Director of Behavioral Health Nursing

East Bay Community Action Program•Barrington, RI

20h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Behavioral Health Director of Nursing is a senior clinical leader responsible for guiding nursing services and supporting clinical operations across EBCAP's behavioral health programs. Reporting to the Associate Medical Director/Vice President of Behavioral Health, this position provides strategic leadership for nursing practice, clinical quality, compliance, medication management, infection control, and operational excellence across multiple sites. The role plays a critical part in advancing integrated behavioral and physical healthcare while fostering a culture of safety, equity, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Requirements

Active Registered Nurse (RN) license in Rhode Island, in good standing.
Minimum of five years of nursing experience in community health, primary care, or behavioral health settings.
At least two years of leadership or supervisory experience.
Associate degree in Nursing required.
Experience with clinical quality initiatives, risk management, and regulatory compliance.
Working knowledge of electronic health records; NextGen experience is strongly preferred.
Valid driver's license and reliable transportation with the ability to travel between sites as needed.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, or a related field, or equivalent senior nursing leadership experience.
Experience working in a CCBHC, FQHC, or similarly regulated healthcare environment.
Bilingual English/Spanish or English/Portuguese skills are a plus.

Responsibilities

Provide vision, leadership, and operational direction for nursing and medical assistant services across outpatient behavioral health, substance use treatment, crisis services, care coordination, and Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) programs.
Lead and support CCBHC implementation, certification, recertification, and ongoing readiness efforts.
Design and improve nursing workflows that strengthen integrated care delivery and patient outcomes.
Coach, mentor, supervise, and develop nursing staff while promoting accountability and excellence.
Partner with medical, behavioral health, quality, and operations leaders to ensure seamless service delivery and appropriate staffing coverage.
Serve as the organizational lead for implementation and ongoing oversight of the CCBHC Primary Care Screening and Monitoring program, building and sustaining program infrastructure, workflows, staffing, and performance measures to support integrated care delivery.
Act as the primary liaison between Behavioral Health and Primary Care teams, strengthening collaboration, care coordination, and integration efforts across service lines.
Ensure successful execution of all SAMHSA grant deliverables and reporting requirements, if awarded, including program implementation, performance monitoring, compliance, and continuous improvement initiatives.
Champion regulatory compliance and accreditation readiness across behavioral health programs.
Partner with risk management to proactively identify, assess, and reduce clinical risks.
Lead investigations involving incidents, patient concerns, and quality issues while implementing corrective actions.
Oversee medication management processes, infection control practices, and clinical policy development.
Ensure policies, protocols, and standing orders remain current, evidence-based, and aligned with regulatory expectations.
Direct nursing services that support primary care screenings, medication-assisted treatment (MAT), crisis services, and integrated healthcare initiatives.
Develop protocols and workflows that improve care coordination, patient education, treatment adherence, and health monitoring.
Ensure safe and consistent implementation of medication clinics, Clozaril services, laboratory processes, infection control procedures, and nursing workflows.
Collaborate with quality and billing teams to enhance documentation accuracy and timely reporting within the electronic health record system.
Monitor patient communication pathways and nursing task management systems to support exceptional service and responsiveness.
Build a culture of learning, engagement, and professional growth for nursing staff and medical assistants.
Support onboarding, competency development, continuing education, and regulatory training requirements.
Ensure teams are equipped with the skills needed for suicide prevention, de-escalation, trauma-informed care, emergency response, and evolving clinical practices.
Partner with People Operations to strengthen employee engagement, retention, and recognition efforts.
Work closely with organizational leadership to align nursing operations with strategic goals and community health priorities.
Foster relationships with community partners, healthcare agencies, payers, and regulatory organizations.
Represent nursing leadership in internal committees, leadership meetings, board-related initiatives, and external collaborative efforts.