Director of Behavioral Health Services

Boston Senior Home Care•Boston, MA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Boston Senior Home Care (BSHC), a Massachusetts nonprofit serving more than 3,000 older adults across 19 supportive housing sites in Greater Boston, is hiring a newly created, full-time clinical leadership position. The Director of Behavioral Health Services owns BSHC’s supportive housing clinical model, including resident assessment tools and clinical routing rules, and serves as the final clinical routing authority for complex or ambiguous presentations. The Director also owns fidelity to Problem Management Plus (PM+), an evidence-based short-term intervention for residents experiencing mild-to-moderate distress, as part of a broader behavioral health continuum. The Director is the licensed LICSW field instructor for all MSW/BSW student interns and provides clinical consultation and training to Tenant Resource Counselors (TRCs) and site staff. The Director directly supervises the PM+ Program Coordinator (0.5 FTE), while day-to-day TRC supervision—including hiring, scheduling, line supervision, and performance evaluation—remains with the Supportive Housing Program Manager. The position reports to the Senior Director of Supportive Housing and works closely with the Program Manager, TRCs, nursing, and property management partners. The role requires regular travel among BSHC supportive housing sites across Boston neighborhoods and time at BSHC’s central office. A hybrid schedule may be available consistent with program needs, and reliable transportation is required. All new employees must clear a CORI before taking on the role.

Requirements

Active Massachusetts licensure as an Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW).
Master’s degree in Social Work (MSW) or a related clinical behavioral health field.
At least 2–3 years of post-licensure clinical experience, including direct practice with older adults and/or low-income, culturally diverse populations.
Demonstrated experience providing clinical supervision to trainees or supervisees, such as MSW/BSW interns.
Meets university requirements to serve as an MSW field instructor: an MSW from a CSWE-accredited program and at least two years of post-master’s practice experience.
Sound clinical judgment for triage, risk assessment, and routing across complex presentations, including possible serious mental illness, substance use, and cognitive impairment.
Strong program management skills, including experience coordinating multidisciplinary teams and multi-site service delivery.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing reports for organizational leadership or external stakeholders.
Reliable transportation for regular travel among supportive housing sites and the central office.

Nice To Haves

Experience with comprehensive geriatric assessment tools, such as ADL/IADL assessment, frailty and fall-risk screening, cognitive screening, and pain assessment.
Experience with structured early-detection or interdisciplinary routing models in healthcare, housing, or aging-services settings.
Experience in supportive or affordable housing, aging services, or community mental health settings.
Familiarity with outcomes measurement frameworks.
Bilingual or multilingual proficiency, such as Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian, or Spanish.
Experience partnering with academic institutions on field placement or internship programs.
WHO Problem Management Plus (PM+) certification, or experience with evidence-based short-term psychological interventions for older adults; PM+ certification can be completed after hire if not already held.

Responsibilities

Own BSHC’s supportive housing clinical model, resident assessment tools—including the Annual Older Needs Assessment and MAGIC early-detection framework—and clinical routing rules.
Maintain, revise, and oversee use of assessment tools; train TRCs and interns in their use and incorporate pilot and outcome data into revisions.
Ensure assessment findings become individualized, actionable service plans and appropriate internal or external referrals.
Provide senior clinical oversight, risk assessment, and case consultation for residents with complex or overlapping needs, including possible serious mental illness, substance use, and cognitive impairment.
Serve as the final clinical routing authority for ambiguous, dual, or domain-unclear presentations and determine the appropriate response from nursing, occupational therapy, social work/case management, or peer support.
Build and maintain relationships with nursing, occupational therapy, case management, peer support, and community partners to connect residents with appropriate care.
Establish and maintain a communication pathway through TRCs to clinical responders for concerns observed by maintenance staff and property managers.
Own fidelity and quality for behavioral health clinical pathways, including PM+; maintain WHO PM+ certification, adhere to the five-session protocol, lead quarterly fidelity reviews with the PM+ Master Trainer, and oversee pre/post outcome measurement.
Serve as LICSW field instructor for all MSW/BSW student interns; recruit, onboard, and provide ongoing clinical supervision in direct clinical intervention skills and structured observation/routing protocols.
Directly supervise the PM+ Program Coordinator (0.5 FTE) and coordinate clinical operations, caseloads, and scheduling across sites.
Provide clinical consultation, group case review, and training for TRCs and supportive housing staff in resident identification, warm handoffs, and structured behavioral health observation.
Maintain field placement partnerships with area universities and develop training materials and a training-of-trainers approach to build internal capacity.
Partner with the Supportive Housing Program Manager, TRCs, case managers, and site staff to strengthen proactive, multi-pathway identification of residents who may benefit from clinical support.
Ensure services are culturally and linguistically responsive to BSHC’s diverse resident population, including Cantonese-, Mandarin-, and Russian-speaking residents and residents with limited English proficiency.
Support residents in planning for their preferences as they age, including housing stability, aging in place, and connection to appropriate levels of care.
Oversee validated assessment and screening tools to establish baselines and track outcomes across health, functional, and social-emotional domains.
Monitor program data on housing stability, service utilization, and resident well-being to inform continuous quality improvement.
Prepare outcome and fidelity reports for BSHC leadership and applicable funders in coordination with the Senior Director of Supportive Housing.
Lead periodic consumer satisfaction surveys and resident feedback processes.
Contribute to long-term sustainability planning for behavioral health services and represent the program in provider, funder, and peer-learning forums.