Behavioral Health Programs Manager

CARDEA HEALTH • Oakland, CA

6d • $90,000 - $11,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Cardea Health is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing compassionate health care to marginalized populations. Our mission is to create and support programs that protect the health and autonomy of vulnerable individuals and promote equity and social justice to improve the well-being of our entire community. Compassionate care for vulnerable populations. Cardea is dedicated to creating a workplace that celebrates diversity and actively seeks to include underrepresented communities. We believe that diversity drives innovation and fosters a more dynamic, inclusive, and productive work environment. We value unique perspectives, experiences, and talents, and we are committed to providing equitable opportunities for growth and advancement. Join us in building a team that reflects the rich diversity of our society and let's make a positive impact together. Our Cardea CARE(S) Values include: Compassion: Big heart, steady presence Accountability: We own it: the work, the follow-through, the impact. Respect: We assume good intent and keep it real Engagement: We lean in and figure it out together. Support: We’ve got each other across roles, teams, and sites. These values guide how we care for residents, collaborate with colleagues, and represent Cardea Health in the community. This position supports multiple Cardea Health Interim Housing Programs and requires regular travel between assigned locations. Cardea's interim housing programs provide temporary housing, stabilization services, clinical support, care coordination, case management, and connections to permanent housing opportunities for individuals experiencing homelessness. Employees in these roles should expect frequent collaboration with residents, healthcare providers, social service agencies, community partners, and multidisciplinary teams.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in behavioral health, homelessness services, supportive housing, community-based social services, crisis response, or a related human services setting.
• 2+ years of experience supervising staff, teams, programs, or cross-functional initiatives.
• Experience supporting individuals with serious mental illness, substance use disorders, co-occurring disorders, or complex behavioral health needs.
• Experience developing, implementing, or improving program processes, workflows, and service delivery models.
• Demonstrated ability to build collaborative relationships across multidisciplinary teams, including housing, clinical, and social service staff.
• Strong written communication, documentation, and data analysis skills.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor's degree in Social Work, Psychology, Behavioral Health, Public Health, Human Services, or a related field.
• LCSW, LMSW, LMHC, MHC, CASAC, or other relevant behavioral health credential.
• Experience overseeing multiple programs, grants, contracts, or service lines.
• Experience developing behavioral health programming, crisis response protocols, workforce development initiatives, or staff training programs.
• Experience working within supportive housing, medical respite, homelessness services, health homes, FQHCs, managed care organizations, or community mental health settings.
• Experience using trauma-informed, harm reduction, housing-first, and person-centered approaches.
• Experience managing program outcomes, KPIs, compliance requirements, and reporting obligations.
• Experience leading organizational change or building new programs/functions from the ground up.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain clear roles, workflows, documentation standards, service expectations, and performance measures for behavioral health programming across Cardea Health sites.
• Supervise Behavioral Health CHWs who support residents and clients with behavioral health needs, including serious mental illness (SMI), substance use disorder (SUD), co-occurring conditions, behavioral-health crises, and barriers to treatment engagement.
• Ensure Behavioral Health CHWs provide timely, person-centered linkage to behavioral-health assessment, psychiatric care, therapy, SUD treatment, medication support, harm-reduction resources, crisis services, benefits, and other community-based supports.
• Support CHWs in partnering with housing staff, program management, clinical teams, and external providers to develop practical strategies for engaging residents with SMI, SUD, trauma histories, or other complex behavioral health needs.
• Manage the Substance Use Navigator (SUN)/SAMHSA program, including supervision of the SUN Manager and oversight of the Substance Use Navigator team.
• Ensure the SUN/SAMHSA team provides consistent, low-barrier access to SUD treatment navigation, overdose-prevention education, naloxone access, safer-use supplies, recovery supports, medication for opioid use disorder linkage, and other harm-reduction services across sites.
• Monitor SUN/SAMHSA program implementation, grant deliverables, service data, outcomes, documentation, staffing needs, partnership development, and compliance with applicable funder and program requirements.
• Manage the development, implementation, and ongoing operation of the Behavioral Health Response Team (BHRT).
• Establish BHRT policies, response protocols, staffing structures, communication pathways, and documentation requirements for behavioral health concerns across program sites.
• Develop a behavioral-health crisis-response model for incidents that do not yet require a 5150 evaluation but may be escalating toward an acute psychiatric, substance-related, safety, or housing-stability crisis.
