Associate Director – BEST Neighborhoods
Position: Associate Director
Salary Range: $108,160 and onward
Status: Full-time
About the Company: Richmond Area Multi-Services (RAMS) is a private, non-profit mental health agency that is committed to advocating for and providing community based, consumer-guided services. RAMS offers behavioral health, social, vocational, and educational services that aim to meet the needs of the diverse communities in the City. Our agency is recognized by the local and national social service community as having expertise in providing culturally competent mental health services to the underserved, with expertise in working with the Asian & Pacific Islander and Russian-speaking populations.
Program Overview: BEST Neighborhoods is a collaboration between RAMS, the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Behavioral Health Services (DPH-BHS), and other community partners that provides street-based behavioral health care throughout the city, one neighborhood at a time. With carefully created care plans, strong multi-disciplinary teams, street-based medical and psychiatric resources, and the support of other agencies and City departments, we seek to quickly improve the health and quality of life of people experiencing homelessness and living with chronic mental health conditions.
The program’s origins and strong impact so far have been covered by the San Francisco Chronicle’s ‘Fixing Our City’ podcast series. You can read and listen more about it here, from April 25, 2023: https://www.sfchronicle.com/podcasts/article/erica-mcgary-radical-hospitality-17908844.php
Job Summary: The Associate Director’s role in BEST Neighborhoods is a critical leadership role in this innovative program, overseeing an integrated clinical and peer team while working in tandem with DPH-BHS program leadership. This position provides a hands-on approach in program operations related to program structure, clinical consultation, and daily workflow of behavioral health counselors and peer counselors assigned to these services. The Associate Director will contribute to a healthy team dynamic across program partners and within the RAMS teams, assisting clinical supervisors and peer supervisors in their support of staff members and client care coordination.
The Associate Director may represent RAMS at multi-agency meetings related to BEST Neighborhoods and will collaborate with DPH-BHS and RAMS leadership to build in successful strategies and frameworks to ensure the goals of the programs are met at the highest quality and level reflective of RAMS standards. This position requires a good understanding of communities experiencing homelessness with behavioral health and substance use challenges, and approaches care through the lens of the harm reduction model. It also requires experience supervising masters-level behavioral health clinicians and familiarity with the peer counselor role on a multi-disciplinary behavioral health team.
Primary Responsibilities Include:
- Under the direction of & in coordination with the Division Director, provide leadership, management, and oversight of clinical and peer-based services at a multi-disciplinary, multicultural and multilingual community behavioral health services program
- Together with the Division Director, provide leadership in the Division’s strategic planning, implementation, and enhancement of programs/services, while ensuring strong service outcomes and meeting all performance & contracted objectives.
- As part of the BEST Neighborhoods team, provide direct role modeling, training and supervisory support (group and individual) for clinical supervisors, peer supervisors, behavioral health counselors, and peer counselors, utilizing trauma-informed, culturally aligned, and person-centered approaches to supervision, management, and client care.
- Support team members in providing high quality care & resource linkage for clients and on-the-job training and support for staff, including accompanying the team in the field for client outreach and care when appropriate.
- Work collaboratively with DPH-BHS and RAMS BEST Neighborhoods leadership teams as well as a multi-disciplinary team of other healthcare professionals and City & County of San Francisco agency representatives to help guide consistent and focused outreach, engagement, system of care navigation, and resource referral and linkage to identified clients, as referred by the DPH-BHS Office of Coordinated Care
- Work collaboratively with BEST neighborhoods community partners, with emphasis on strengthening working relationships, communication and work flow among team members; engage in team building and morale building efforts as applicable
- Coordinate with DPH & RAMS leadership teams, operational teams, clinical staff, and peer counseling staff to facilitate staff needs with supplies, timesheet preparation support, schedule, and coverage calendar oversight
- Demonstrate competency in utilizing community resources (e.g. hospitals, primary care clinics, shelters, pharmacies, and substance use treatment programs) to provide effective linkage and follow up care as guided by the care plan and as assigned.
