Chief Operating Officer | Massachusetts & Illinois
About The Position
Forrest Behavioral Health is a growing behavioral health treatment organization serving individuals with substance use disorders, mental health conditions, and co-occurring diagnoses. The organization operates with a strong focus on delivering high-quality treatment while building environments where both patients and employees feel supported. As the organization continues to grow across multiple states and locations, leadership is focused on strengthening an operating model that is already working well, identifying opportunities for improvement, and ensuring consistent execution across facilities. We are seeking a hands-on Chief Operating Officer to help lead the operational performance and continued growth of Forrest Behavioral Health across Massachusetts and Illinois, with potential involvement in Rhode Island. This is not a role focused on rebuilding an underperforming organization. The facilities are established and generally operate near target capacity. The opportunity is to understand an existing operating model, identify weaknesses and inefficiencies, strengthen execution, and help leadership scale that model successfully as the organization grows. The COO will partner closely with ownership and facility Directors while maintaining the independence and accountability necessary to move initiatives forward. Approximately one week of travel per month is expected, depending on operational needs.
Requirements
- Direct professional experience within substance use disorder and/or mental health treatment operations
- Leadership experience within behavioral healthcare, such as COO, VP of Operations, Regional Director, Executive Director, Director of Operations, or a comparable multi-site or senior operational role
- Working knowledge of behavioral health treatment operations and levels of care such as PHP, IOP, OP, residential, detox, or similar programs
- Experience supporting or overseeing operational areas such as staffing, admissions, utilization review, insurance authorization, census management, patient retention, clinical operations, licensing, accreditation, or regulatory compliance
- Demonstrated ability to identify operational problems, develop practical solutions, and drive those solutions through implementation
- Experience holding facility or department leaders accountable for expectations, deliverables, and deadlines
- Ability and willingness to travel approximately one week per month, with flexibility to travel more or less depending on operational needs
- Ability to maintain a home base in Massachusetts or Illinois
- Strong communication, leadership, problem-solving, and organizational skills
Nice To Haves
- Multi-site behavioral health leadership experience
- Experience supporting facility launches, expansion initiatives, new programs, or licensing and accreditation processes
- Experience recruiting and developing behavioral health leadership teams
- Familiarity with both substance use disorder and mental health treatment operations
- Experience operating across multiple states or regulatory environments
Responsibilities
- Oversee operations and performance across multiple behavioral health treatment locations
- Partner with facility Directors to identify operational shortcomings, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement
- Hold facility leadership accountable to organizational expectations, deliverables, performance standards, and deadlines
- Support state licensing, accreditation, regulatory compliance, and facility readiness initiatives
- Help implement new programs, operational systems, processes, and locations
- Support recruiting and hiring for key leadership positions and frontline roles when necessary
- Monitor operational performance and help leadership strengthen facility-level execution
- Serve as an operational resource to ownership while independently carrying initiatives through completion
- Work across admissions, clinical operations, staffing, utilization review, census, retention, and other functions that influence facility performance
- Travel between Massachusetts and Illinois facilities as operational needs require, with potential involvement in Rhode Island
- Help establish measurable performance goals and a bonus structure tied to facility and organizational success
Benefits
- Salary: Up to $150,000 annually, commensurate with directly relevant experience
- Performance-based bonus structure
- Employer contribution of 60% toward health insurance
- Performance-based incentive opportunity
- Significant opportunity to influence operational strategy and organizational growth
- Direct partnership with ownership and facility leadership
- Opportunity to help strengthen and scale an established behavioral health operating model
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
