Executive Clinical Director

Job Summary
The Executive Clinical Director provides strategic leadership, clinical oversight, and program development across all levels of care, including Residential Treatment (RTC), Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP), Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), and General Outpatient Program (GOP). This position serves as the senior clinical authority for the organization and is responsible for ensuring the delivery of ethical, evidence-based, and clinically effective treatment services for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.

A strong emphasis is placed on advanced mental health expertise, including extensive clinical experience working with complex mental health conditions, co-occurring disorders, crisis intervention, trauma-informed care, and evidence-based behavioral health treatment modalities. The Executive Clinical Director must possess a deep understanding of mental health assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning, documentation standards, and clinical best practices to ensure services meet regulatory, payer, and accreditation requirements.

The ideal candidate is an accomplished clinical leader with demonstrated experience training, mentoring, and developing clinical teams in mental health treatment modalities, therapeutic interventions, documentation standards, and clinical compliance. This individual will be responsible for ensuring therapists and clinical staff are utilizing appropriate evidence-based practices, maintaining clinically sound treatment plans, and producing documentation that supports medical necessity, mental health treatment goals, Medicaid compliance, and reimbursement requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide executive clinical leadership and oversight across all levels of care, including Residential Treatment (RTC), Partial Hospitalization (PHP), Intensive Outpatient (IOP), and General Outpatient (GOP) services.
• Direct and supervise multidisciplinary clinical teams, including therapists, case managers, peer support staff, and clinical leadership personnel.
• Establish, implement, maintain, and continuously improve the organization's clinical philosophy, treatment approach, therapeutic modalities, and evidence-based practices.
• Ensure the consistent delivery of high-quality, trauma-informed, evidence-based mental health and substance use disorder treatment services.
• Serve as the organization's clinical subject matter expert in mental health treatment, co-occurring disorders, trauma-informed care, crisis intervention, and evidence-based behavioral health practices.
• Train, mentor, and develop clinical staff on mental health treatment modalities, documentation standards, clinical interventions, diagnosis, treatment planning, and best practices.
• Provide clinical consultation and support for complex cases, high-risk clients, crisis situations, and clinical decision-making.
• Collaborate closely with the Medical Director, Admissions Department, Operations Director, and Executive Leadership Team to ensure integrated and effective service delivery.
• Facilitate weekly multidisciplinary treatment team meetings for RTC and PHP programs.
• Review, approve, and provide oversight of biopsychosocial assessments, diagnostic formulation, treatment planning, discharge planning, and clinical recommendations.
• Ensure clinicians appropriately utilize ASAM and LOCUS criteria to determine levels of care and justify clinical recommendations.
• Review and approve all client pre-screens within 24 hours of submission.
• Ensure initial assessments, ASAM and LOCUS evaluations, treatment plans, progress notes, and discharge documentation meet medical necessity, clinical necessity, payer, and accreditation requirements.
• Oversee utilization management, medical necessity reviews, and documentation practices to ensure compliance with Medicaid, commercial insurance, and reimbursement requirements.
• Conduct routine chart audits, documentation reviews, and compliance monitoring activities to ensure accuracy, quality, and regulatory adherence.
• Monitor clinical quality indicators, program outcomes, key performance indicators (KPIs), utilization trends, and client satisfaction measures.
• Analyze clinical and operational data to identify improvement opportunities and provide data-driven recommendations to executive leadership.
• Lead quality assurance, performance improvement, and risk management initiatives throughout the organization.
• Develop, implement, and maintain clinical policies, procedures, protocols, and best practices.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, local, Medicaid, licensing, and accreditation standards.
• Maintain readiness and compliance with Joint Commission, CARF, DHS, and other regulatory and accrediting bodies.
• Oversee incident reporting, investigations, corrective action plans, quality assurance activities, and risk mitigation efforts.
• Ensure compliance with HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2, confidentiality regulations, professional ethical standards, and privacy requirements.
• Hire, onboard, supervise, mentor, evaluate, and retain high-performing clinical staff.
• Conduct performance evaluations, corrective action processes, competency assessments, and staff development planning.
• Provide licensure supervision and clinical supervision when applicable and permitted by credentialing requirements.
• Lead clinical trainings, professional development initiatives, and team-building activities.
• Manage clinicians by establishing performance expectations, enforcing job descriptions, maintaining accountability standards, and promoting clinical excellence.
• Contribute to organizational growth, service expansion, strategic planning, and long-term program development initiatives.
• Identify operational inefficiencies, system gaps, and workflow challenges and implement effective solutions.
• Foster a culture of accountability, clinical integrity, continuous improvement, professional development, collaboration, and exceptional client care.
• Ensure all programs maintain the highest standards of patient safety, treatment effectiveness, documentation compliance, staff competency, clinical excellence, and positive patient outcomes.

