Director Clinical Services

Lakeland Behavioral Health System•Springfield, MO

About The Position

Lakeland Behavioral Health Hospital is a 106-bed psychiatric facility serving children, adolescents, adults, and seniors through inpatient, residential treatment, and outpatient services. The Director of Clinical Services provides leadership and clinical oversight to promote clinical excellence and patient-centered care. The role designs, implements, and sustains evidence-based treatment programs, such as CBT and DBT, to improve measurable outcomes, maintain regulatory compliance, and support recovery across the continuum of care. The Director leads clinical teams and operations, develops staff competencies, and ensures fidelity to evidence-based models. Working with interdisciplinary teams, facility leaders, community organizations, healthcare providers, and referral sources, the Director helps ensure consistent, high-quality clinical services aligned with the hospital’s mission and goals. The role also supports quality improvement, safe care, effective transitions to outpatient services, and strong relationships with the local community.

Requirements

License-bearing master’s or doctoral degree in behavioral or mental health, such as an MSW, master’s degree in marriage and family therapy or professional counseling, PhD in clinical, counseling, or educational psychology, or PsyD.
At least 4 years of experience working with the facility’s clinical population.
At least 2 years of supervisory experience.
Independently licensed clinician, such as LCSW, LPC, LMFT, or licensed psychologist.
Familiarity with regulatory standards, such as Joint Commission, CMS, and CARF, and experience ensuring compliance.
Strong leadership, collaboration, and communication skills with audiences ranging from frontline clinical staff to facility leadership.

Nice To Haves

Master of Social Work (MSW/LCSW) is strongly preferred.
Experience in an inpatient psychiatric or behavioral health hospital.
Experience in a specialty provided at the facility, such as substance use or eating disorders.

Responsibilities

Provide strategic direction to clinical teams, including therapists, social workers, and other staff.
Oversee day-to-day clinical operations, including budget management, marketing and strategic plans, and independent clinical decision-making.
Promote accountability, continuous improvement, patient-centered care, operational efficiency, and collaboration between departments.
Serve on the facility leadership team and make clinical decisions that support quality care and organizational goals.
Provide direction, clinical consultation, case-planning oversight, and care-coordination oversight to staff.
Direct crisis intervention efforts and intervene as required.
Supervise, mentor, and support clinical staff, promoting professional growth and competency.
Provide clinical supervision as needed and ensure staff training and consistent implementation of evidence-based assessments, measurement-based care, and interventions.
Monitor fidelity of clinical programming and groups, and provide training when practice drifts from evidence-based models.
Manage staff hiring, development, training, and performance management.
Review caseloads regularly to optimize service utilization and ensure staff certifications and regulatory requirements are current.
Develop and implement evidence-based clinical programs, including models such as CBT and DBT, and integrate evidence-based practices into treatment plans.
Evaluate clinical performance measures, including service-delivery models, patient-reported outcomes, satisfaction scores, length of stay, treatment completion, and discharge effectiveness.
Conduct clinical audits to assess documentation quality, fidelity to care models, and appropriateness of levels of care.
Promote consistent best practices in suicide-risk assessment, safety planning, and risk mitigation.
Support continuity of care and develop step-down processes with outpatient facilities.
Provide clinical oversight of other programs and levels of care as needed.
Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulations and accrediting-body requirements, including Joint Commission, CMS, CARF, and state licensing standards.
Monitor clinical performance and implement corrective actions as needed.
Oversee clinical documentation and reporting to maintain accurate patient records.
Ensure safety and infection-control requirements are met.
Coordinate with facility leadership to align clinical services with facility initiatives, organizational values, and goals.
Act as a liaison between clinical staff, administration, and external partners, and engage community organizations and healthcare providers to improve patient access.
Maintain a limited caseload when necessary and provide onsite coverage for other programs.
Develop operating policies aligned with regulatory requirements and standards of care.
Prioritize patient safety and work to resolve complaints when patient needs are not met.
Participate in the facility-required on-call rotation.
Support business development, participate in community and educational events, and collaborate with referral sources to build and maintain relationships.
Communicate effectively with patients, families, guests, and healthcare-team members; maintain confidentiality and constructive working relationships.
Maintain regular and predictable attendance and perform other assigned duties.