Director of Behavioral Health Services

Job Title: Director of Behavioral Health Services

Job Function: Supportive Housing

Reports to: Senior Director of Supportive Housing

FLSA: Exempt

Grade Level: 16

Salary Range: $96,000 to $106,000 (commensurate with experience)

Position Summary

Boston Senior Home Care (BSHC) is a Massachusetts nonprofit serving 3,000+ older adults across 19 supportive housing sites in Greater Boston, in partnership with the Executive Office of Aging and Independence (AGE), Boston Housing Authority, and POAH. BSHC residents are among the most medically and socially complex older adults in the Commonwealth frequently managing chronic health conditions, functional decline, cognitive change, social isolation, and behavioral health needs, often with limited English proficiency and limited access to culturally responsive care.

The Director of Behavioral Health Services is a newly created, full-time clinical leadership position responsible for ensuring that residents' needs are identified early and met through a coordinated, whole-person approach, not just a single service line. The Director owns BSHC's supportive housing clinical model, including the resident assessment tools and the clinical routing rules, and serves as the final clinical routing authority for complex or ambiguous presentations. The Director owns fidelity to Problem Management Plus (PM+), BSHC's evidence-based short-term intervention for residents experiencing mild-to-moderate distress, delivered as one part of a broader behavioral health continuum. The Director is the licensed (LICSW) field instructor for all MSW/BSW student interns and provides clinical consultation and training to Tenant Resource Counselors (TRCs); day-to-day TRC supervision remains with the Supportive Housing Program Manager. This role reports to the Senior Director of Supportive Housing and works closely with the Program Manager, TRCs, nursing, and property management partners.

Core Accountabilities

The Director is accountable for four areas that define the role within the Supportive Housing leadership team:

• Clinical model, assessment tools, and routing rules. Owns BSHC's supportive housing clinical model, including the resident assessment tools (the Annual Older Needs Assessment and the MAGIC early-detection framework) and the clinical routing rules that direct residents to the right discipline and level of care.
• PM+ fidelity. Owns fidelity to Problem Management Plus (PM+), including WHO PM+ certification, adherence to the five-session protocol, quarterly fidelity review, and pre/post outcome measurement.
• LICSW field instructor. Serves as the licensed (LICSW) field instructor for all MSW/BSW student interns placed in BSHC Supportive Housing.
• Clinical consultation and training to TRCs. Provides clinical consultation and training to TRCs and site staff, but does not supervise TRCs day to day. Hiring, scheduling, line supervision, and performance evaluation of TRCs remain with the Supportive Housing Program Manager.

• Serve as BSHC's senior clinical authority for comprehensive, whole-person resident assessment spanning physical health, functional independence (activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living), frailty and fall risk, pain, cognitive status, social connectedness and loneliness, food security, technology access, and spiritual/emotional well-being.
• Own BSHC's resident assessment tools, including the Annual Older Needs Assessment and the MAGIC early-detection framework: maintain the current version of each tool, train TRCs and interns in their use, and revise the tools based on pilot and outcome data.
• Ensure findings from annual and ongoing resident needs assessments are translated into individualized, actionable service plans and appropriate internal or external referrals not treated as standalone paperwork.
• Champion a whole-person, resident-centered lens across BSHC's supportive housing sites, ensuring that behavioral, medical, functional, and social needs are considered together rather than in isolation.
• Provide direct clinical oversight, risk assessment, and case consultation for residents with complex or overlapping needs, including possible serious mental illness, substance use, and cognitive impairment.

• Own BSHC's clinical routing rules and serve as the final clinical routing authority for ambiguous, dual, or domain-unclear resident presentations, determining the appropriate discipline-specific response nursing, occupational therapy, social work/case management, or peer support.
• Build and sustain working relationships with nursing, occupational therapy, case management, peer support, and community partners to ensure residents are connected to the right level of care.
• Establish and maintain a formal communication pathway connecting maintenance staff and property managers who often observe resident decline first through TRCs to the appropriate clinical responder.
• Own fidelity and quality for BSHC's behavioral health clinical pathways, including Problem Management Plus (PM+), BSHC's structured short-term intervention for residents experiencing life stress, anxiety, depression, or isolation. Complete and maintain WHO PM+ certification and lead quarterly fidelity reviews with the PM+ Master Trainer.