Required Qualifications

• Master's degree or higher in a Behavioral Health, Mental Health, Counseling, Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology, or related field.
• Active, unrestricted independent clinical licensure (LCSW, CMHC, LMFT, Psychologist, or equivalent) with a minimum of three (3) years of post-licensure experience.
• Minimum of five (5) years of progressive leadership experience in behavioral health, mental health, substance use disorder treatment, or integrated healthcare settings.
• Demonstrated expertise in evidence-based treatment modalities, co-occurring disorder treatment, addiction medicine, trauma-informed care, crisis intervention, and behavioral health program development.
• Extensive experience supervising, mentoring, and developing multidisciplinary clinical teams, including therapists, case managers, peer support specialists, and clinical leadership staff.
• Strong knowledge of ASAM Criteria, LOCUS assessments, DSM-5 diagnostic standards, treatment planning, utilization review, medical necessity requirements, and behavioral health documentation practices.
• Proven experience training clinical staff on mental health treatment modalities, documentation standards, compliance requirements, and best clinical practices.
• Extensive knowledge of Medicaid, commercial insurance requirements, reimbursement methodologies, utilization management, and behavioral health compliance standards.
• Demonstrated experience conducting clinical chart audits, quality assurance reviews, documentation oversight, and performance improvement initiatives.
• Strong understanding of Joint Commission, CARF, DHS, state licensing regulations, HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2, and other applicable accreditation and regulatory requirements.
• Experience utilizing Electronic Health Records (EHR/EMR) systems and healthcare management software.
• Proven ability to analyze clinical outcomes, utilization trends, quality metrics, and operational data to drive program improvements and organizational growth.
• Experience overseeing budgets, staffing models, program development, and strategic planning initiatives preferred.
• Excellent leadership, communication, conflict resolution, and organizational skills.
• Ability to effectively collaborate with executive leadership, medical providers, operational departments, referral partners, community stakeholders, and regulatory agencies.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to maintain professional, collaborative, and productive relationships with staff, clients, families, referral sources, treatment providers, and community partners.
• Demonstrated commitment to ethical practice, clinical excellence, staff development, and positive client outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience serving Medicaid and high-acuity behavioral health populations.
• Experience in residential treatment, PHP, IOP, and outpatient behavioral health settings.
• Experience with Joint Commission surveys, accreditation readiness, and regulatory audits.
• Advanced training or certifications in trauma-informed care, addiction medicine, clinical supervision, or behavioral health leadership.
• Experience leading multi-site behavioral health programs and managing organizational growth initiatives.

Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities:

• Previous leadership or management experience
• Strong compliance and accreditation knowledge
• Excellent leadership, communication, and crisis management skills

• Ability to make executive decisions in the best interest of the business and its clients
• Ability to maintain appropriate boundaries with clients and staff
• Ability to uphold staff members accountable to expectations and standards
• Strong organizational skills
• Self-motivated and self-driven to complete work independentlyDISCLAIMER STATEMENT:

This job description lists typical examples of work and is not intended to include every job duty and responsibility specific to a position. The employer reserves the right to change or assign other duties to this position.

Pay: $85,000.00 - $100,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off

Work Location: In person