Clinical Director (Suffolk County Jail Project)

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Clinical Director will provide crucial clinical oversight for a new, 45-bed men’s behavioral health unit operated by Boston Medical Center (BMC) located in the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department’s (SCSD) Jail. In collaboration with Clinical and Administrative leadership, this role is critical to the smooth provision of intensive behavioral health services to incarcerated persons. This role will oversee the day to day clinical programming on the unit ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of therapeutic interventions. This individual will also supervise all non-physician clinical staff on the unit including the recovery supervisor, clinical social workers, and case managers. This role requires practicing non-judgmental patient centered care and cultural humility in order to care for an impacted patient population who is often marginalized within the healthcare and justice systems. Experience within corrections is not required, as the goal of this program is to deliver community level and quality of treatment inside the jail. 

As part of this innovative new collaboration between BMC and SCSD, this role will report into the BMC Department of Psychiatry. Work will be completed within office and clinical settings, both housed within a setting of incarceration. This is a full time daytime position with coverage needs outside of traditional work hours. The person who fills this position must adhere to all of BMC’s RESPECT behavioral standards.

Position: Clinical Director (Suffolk County Jail Project)       

Department: Psychiatry

Schedule: Full Time

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES / DUTIES:

• Assumes a key clinical leadership position within the program, and operationalizes the core values of BMC by promoting patient centered care, diversity, equity and inclusion among staff and patients.
• Management of behavioral health treatment during operating hours of the unit including assigning specific duties and clinical responsibilities to staff, communicating program goals to staff, and addressing crises and providing clinical coverage as necessary
• Responsible for personnel management of all non-MD staff on unit, including hiring, training, supervising, ongoing continuing education, setting performance metrics, evaluating performance, and initiating progressive discipline through utilization of coaching, counseling, and progressive discipline for clinical staff as indicated
• Coordinates interdisciplinary collaboration to drive patient outcomes and the achievement of key performance indicators, including facilitation of clinical case reviews and staff meetings
• Serves as day to day liaison for the medical and nursing staff and consults regularly with Senior Clinical Director, Medical Director, Operations Manager and SCSD medical staff regarding service issues, problems and operations.
• In collaboration with department leadership, conducts formal and informal staff education for new and established clinical staff related to critical pathways, clinical practice guidelines/standards, and quality improvement findings.
• Develops training modules as needed for the clinical staff, including competencies; conducts periodic audits to ensure compliance and quality.
• Develops strong collaborative relationships with SCSD staff as well as external behavioral health and case management organizations, to ensure positive patient outcomes.
• In collaboration with Senior Clinical Director, leads initiatives to improve employee resiliency and morale, including, facilitation of incident debrief sessions, resilience workshops that create a psychological safe space for workplace trauma to be processed, and coordination with the Resiliency Team at BMC for best practices.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

EDUCATION:

• Master’s degree or doctorate in behavioral health field, such as a MSW

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS REQUIRED:

• Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) in Massachusetts
• Will consider LMHC of PsyD under certain circumsances

EXPERIENCE:

• Over five years of experience working in behavioral health, which must include competency in serving individuals with severe and persistent mental illness and substance use disorders.
• Prior experience in some or all of following settings preferred, but not required: psychiatric emergency services, inpatient psych/SUD treatment, homeless services, care management, justice-involved population
• Over three years of experience in providing supervision and/or program oversight

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES (KSA):

• Ability to work collaboratively in a diverse, interdisciplinary team and the ability to adequately represent the needs of behavioral health service providers, work multidisciplinary teams including providers and correctional staff
• Comprehensive knowledge of current evidence based behavioral health treatment, specifically in the areas of trauma and addiction
• Outstanding interpersonal relationship building skills; ability to mentor, guide and motivate colleagues through demonstration of best practices and leading by example
• Able to prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously and produce expected results.
• Highly developed skills using personal computer tools including word processing, spreadsheets and presentation applications.
• Demonstrated critical thinking, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently and to make decisions based on established policies and procedures.
• Excellent oral and written English communication skills. Bi-lingual and/or bi-cultural candidates preferred Intermediate Microsoft Office suite experience (i.e. MS Word, Excel, Access, Outlook)
• Experience using an electronic health record preferred

Equal Opportunity Employer/Disabled/Veterans