• Serve as the LICSW field instructor for all MSW/BSW student interns; recruit, onboard, and provide ongoing clinical supervision, covering both direct clinical intervention skills and structured observation/routing protocols.
• Directly supervise the PM+ Program Coordinator (0.5 FTE) and coordinate day-to-day clinical operations, caseloads, and scheduling across sites.
• Provide clinical consultation, group case review, and training for TRCs and supportive housing staff in resident identification, warm-handoff practices, and structured behavioral health observation, recognizing these as distinct, complementary skill sets. Day-to-day TRC supervision remains with the Supportive Housing Program Manager.
• Maintain field placement partnerships with area universities (e.g., Boston University, Boston College, Lesley University) to sustain a reliable pipeline of supervised interns.
• Develop training materials and a training-of-trainers approach to build long-term internal capacity and reduce reliance on any single funding source.

• Partner with the Supportive Housing Program Manager, TRCs, case managers, and site staff to strengthen proactive, multi-pathway identification of residents who may benefit from behavioral health or clinical support, rather than relying on self-referral alone.
• Ensure behavioral health and clinical services are delivered in a culturally and linguistically responsive manner for BSHC's diverse resident population, including Cantonese-, Mandarin-, and Russian-speaking residents and those with limited English proficiency.
• Support residents in planning for their preferences as they age including housing stability, in-place aging, and connection to appropriate levels of care informed by comprehensive needs assessment data.

• Oversee use of validated assessment and screening tools to establish baselines and track resident outcomes over time across health, functional, and social-emotional domains.
• Monitor program-level data on housing stability, service utilization, and resident well-being to inform continuous quality improvement.
• Prepare outcome and fidelity reporting for BSHC leadership and applicable funders, in coordination with the Senior Director of Supportive Housing.
• Lead periodic consumer satisfaction surveys and resident feedback processes to inform ongoing program refinement.

• Contribute to long-term sustainability planning for BSHC's behavioral health services, positioning the program for continuation and expansion across additional sites.
• Represent BSHC's behavioral health program in relevant provider, funder, and peer-learning forums.

• Active Massachusetts licensure as an Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW).
• Master's degree in Social Work (MSW) or related clinical behavioral health field.
• Minimum of 2–3 years of post-licensure clinical experience, including direct practice with older adults and/or low-income, culturally diverse populations.
• Demonstrated experience providing clinical supervision to trainees or supervisees (e.g., MSW/BSW interns).
• Meets university requirements to serve as an MSW field instructor (MSW from a CSWE-accredited program and at least two years of post-master's practice experience).
• Sound clinical judgment for triage, risk assessment, and routing across complex presentations, including possible serious mental illness, substance use, and cognitive impairment.
• Strong program management skills, including experience coordinating multidisciplinary teams and multi-site service delivery.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing reports for organizational leadership or external stakeholders.

• Experience with comprehensive geriatric assessment tools, such as functional (ADL/IADL) assessment, frailty and fall-risk screening, cognitive screening, and pain assessment.
• Experience with structured early-detection or interdisciplinary routing models in a healthcare, housing, or aging-services setting.
• Experience working within supportive or affordable housing, aging services, or community mental health settings.
• Familiarity with outcomes measurement frameworks.
• Bilingual or multilingual proficiency (e.g., Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish) strongly preferred given BSHC's resident population.
• Experience partnering with academic institutions on field placement or internship programs.
• WHO Problem Management Plus (PM+) certification, or experience with evidence-based, short-term psychological interventions for older adults (PM+ certification to be completed after hire if not already held).

This position requires regular travel among BSHC supportive housing sites across Boston neighborhoods (Dorchester, Mattapan, Chinatown, East Boston, Charlestown, Beacon Hill, North End, West End, and South End), as well as time at BSHC's central office. A hybrid schedule may be available consistent with program needs. Reliable transportation is required.

Boston Senior Home Care is a CARF-accredited, Massachusetts nonprofit dedicated to helping older adults live independently, safely, and with dignity in their homes and communities. BSHC's Supportive Housing Program connects older adults in affordable housing with care coordination, wellness programming, and referrals to health and behavioral health services, and is integrated with the organization's broader Senior Care Options and Home Care programming.

Boston Senior Home Care is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Given the nature of the organization and the population it serves, all new employees are required to clear a CORI prior to taking on a new role.