Director of Behavioral Health Services

Job Status:
Full-time | Exempt

Location:

1233 Edgewater St., Salem, OR | West Salem Clinic

Reports to:

Clinic Director
Lead the Behavioral Health Care our Community is counting on
At Northwest Human Services, you will get to build something lasting. The Director of Behavioral Health Services leadership role is an opportunity to shape the mental health and crisis systems that thousands of people across Marion and Polk counties reach for on their hardest days. You'll lead all three of our behavioral health service areas: outpatient mental health counseling, behavioral health within primary care, and our 24/7/365 crisis and 988 hotline.
Northwest Human Services is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that's been around for 55 years and we are growing and financially steady even in the face of the current complexity with Medicaid.
What Success Looks Like Here

• You'll integrate care, not silo it. Weave behavioral health into primary care so patients get help earlier, before a hard day becomes a crisis.
• You'll steady the safety net. Provide proactive and decisive leadership so our teams can meet patient needs, no matter how demanding the circumstances.
• You'll turn strategy into care. Use data and sound judgment to improve quality, close gaps, and make services stronger every quarter.
• You’ll lead with kindness and high standards. Coach your team honestly and hold them to the standard that patients deserve.

Who Thrives Here
The leaders who thrive here stay calm when situations become complex. They build trust across disciplines. They make difficult decisions with compassion. They identify and fix root causes, and use data to measure success.
The candidate we are looking for is a licensed behavioral health leader who brings strong clinical judgment, extensive and successful operational experience and discipline, and a people-centered leadership style. A successful candidate will have experience in leading outpatient mental health operations, behavioral health integration in primary care, and complex and crisis program leadership. They will also be skilled in behavioral health compliance, billing, performance improvement, and cross-functional collaboration.

This person should be comfortable leading through complexity, supporting multidisciplinary teams, using data to guide decisions, and building operational systems and workflows that improve care quality, staff experience, and community impact.
Why This Role

• You'll lead. As a financially stable FQHC, we equip our directors with resources and strong teams, so your energy goes to improving care, not scrambling to keep things afloat.
• You'll shape an established department. Our behavioral health services are strong and trusted. As their first dedicated director, you'll build on a solid foundation with latitude to decide what comes next.
• We invest and develop our leaders with purpose, through programs like our Leadership Academy, because we want the people who lead here to grow and stay.

What You’ll Lead
The Director of Behavioral Health Services will oversee three key service areas:

• Mental Health Counseling Services
• Monitor and review clinical documentation for accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with organizational and legal standards.
• Support clinicians in addressing high-risk cases, including suicide risk assessment and safety planning.
• Review and analyze critical incidents (including suicide attempts and completions), present findings, and lead discussions to drive operational improvements and prevention strategies.
• Integrated Behavioral Health within Primary Care
• Partner with clinical leadership and medical providers to integrate behavioral health services into primary care workflows and services.
• Support implementation and sustainability of evidence-based models (e.g., brief interventions, population-based care).
• Provide on-call Primary Care Behavioral Health Consultant coverage for complex cases (approx. 0.1 FTE).
• Assist clinicians with complex patient management, including risk assessment, safety planning, and coordination with internal/external resources.
• Support and reinforce crisis response protocols; ensure staff are trained and prepared for behavioral health emergencies.
• Crisis Hotline and 988 Services
• The Director will provide senior-level oversight of crisis hotline operations, including continuous 24/7/365 coverage, quality standards, trauma-informed crisis response, accreditation readiness, contractual expectations, and coordination with community and crisis response partners.

Key Responsibilities
Strategic and Operational Leadership

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for behavioral health services, ensuring alignment with organizational mission, values, goals, and service standards.
• Use data, KPIs, audits, dashboards, and operational trends to support decision making and continuous improvement.
• Support responsible fiscal stewardship through budget oversight, staffing planning, resource allocation, and productivity management.
• Develop and evaluate departmental goals,…