ATU Nurse Leader - Night shift

FLSA Status: EXEMPT – This position is classified as Exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act and is not eligible for overtime pay.

The ATU Nurse Leader – Night Shift is responsible for the day-to-day clinical and operational leadership of the ATU during nighttime hours. This role oversees nursing staff, mental health technicians, and therapeutic programming to ensure safe, high-quality, patient-centered care in a structured treatment environment. The Nurse Leader promotes a culture of safety, accountability, collaboration, and therapeutic engagement while supporting staff performance, patient flow, regulatory compliance, and interdisciplinary coordination.

• Provide night-shift leadership and operational oversight for the inpatient mental health unit, ensuring effective coordination of patient care, staffing, and daily therapeutic programming.
• Supervise, support, and hold accountable registered nurses, licensed practical nurses if applicable, and mental health technicians assigned to the night shift.
• Coordinate and monitor daily programming to ensure groups, therapeutic activities, milieu management, and patient engagement interventions are carried out as planned.
• Partner with interdisciplinary team members, including providers, therapists, case managers, and other support staff, to support individualized treatment plans and continuity of care.
• Ensure safe staffing, appropriate assignment distribution, and real-time response to changes in census, acuity, admissions, discharges, and patient behavioral needs.
• Provide clinical guidance and leadership in psychiatric and behavioral health interventions, including crisis response, de-escalation, observation practices, and therapeutic communication.
• Oversee medication administration practices, nursing documentation, patient assessments, care planning, and handoff communication for compliance, timeliness, and quality.
• Monitor unit operations to promote a safe, therapeutic, trauma-informed environment for patients, staff, and visitors.
• Coach staff on performance expectations, workflow efficiency, patient engagement, professionalism, and adherence to policies, procedures, and standards of care.
• Participate in hiring, onboarding, orientation, training, competency validation, and ongoing development of nursing staff and mental health technicians.
• Address staff concerns, patient care issues, and operational barriers promptly and escalation issues as needed to nursing or administrative leadership.
• Support performance improvement initiatives, patient safety efforts, restraint and seclusion reduction strategies, and quality outcome monitoring.
• Review incidents, patient concerns, and staff-reported events; assist with follow-up, documentation, corrective action, and process improvement planning.
• Ensure compliance with applicable regulatory, accreditation, and organizational standards related to behavioral health care, staffing, documentation, and patient treatment programming.
• Lead or support shift huddles, safety rounds, interdisciplinary communication, and daily coordination meetings to align care priorities and operational needs.
• Serve as a role model for therapeutic leadership, customer service, professionalism, accountability, and respectful team collaboration.
• Handle with Care Instructor which helps train all staff and perform ongoing drills.
• Orientates new staff and performs ongoing competency assessments and training.
• Ensures all regulatory testing are complete to include QC and safety checks.
• Maintains and orders stock medications.
• Ensure that the AED is checked and safety bag is stocked.
• Takes after hour calls in the ATU and coordinates coverage as needed.
• Coordinate with AOC as needed for after hour crisis support.
• Performs chart audits to ensure ongoing compliance with regulatory regulations.

• Current, active Registered Nurse (RN) license in the applicable state.
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) preferred.
• Minimum of 3–5 years of nursing experience, with behavioral health, psychiatric, or inpatient mental health experience strongly preferred.
• Prior leadership, charge nurse, supervisor, or management…