VP, Programs (Behavioral Health)

Covenant House International • New York, NY

15h • Remote

About The Position

The Vice President, Program (Behavioral Health) leads the strategic development, implementation, and oversight of behavioral health programs and services for young people across the Covenant House federation. The role focuses on expanding access to behavioral health services and supports, improving quality of care and outcomes, and helping interrupt the trajectory from youth homelessness to chronic adult homelessness. It is a newly created position reporting to the Senior Vice President, Program.

The VP collaborates with Covenant House site leaders, behavioral health teams, and community partners to develop and implement approaches that identify behavioral health needs early and connect youth with a range of clinical interventions and community-based treatment. The work is guided by Covenant House’s Journey Home roadmap and organizational values, and uses a collaborative, strengths-based, culturally sensitive, trauma-informed approach that prioritizes youth voice and choice.

The role supports behavioral health service expansion, program development, technical assistance, training, fundraising, data collection, outcome measurement, and quality improvement across sites. The position is fully remote outside of business travel, with potential travel of up to 20% within the U.S., Canada, and Latin America, as well as an annual trip to New York City in early October.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in a clinical field.
• 10–15 years of program leadership experience in behavioral health, preferably in youth homeless services.
• Experience providing technical assistance and system-level leadership to affiliated or external behavioral health programs and providers, including supporting program development, adoption, and implementation across sites or partners.
• Experience developing and managing system-level partnerships.
• Expertise in trauma and brief solution-focused therapies.
• Expertise in supporting LGBTQ+ youth, preferably in the youth homeless services sector.
• Entrepreneurial spirit, adaptability, and flexibility to succeed in a new role and area of work.
• Collaborative leadership and a customer service orientation.
• Exceptional project management, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
• Highly developed verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to interact with diverse people.
• Strong technical skills, including experience with MS365 and SharePoint.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with a curious and collaborative mindset.
• Experience working in a multicultural environment and with people from a variety of backgrounds.
• Demonstrated dedication to continuous learning and growth.
• Ability to travel up to 20% as needed within the U.S., Canada, and Latin America, and once per year to New York City in early October.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in the homeless services sector, nonprofit, and/or social services.
• Spanish fluency, written and oral.
• Familiarity with Smartsheet.

Responsibilities

• Support sites without on-site behavioral health services in adding services through staff positions or community partnerships.
• Support the expansion of psychiatry and substance use counseling services across the federation.
• Explore partnerships with online therapy providers, community-based providers, and providers specializing in sub-populations served by Covenant House.
• Lead Covenant House International’s Youth Support and Response Plan project and support sites in implementing its risk assessment and safety planning protocol and related resources.
• Identify and support site implementation of evidence-based group treatment curricula.
• Develop and launch a pilot to train site clinicians in brief solution-focused therapy modalities.
• Develop resources and best-practice guidance for staff supporting specific youth sub-populations.
• Identify validated behavioral health screening tools for integration into intake and risk assessment protocols.
• Develop and lead a learning community of behavioral health leads from across the federation.
• Engage Covenant House youth to gather input on behavioral health programs, services, and supports.
• Train sites to use the risk assessment and safety planning protocol and related resources.
• Train sites in screening protocols for mental health, depression, suicide risk, and substance use.
• Develop training for frontline staff on supporting youth with common behavioral health challenges.
• Become a certified Youth Mental Health First Aid trainer and manage the federation’s YMHFA program.
• Collaborate on behavioral health grant proposals and reports, manage grant deliverables, and participate in fundraising events.
• Collaborate on a standardized data collection and outcome measurement plan for behavioral health services across the federation.
• Support development of behavioral health data reports for grant deliverables and site quality improvement.
• Meet quarterly with site behavioral health leads to review outcomes, share best practices and learning, and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Chief Program Officer or SVP, Program.

What This Job Offers

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