APRN Nurse Manager - Crisis Services - $115,000-$125,000

Claratel Behavioral Health (formerly known as DeKalb Community Service Board)  is an innovative, community-based behavioral health and developmental disabilities services organization located in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, offering a full range of mental health services, developmental disabilities programs and substance abuse treatment to more than 11,000 citizens annually who are uninsured and underinsured.

As a public, not-for-profit organization, Claratel BH operates in DeKalb County with a diverse workforce of more than 500 direct-care and support staff and more than 20 locations across the county. Our staff of physicians, nurses, clinicians and support personnel are dedicated to helping our clients and their families recover from these debilitating disabilities and resume productive lives. We strive to provide the highest quality, evidence-based services in the least restrictive settings, and we envision a community in which disabilities no longer limit potential. Claratel BH is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF).

The DeKalb Regional Crisis Center provides crisis intervention and stabilization services for adults.  The Center offers three levels of care starting with the Crisis Services Center unit that receives walk-ins, transfers from emergency rooms, and involuntary referrals for evaluation.

If further observation is needed, individuals are monitored in the Temporary Observation Unit for 12-24 hours. Individuals needing a longer period of stabilization or substance withdrawal management (usually 5-7 days) are admitted to the Crisis Stabilization Unit where ongoing care includes crisis counseling, medication, and assistance with discharge planning.

The DeKalb Regional Crisis Center (DRCC) provides crisis intervention and stabilization services for adults across three levels of care:

• Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES): Rapid intake, triage, and evaluation of walk-ins, law enforcement drop-offs, ER transfers, and involuntary referrals.

• Temporary Observation (Temp Observations): 12–24 hours of monitoring and evaluation for clients needing extended stabilization

• Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU): 5–7-day admissions for psychiatric stabilization and/or withdrawal management, with crisis counseling, medication, and discharge planning.

Position Summary

The Nurse Manager provides clinical supervision and guidance to the nursing team to ensure the delivery of safe, evidence-based, trauma-informed psychiatric care across the Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) and the Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU). This position plays a key role in maintaining clinical standards of practice, supporting quality improvement initiatives, and ensuring nursing interventions align with regulatory and ethical standards.

Key Responsibilities

Nursing Services Leadership

• Provide direct administrative, operational, and professional oversight of all nursing services within the Psychiatric Emergency Services Unit and the Crisis Stabilization Unit.
• Ensure adherence to nursing standards of practice, scope of practice, organizational policy, and regulatory requirements.
• Ensure safe, effective, and compliant nursing care delivery in a high-acuity psychiatric crisis environment.
• Oversee nursing workflows including shift coverage, medication administration, monitoring protocols, and nursing documentation standards.
• Ensure nursing services support timely admissions, safe observation, crisis intervention, and continuity of care.

Staffing Accountability

• Maintain appropriate and safe staffing levels for a 24/7 crisis stabilization facility, including nights, weekends, holidays, and periods of increased acuity.
• Ensure continuity of nursing services during inclement weather, disasters, public emergencies, or other critical events, including activation of contingency staffing plans.
• Respond in real time to staffing shortages, call-outs, or operational disruptions that impact safety or service delivery.
• Always ensure operational readiness to meet community crisis response needs.

Clinical Supervision & Support 

• Provides clinical oversight for nursing operations across the Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) and the Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU)
• Provide feedback, coaching, and performance evaluation of PES and CSU nurses.
• Support nursing staff development and ensure adherence to nursing standards in a high-acuity psychiatric emergency setting.
• Review nursing documentation including assessments, medication administration records (MARs), and treatment plans.
• Support nursing staff in the identification and implementation of appropriate nursing interventions for individuals in psychiatric crises.
• Ensure accurate documentation and completion of shift tasks in the electronic health record (EHR). 

Client Care & Safety Management:

• Ensure that all clients receive timely assessments, interventions, medications, lab draws, and monitoring physician orders and nursing protocols.
• Reports unit census manages the bed boards, client room assignments, admissions and discharges for the unit.
• Actively participate in crisis management and behavioral emergency response as Leader of the Behavioral response team (BERT) team for the unit.
• Provide feedback, coaching, and performance evaluation of PES & CSU nurses; support nursing staff development and ensure adherence to nursing standards in a high-acuity psychiatric emergency setting.
• Responds to unit needs by adjusting roles or task assignments as needed during the shift.

Quality & Safety Coordination:

• Coordinate safety initiatives, quality improvement projects, and compliance activities across BHCC services.
• Partner with the Compliance dept in conducting internal audits to assess compliance with policies, procedures, and standards.
• Maintains accurate documentation for audits, regulatory inspections, and continuous quality improvement initiatives.

Training & Professional Development

• Partner with the compliance department in the coordination of nursing in-service training, nursing documentation standards, nursing emergency protocols, and seclusion/restraint reduction strategies for nursing
• Responsible for onboarding of new PES and CSU nursing staff.
• Maintain awareness of current trends and best practices in behavioral health nursing and share relevant updates with nursing staff.

Qualifications

Required

• Active, unrestricted license as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) in the state of Georgia.
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience in behavioral health or psychiatric settings.
• At least 3 years of clinical nursing experience, including 2 years in a leadership or supervisory role.
• Previous supervisory or charge nurse experience in a behavioral health or acute care setting.
• Working knowledge of quality assurance, incident management, and safety protocols in a healthcare setting.
• Experience with electronic health records (EHR), incident tracking systems, and data reporting tools.
• Experience with venipuncture

  Skills & Competencies

• Strong clinical assessment and critical thinking skills.
• Knowledge of psychopharmacology.
• Ability to guide, coach, and support nursing staff without serving in a direct management capacity.
• Proficient in electronic health records (EHR) and documentation standards.
• Commitment to trauma-informed, recovery-oriented care.

Working Conditions

• Full-time, primarily on-site.
• May require occasional evening or weekend availability for audits, unannounced quality checks, or training.
• Ability to physically intervene using approved crisis intervention techniques when necessary and consistent with Mindset training.
• Ability to bend, stoop, reach, and occasionally lift, move, or carry up to 25 pounds.
• Exposure to individuals experiencing acute psychiatric crises.

For more information visit www.claratel.org/careers

Claratel Behavioral Health is an equal opportunity employer regarding disability under VEVRRA and ADA