• Create and oversee an early-intervention process through which program staff can identify, flag, and communicate concerning changes in resident behavior, mental status, substance use, functioning, safety, or engagement before the situation becomes an emergency.
• Coordinate BHRT assessment, consultation, and follow-up for residents experiencing escalating behavioral-health concerns, including changes in mental health symptoms, increased substance use, psychiatric decompensation, conflict, isolation, repeated crisis contacts, or threats to housing stability.
• Manage Cardea Health’s role in the Alternative Response Unit (ARU) in San Leandro, a 911-alternative response program operated in collaboration with the Alameda County Fire Department.
• Provide operational and programmatic oversight for Cardea Health CHWs assigned to the ARU, including staffing, supervision, training, field-response protocols, quality assurance, documentation, and coordination with the Alameda County Fire Department and other ARU partners.
• Ensure ARU staff provide safe, effective, person-centered responses to behavioral-health, substance-use-related, social, and non-law-enforcement emergencies dispatched through the San Leandro 911 system.
• Monitor ARU program performance, response trends, community needs, referral outcomes, safety concerns, and opportunities to strengthen connections to ongoing behavioral health, housing, medical, and social-service supports.
• Coordinate the involvement of Behavioral Health CHWs, SUNs, and other relevant staff in BHRT activities, case consultation, crisis prevention, follow-up, and staff education.
• Ensure appropriate coordination with mobile crisis teams, emergency medical services, psychiatric emergency services, law enforcement alternatives, 988, 5150 evaluators, hospitals, outpatient behavioral-health providers, and other community-based crisis resources when escalation is necessary.
• Lead agency-wide education and workforce-development efforts related to behavioral health, trauma-informed care, de-escalation, crisis prevention, harm reduction, SMI, SUD, co-occurring disorders, stigma reduction, and effective engagement practices.
• Develop and deliver training, consultation, coaching, and practical tools that help staff respond safely, consistently, and compassionately to residents experiencing behavioral-health or substance-use-related challenges.
• Strengthen coordination between SUNs, CHWs, housing staff, clinical providers, and community partners to ensure residents with SUD receive timely, nonjudgmental, culturally responsive support.
• Establish a standardized agency-wide approach to behavioral contracts, including clear criteria, templates, review processes, communication standards, follow-up expectations, and documentation requirements.
• Ensure behavioral contracts are fair, equitable, trauma-informed, understandable to residents, consistently applied across sites, and focused on reducing harm, supporting engagement, and preventing avoidable program exits.
• Provide consultation and guidance to Program Managers and site teams regarding when behavioral contracts are appropriate, how expectations should be communicated, how progress should be monitored, and when additional intervention or revision is needed.
• Review behavioral-contract practices across programs to identify disparities, inconsistent application, barriers to resident understanding, ineffective interventions, or opportunities to improve fairness and outcomes.
• Provide consultation and decision-support to Program Managers when residents are being considered for an unplanned exit due to behavioral, safety, substance-use-related, or other program concerns.
• Establish and oversee a consistent review process for unplanned exits that considers risk to the resident, risk to other residents and staff, risk to program operations, severity and recurrence of behavior, prior interventions attempted, reasonable accommodations, behavioral-health needs, available alternatives, and the likelihood that the behavior will recur.
• Partner with program, housing, clinical, and behavioral-health staff to identify interventions that may safely prevent an avoidable exit, including enhanced engagement, behavioral-health consultation, crisis planning, treatment linkage, harm-reduction support, behavioral contracts, reasonable accommodations, and increased care coordination.
• Lead interdisciplinary case reviews for residents with repeated behavioral-health crises, escalating SUD or mental-health needs, repeated emergency-service utilization, serious safety concerns, chronic disengagement, or significant risk of housing instability.
• Maintain accurate, timely, and compliant records related to behavioral health services, crisis consultation, behavioral contracts, ARU activities, SUN/SAMHSA services, training, incident follow-up, referrals, and resident outcomes.
• Develop and monitor key performance indicators for behavioral-health programming, including treatment linkage, engagement, crisis-response activity, overdose-prevention services, behavioral-contract outcomes, emergency-service use, unplanned exits, staff-training completion, and housing-stability outcomes.
• Participate in organizational planning, cross-departmental collaboration, policy development, quality-improvement activities, grant implementation, and community partnership development to strengthen behavioral-health and substance-use supports across the agency.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, EAP, life insurance, long-term disability, HSA or FSA, Dependent Care FSA, voluntary benefits, paid sick leave, paid vacation time, birthday time off, and 401(k) with up to 3.5% employer match.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager