Vice President - Crisis Services Greater Tulsa, OK Area

JOB SUMMARY:

The Vice President plays a vital role in ensuring the successful delivery of assigned programs, achieving quality measures, and meeting outcome goals for Family & Children’s Services’ Assigned Region Crisis Services. This role includes managing and supervising clinical programs and services to ensure the provision of high-quality mental health and substance abuse treatment.

The Vice President provides effective leadership in planning, implementation, management, monitoring, compliance, and evaluation of assigned programs, ensuring fidelity to the model. This includes overseeing clinical leadership and day-to-day operations, including appropriate staffing patterns.

The Vice President fosters a culture of excellence by overseeing the development of clinical protocols, staff training and development, and the implementation of evidence-based practices and clinical pathways. They ensure compliance with industry regulations, agency policies and procedures, certification, and accreditation standards. Additionally, the Vice President coordinates efforts with other departments by participating in interagency work groups to enhance shared services and strategic service delivery.

This role provides overall oversight, management, and continuous improvement of mental health and crisis care programs; aligning leadership, clinical expertise, strategic planning, and operational oversight to achieve compliance, desired outcomes, teamwork, integrated care, and service expansion throughout thier assigned region.

CRISIS SERVICES-SPECIFIC SCOPE

The Vice President of Crisis Services provides executive leadership for the crisis continuum, including crisis access, telephone crisis response, mobile crisis response, crisis stabilization, psychiatric urgent care, urgent recovery/crisis receiving services, and related community-based crisis programs for Family & Children’s Services’ Assigned Region Crisis Services. The role ensures timely, clinically appropriate, trauma-informed, least-restrictive, and recovery-oriented intervention for individuals experiencing behavioral health or substance use crises.

• Oversee crisis programs designed to provide rapid access, stabilization, diversion from higher levels of care when clinically appropriate, and connection to ongoing community-based services.
• Ensure crisis workflows support warm handoffs, continuity of care, appropriate risk assessment, safety planning, follow-up, and coordination with internal and external providers.
• Lead crisis service operations in a manner that protects PHI and maintains confidentiality, secure communication, documentation integrity, and compliance with applicable privacy and security expectations.
• Advance collaboration with emergency response partners, law enforcement, fire/EMS, hospitals, schools, managed care entities, community providers, and local/state stakeholders to strengthen the crisis continuum.
• Drive crisis services that are compassionate, efficient, effective, continuously improved, and aligned with operational success and clinical excellence.

POSITION SPECIFIC DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

Program Oversight

• Ensure the provision of required services per regulatory requirements, including whole person care and team-based care.
• Build and adjust teams, measure and report quality, achieve service goals, and establish effective partnerships.
• Lead integrated care delivery, addressing clients' mental health, substance use, physical health, and social service needs.
• Collaborate across departments to ensure effective health care coordination and promotion activities.
• Provide guidance on training and support needs for staff and supervisors.
• Provide executive oversight of crisis access, telephone response, mobile response, psychiatric urgent care, crisis stabilization, and related crisis programs to promote timely access, safety, stabilization, and care coordination.
• Lead the development, implementation, and evaluation of clinical and crisis care programs, ensuring high-quality care and timely access to services.
• Oversee the crisis continuum, ensuring appropriate staffing, service availability, and operational readiness.
• Monitor crisis service performance indicators, including access, response timeliness, disposition outcomes, utilization trends, diversion efforts, follow-up, quality indicators, client satisfaction, and client safety metrics.
• Ensure crisis programs maintain clear role expectations, staffing models, escalation pathways, service goals, outcome measures, and service coverage necessary to meet community need and contractual requirements.

Clinical Oversight

• Promote innovation and excellence in client care using advanced clinical practices.
• Ensure evidence-based practices, ethical standards, and patient confidentiality are maintained.
• Provide supervision and staff development, emphasizing cultural competencies and training opportunities.
• Develop and implement crisis response systems and utilize student internship programs for extended client services.
• Ensure adequate supervision, align care assignments with risk stratification, and monitor team composition.
• Ensure crisis services use consistent clinical decision-making, risk stratification, safety planning, suicide and violence risk screening, de-escalation practices, and least-restrictive interventions.
• Provide guidance on high-risk cases, urgent care needs, and complex crisis presentations to support appropriate crisis intervention and clinical next steps.
• Provide leadership for clinical protocols related to crisis triage, mobile deployment, urgent/crisis receiving workflows, observation and safety practices, warm handoffs, and transitions between levels of care.
• Promote client-centered crisis care through evidence-based practices, continuous staff training, cultural competency, confidentiality, ethical standards, and patient safety.

Operational Management

• Streamline processes to enhance efficiency, manage workflow, and utilize resources effectively.
• Maintain compliance with grants, contracts, and regulatory requirements, ensuring staff awareness and adherence.
• Establish clear expectations for service output and optimize scheduling to meet service and billing requirements.
• Continuously improve service delivery and workflow systems, addressing barriers to access.
• Manage day-to-day crisis program operations for the Assigned Region to ensure alignment with strategic goals, regulatory expectations, industry standards, and service needs.
• Ensure crisis programs operate with reliable workflows for referrals, dispatch/deployment, documentation, communication, service transitions, data tracking, and after-hours or urgent escalation needs.
• Monitor and ensure appropriate allocation of resources, including staffing, scheduling, workflow capacity, financial resources, grant support, and contract-funded program needs.
• Lead operational improvement efforts that strengthen crisis line answering, mobile crisis response, crisis receiving/urgent care coordination, regional warm handoffs, and cross-program communication.
• Use data, incident trends, client satisfaction information, and stakeholder feedback to identify barriers, improve access, strengthen safety, and align operations with program goals and contractual expectations.

Risk, Safety, Compliance, and Financial Management

• Ensure a safe and secure work environment, identifying and mitigating operational risks.
• Address risk and compliance issues promptly and consult with relevant departments for mitigation.
• Develop and implement strategies to achieve financial targets, manage expenses, and utilize grant and contract billing effectively.
• Inform leadership of financial needs and collaborate on budget preparation.
• Ensure crisis services maintain strong safety practices for clients, staff, and community partners, including escalation pathways for urgent clinical, operational, privacy, or security concerns.
• Promote compliance with PHI protections, secure documentation, information-sharing limits, consent expectations, and confidentiality requirements across crisis workflows and partner communications.
• Lead quality assurance and risk management efforts for crisis services, addressing identified issues and facilitating continuous improvement in care delivery.
• Assess operational and financial risk related to staffing, service demand, productivity, billing, contract deliverables, grant and contract resources, community response expectations, and quality outcomes.
• Collaborate with leadership to prepare budgets, address financial needs, expand services, improve program funding, and leverage grant and contract resources to meet operational and growth goals.

Growth and Collaboration

• Identify opportunities for program expansion and enhancement, and participate in proposals for program and resource growth.
• Foster strong relationships with community partners and stakeholders to develop referral networks and funding opportunities.
• Collaborate on marketing efforts to enhance program visibility and community outreach.
• Represent crisis services in the community, regional, and system-level planning efforts to strengthen access, reduce fragmentation, improve handoffs, and support alternatives to emergency department or justice-system involvement when clinically appropriate.
• Partner with internal departments, leadership teams, and external stakeholders to align efforts, drive integrated care delivery, develop referral networks, support funding opportunities, and expand evidence-informed crisis models.
• Participate in proposal development and community visibility efforts that support crisis program growth, resource development, service expansion, and community outreach.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Stay abreast of industry trends, emerging practices, and regulations to ensure crisis programs remain relevant, effective, compliant, and responsive to community needs.
• Lead initiatives to innovate crisis service delivery, enhance client satisfaction, improve clinical outcomes, reduce barriers to access, and support continuous service improvement.
• Use program data, quality findings, staff feedback, stakeholder input, and evolving best practices to refine workflows, strengthen outcomes, and enhance the organization’s crisis service offerings.

QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION:

• Master's Degree in related field is required

EXPERIENCE:

• Proven leadership experience in a program leadership role within a behavioral health or healthcare organization.
• Minimum five (5) years clinical and supervisory experience in mental health services and three (3) years administrative experience.
• Experience leading crisis, emergency behavioral health, community-based response, crisis stabilization, psychiatric urgent care, mobile crisis, crisis call center, or urgent behavioral health services preferred.
• Experience with program development, financial management, risk mitigation, workflow optimization, quality improvement, and team-based operational leadership preferred.

PERFORMANCE COMPETENCIES:

• Communication
• Decision Making
• Engagement
• Initiative and Accountability
• Interpersonal
• Learning
• Organizational Alignment
• Quality of Work

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS/ABILITIES:

• Proven track record of building and maintaining relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Strong strategic thinking and planning skills, with the ability to translate vision into actionable initiatives.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively engage and influence diverse audiences.
• Knowledge of mental health issues and healthcare systems preferred.
• Knowledge of crisis continuum operations, behavioral health crisis intervention, crisis management, treatment modalities, risk assessment, de-escalation, safety planning, stabilization, and transitions of care.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary crisis teams in high-acuity, fast-paced environments while maintaining strong clinical, ethical, privacy, confidentiality, and documentation standards.
• Ability to analyze complex problems, develop solutions, pivot in response to changing program needs, and drive continuous improvements.
• Ability to interpret operational data, quality metrics, incident trends, client satisfaction information, and community feedback to improve access, safety, outcomes, and sustainability.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with emergency response entities, hospitals, law enforcement, fire/EMS, schools, community providers, funders, government stakeholders, and internal leadership teams.

CERTIFICATIONS/LICENSES:

• Must possess a valid Driver License and satisfactory driving record to use agency and/or personal automobile to travel to locations other than primary office.
• Must be licensed as an LCSW, LPC, LMFT, LADC or other mental health professional

SAFETY SENSITIVE JOB CLASSIFICATION:

This job is classified as a “safety-sensitive” position as defined by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana and Patient Protection Act. Due to the “safety-sensitive” classification, an employee in this position would be subject to drug and alcohol testing, including random testing. Marijuana is one of the substances included in the drug panel screening. Possession of a medical marijuana license will not excuse you from the testing process or the consequences of testing positive for marijuana per the Family & Children’s Services Drug Free Workplace Policy, including possible revocation of a job offer or dismissal from employment.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Crisis Services may require participation in urgent operational response, after-hours consultation, incident review, community partner coordination, program improvement activities, and other time-sensitive activities necessary to maintain safe, compliant, compassionate, efficient, and effective crisis care operations.