

• Advanced clinical judgment with complex, high-risk, dually diagnosed youth and their families.
• Working knowledge of DSM-5-TR substance-related and addictive disorders as they present in adolescents, and of ASAM criteria for adolescent level-of-care determination.
• Ability to teach clinical skills, not just evaluate them — this position is expected to raise the substance use and family assessment competency of the entire children's team.
• Ability to interpret and operationalize differing requirements across multiple funders and contracts simultaneously.
• Strong supervisory skills, including the ability to give direct feedback, develop staff, and hold accountability while maintaining a supportive team culture.
• Effective communication with judges, school administrators, board staff, and families, adapting style to audience.
• Sound organizational and time management skills with the ability to manage competing deadlines across programs and sites.
• Cultural humility and demonstrated ability to work effectively with diverse youth, families, and communities.
• Ability to maintain professional boundaries and confidentiality in settings with competing information demands (courts, schools, families, funders), including correct application of the differing confidentiality standards for mental health and substance use records.

LICENSES OR CERTIFICATIONS REQUIRED:

• Unrestricted LPCC-S or LISW-S license to practice in the State of Ohio

• Unrestricted State of Ohio driver’s license

COMPLIANCE: 

This position requires compliance with AFS’ written standards, including its Compliance Program and Standards of Conduct and policies and procedures. Such compliance will be an element considered as part of the regular performance evaluation.

Failure to comply with AFS’ Written Standards, which may include the failure to report any conduct or event that potentially violates legal or compliance requirements or AFS’ Written Standards or, for managers and supervisors, fails to detect non-compliant conduct where reasonable efforts would have resulted in detection, will be met by the enforcement of disciplinary action, up to and including possible termination, in accordance with AFS’ Compliance Program Policy and Procedure: Addressing Instances of Non-Compliance through Appropriate Disciplinary Actions.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: 

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, and use hands to finger handle or feel; to talk; or hear. The employee is frequently required to reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally stand, walk, climb or balance, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. The employee must be able to frequently lift up to 25 pounds. The employee may occasionally be required to lift 25 to 50 pounds; however, this is not essential; duties may be shifted to accommodate lifting restrictions.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to use close vision (clear vision at 20 inches or less). The employee will occasionally be working near moving mechanical parts, be exposed to outdoor weather conditions and exposed to a risk of electrical shock while running the copier, printer, other standard equipment and answering the telephone. The noise level in the work environment is low to moderate. Stress level can be high at times.

Note: This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities or qualifications associated with the job.