- Familiarity with—and ability to model—safety training and situational awareness protocols while working in the community, with competency in harm reduction principles, crisis-de-escalation techniques, and other relevant evidence-based practices and interventions
- Must have excellent oral and written communication skills; ability to use multiple means of communication (virtual, email, in-person) with an emphasis on strengths-based communication style with clear and compassionate boundaries and language
- Represent RAMS and BEST Neighborhoods teams professionally in assigned community outreach and engagement activities, media relations and interviews; represent RAMS at various stakeholder meetings to provide feedback about best practices and updates about the BEST Neighborhoods program
- Lead and effectively facilitate team meetings
- Identify and implement ongoing training for clinical and peer teams
- Document accurate information in a timely manner while working in partnership with RAMS quality management team/data analyst to ensure reliable reporting of data for DPH BEST Neighborhoods dashboard, contract objectives, and program presentations
- Monitor the quality and timeliness of staff’s administrative and service delivery documentation and records, in accordance to standards as specified by regulatory entities including SFDPH and RAMS. Additionally, maintain and submit accurate program reports including service utilization and other statistical data as per established deadlines and procedures, and be able to utilize electronic health records (e.g. Epic, Avatar, ONE System) to support client care coordination
- Support the overall coordination of the BEST Neighborhoods teams, including the outreach and facilitation of programming and the provision of culturally responsive and strengths-based services to clients
- Participate and support the planning, implementation, and evaluation of program services
- Develop and maintain clear, open, timely, cooperative, and diplomatic communications and working relations with all staff, consumers, and partner agencies
- Participate in supervision meetings, case conferences, staff meetings, in-service training and other staff development activities
- Work collaboratively with the team on de-briefing procedures and team self-care protocols.
- Must be able to maintain regular attendance to assigned shifts—job will require primarily in-person work
- Perform other duties as assigned
Required Qualifications:
- Master’s Degree and more than two years as a licensed behavioral health counselor (LCSW, MFT, Psy.D)
- At least two years of experience supervising masters-level behavioral health counselors
- Three or more years management &/or program administration experience, specifically in a community social service, vocational rehabilitation, &/or behavioral healthcare services setting/sector
- At least five years demonstrated experience, knowledge, and proficiency in peer employment and/or vocational services, and culturally competent behavioral health services provision, especially that which is reflective of the populations served by RAMS
- Extensive clinical experience in working with adults and older adults with mental illness, homelessness and substance use disorders preferably in community-based settings
- Combination of education and clinical experience related to substance abuse/dependency treatment issues and working knowledge of mental health and substance abuse counseling, assessment and crisis intervention skills.
- Demonstrated experience in management of a health/human services program to include comprehensive program planning & design, business planning & development, multi-program coordination & operations, utilization review, quality improvement, and supervision of professional staff/volunteers/trainees
- Demonstrated experience in budget preparation, expenditure authorization, data management, utilization review, privacy/confidentiality (HIPAA) practices standard, and billing/invoicing, as well as facility/office operations/management
- Demonstrated experience in a leadership role with program reviews, audits, and re-certifications
- Strong working knowledge & understanding of health disparities and the strengths & needs of diverse & underserved communities, and adult learning best practices as well as employment development and consultation models
Other Preferred Qualifications:
- Demonstrated knowledge of concepts & modalities of organizational development & strategic planning
- Familiarity with community behavioral health and human services systems of care in San Francisco, including the philosophy of care, levels of care for peer, clinical, and social services, and the delivery of such services, highly preferred
- Familiarity with the San Francisco community resources/services (may include health, mental health, substance abuse, vocational, housing, etc.), highly preferred
- Passion and strong commitment to the philosophy, goals, & mission of RAMS in providing community-based, culturally competent, consumer-driven behavioral health & peer-based services
- Commitment to engaging in professional development activities such as trainings, continuing education seminars, case conferences, and reviewing up-to-date material, etc., as related to evidenced-based peer-based strategies and best practices for the population served by the Division
- Strong interpersonal and communication (written & verbal) skills and ability to work effectively and interact professionally with a diverse, multi-cultural, and interdisciplinary staff of all levels, as well as with personnel from funding/oversight agencies, social service agencies, and the community-at-large
- Exceptional organizational skills with reliability and consistency in work performance, ability to work independently and exercise sound administrative & clinical judgment, flexibility to adapt/integrate the requirements of the job and the program in compliance with agency policies & standards
- Strong computer skills and knowledge/experience working with various computer programs including MS Office Suite (e.g. Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint)
- Ability to provide services in threshold language (Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Russian, Tagalog, Arabic) highly preferred but not required
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: From $108,160.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Schedule:
- 8 hour shift
- Monday to Friday
Education:
Experience:
- supervising masters-level behavioral health counselors: 2 years (Required)
License/Certification:
- licensed behavioral health counselor (LCSW, MFT, Psy.D) (Required)
Work Location: In person
