Associate Director of Mental Health Access & Operations

Brightpoint invites you to join our team of mission-driven staff who share a common vision: an equitable world where all children and families thrive in strong communities. As a leader in the human services sector for 140 years, we aim to advance the well-being of children by investing in families and strengthening communities through data-informed, collaborative, and preventative solutions. The Associate Director of Mental Health Access & Operations provides statewide leadership for Brightpoint's Mental Health & Wellness (MHW) access, outreach, administrative operations, and strategic initiatives across Illinois.

Responsible for creating a high-quality participant and partner experience while building efficient, scalable systems that strengthen access, program delivery, and sustainability. Provides leadership over access, intake, outreach, administrative, and operational functions; develops standardized workflows; leads complex cross-functional projects; monitors performance through data and dashboards; and partners across clinical, finance, compliance, information systems, and other organizational functions. The Associate Director also helps cultivate and strengthen external partnerships—particularly with schools and school districts—to expand pathways to mental health services and respond to community needs.

As a member of the MHW leadership team, this position serves as a strategic and implementation partner to the Vice President of Mental Health & Wellness and may provide leadership or oversight for additional programs, functions, and strategic initiatives as organizational priorities evolve.
Core Responsibilities and

Essential Job Functions:

Access and Administrative Operations
• Designs, implements, and oversees standardized statewide access workflows for all Mental Health & Wellness programs.

• Ensures timely, consistent, customer-centered processes from referral through service initiation.
• Oversees statewide access operations to reduce barriers to care, eliminate bottlenecks, and improve participant experience.
• Provides leadership over intake, administrative, and operational support staff and functions as assigned.
• Establishes operational standards, service expectations, documentation requirements, and performance measures that promote consistent, high-quality participant access.
• Develops and maintains standardized administrative procedures, workflows, and tools that improve operational consistency across Illinois.
• Identifies opportunities to centralize administrative functions and improve efficiency across Mental Health & Wellness programs.
• Partners with clinical leadership to align participant access with program capacity, staffing, and service models.
• Partners with revenue cycle, billing, and eligibility teams to support Medicaid readiness, authorizations, and timely billable service initiation.

• Champions a customer-service culture that prioritizes timely, compassionate, and responsive interactions with participants, families, referral partners, and community stakeholders.
• Develops service standards and quality measures that promote an exceptional participant experience.
• Uses participant feedback, operational data, and performance metrics to identify opportunities to improve access and customer satisfaction.
• Builds and maintains strong relationships with referral partners including schools, healthcare providers, child welfare agencies, and community organizations.

• Leads high-priority division initiatives on behalf of MHW leadership, bringing structure, coordination, accountability, and follow-through to complex work involving multiple programs or departments.
• Translates strategic priorities into actionable workplans, identifies dependencies and barriers, and drives initiatives toward timely completion.
• Leads statewide operational initiatives from planning through implementation, coordinating work across multiple departments and stakeholders.
• Develops project plans, timelines, milestones, and performance measures for operational improvement initiatives.
• Facilitates implementation of new workflows, technology, and organizational changes while…