Director Clinical

PURPOSE:

   The Cedar Knolls House (Bronx) provides therapeutic and support services to adolescents ages 17-21 who are

   referred to us through ACS and the Juvenile Justice system. Our residents have experienced significant trauma, resulting in behavioral, emotional, and functional/ development issues.  Cedar Knolls House offers an extensive independent living skills program, including vocational preparation, and educational services that assists youth towards reaching independence.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

    The Clinical Director provides strategic leadership and oversight of all clinical services within a residential foster care program, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, trauma-informed, and youth-centered care. As a member of the program leadership team, the Clinical Director supervises the Behavioral Health Clinicians and Case Planning Supervisor, oversees clinical documentation and regulatory compliance, supports CFTSS service delivery and revenue integrity, and promotes best practices to achieve positive outcomes for youth and families. Working collaboratively with program leadership and community partners, the Clinical Director fosters a culture of clinical excellence, staff development, accountability, and continuous quality improvement while ensuring compliance with OCFS, ACS, Medicaid, and agency standards.

KEY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Provides strategic leadership and oversight of all clinical services within the residential foster care program, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, trauma-informed, and youth-centered care.
• Serves as a member of the program leadership team, partnering with the Program Director and Assistant Program Director to strengthen program operations, enhance service delivery, and achieve organizational goals.
• Directly supervises Behavioral Health Clinicians and the Case Planning Supervisor by providing regular supervision, coaching, performance evaluations, professional development, and ongoing clinical guidance.
• Promotes a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous learning, and clinical excellence while supporting staff engagement and retention.
• Ensures all clinical documentation is accurate, timely, and compliant with OCFS, ACS, Medicaid, CFTSS, and agency standards.
• Reviews and approves assessments, treatment plans, progress notes, risk assessments, and other required clinical documentation to support quality care, regulatory compliance, and revenue integrity.
• Provides oversight of CFTSS clinical services, documentation, and billing readiness by monitoring service delivery, documentation quality, and treatment plan completion.
• Directs clinical oversight of case planning, permanency planning, and placement coordination, including completion of required Connections placement modules for youth transitioning between placements or levels of care.
• Participates in referral reviews, admissions, interdisciplinary case conferences, treatment planning, and discharge planning to ensure coordinated, individualized care for youth and families.
• Monitors clinical performance, documentation quality, service outcomes, and compliance indicators, implementing quality improvement initiatives and corrective action plans as needed.
• Oversees implementation of the Integrated Treatment Model (ITM/DBT), providing leadership and support to Behavioral Health Clinicians facilitating ITM groups while promoting fidelity to the model.
• Represents the program during ACS, OCFS, Medicaid, and other regulatory reviews, audits, and external meetings, ensuring timely follow-up on recommendations and corrective actions.
• Serves as a clinical resource to staff, community partners, schools, hospitals, and external stakeholders to promote effective collaboration and continuity of care.
• Participates in the program leadership on-call rotation, provides leadership coverage in the absence of management staff, and may maintain a limited clinical caseload or facilitate specialized therapeutic groups based on program needs.
• Obtains and maintains required certifications, including F-01 Fire Guard, W-07 Fire Safety Coordinator, and S-95 Supervision of Fire Alarm Systems certifications, completes all required agency and regulatory trainings, and performs other duties as assigned to support program operations and organizational objectives.
• Other duties as assigned. 

MANAGEMENT:

• Hires and provides clinical and administrative supervision to the Clinical Supervisor, Behavioral Health Clinicians, as well as other clinical staff.
• Manage risk regarding client safety by adhering to all risk management protocols.

CORE COMPETENCIES for the position include:

• Demonstrates the ability to develop, implement, and evaluate policies, procedures, and clinical protocols.
• Demonstrates the ability to assess program needs, improve operational efficiency, and lead strategic initiatives.
• Demonstrates the ability to develop high-performing teams through effective leadership, supervision, coaching, and professional development.
• Demonstrates knowledge of child welfare, trauma-informed care, behavioral health, and residential treatment best practices.
• Demonstrates the ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and foster effective interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Demonstrates a commitment to youth-guided, family-driven, and strengths-based practice by incorporating youth and family voice into service planning and delivery.
• Demonstrates the ability to analyze data, monitor performance indicators, and use data to drive decision-making, quality improvement, and program outcomes.
• Demonstrates strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills and the ability to build collaborative relationships with staff, youth, families, community partners, and regulatory agencies.
• Demonstrates a commitment to cultural humility, diversity, equity, inclusion, and culturally responsive service delivery.
• Demonstrates knowledge of applicable OCFS, ACS, Medicaid, CFTSS, and other regulatory requirements governing residential foster care and behavioral health services.
• Demonstrates a commitment to integrating the Sanctuary Model® principles and trauma-informed practices throughout the program.
• Demonstrates sound clinical judgment, effective crisis management, and the ability to prioritize competing demands and make timely decisions in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrates a commitment to ongoing professional development, continuous learning, and leadership excellence through supervision, training, and evidence-based practice.

EDUCATIONAL/TRAINING REQUIRED:

• LCSW, LMSW or a master’s degree in social work. Behavioral Health or related field. Must have an active clinical license in NYS.
• A minimum of five (5) years of experience in child welfare, juvenile justice, behavioral health, or another residential treatment setting, including at least two (2) years of supervisory experience.
• Specialized experience with residential treatment may also be required.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED/LANGUAGE PREFERENCE:

• Bilingual, Spanish, Creole, French, preferred

COMPUTER SKILLS REQUIRED: 

• Knowledge of electronic medical systems or CONNECTIONS preferred
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office, Outlook and Word
• Aptitude for learning new systems and application software
• Experience with telemental health platforms a plus.

VISUAL AND MANUAL Dexterity:

• The candidate should be able to read paper and electronic documents and perform significant data entry into various computer programs.

WORK ENVIRONMENT/PHYSICAL EFFORT

• Ability to navigate stairs
• Ability to respond to crisis
• Attend meetings outside of program, as needed 

If you join us, you’ll have these great benefits:

• Generous paid time off in addition to paid agency holidays and 15 sick days
• Affordable and high-quality medical/dental/vision plans 
• Tuition assistance and educational loan forgiveness
• Free continuing education opportunities 
• 403(b) retirement benefits and a pension
• Flexible spending accounts for health and transportation 
• 27/7 Accessible Employee Assistance Program  
• Life and disability insurance 

Who we are:

 The Jewish Board delivers innovative, high-quality, and compassionate mental health and social services to over 45,000 New Yorkers each year. We are unique in serving everyone from infants and their families to children, teens, and adults. We are proud to employ and serve people of all religions, races, cultural backgrounds, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. We are committed to building diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams to help support our mission, and we strongly encourage candidates from historically marginalized backgrounds to apply to work with us.

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