Clinical Lead

Choice Recovery Path; Albuquerque (NM); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Choice Recovery Path in Albuquerque, NM leads an intensive outpatient program focused on substance use disorders. The Lead Clinician provides day-to-day clinical leadership, mentors clinicians, and ensures high-quality documentation, treatment planning, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

The role supports the Clinical Director in maintaining clinical practice standards, coordinates care, and models ethical, recovery-oriented care while handling a caseload and guiding therapeutic processes.

Qualifications

• Behavioral health degree and credential/license as required.
• Experience treating substance use disorders and co-occurring conditions.
• Experience providing group and individual behavioral health services.
• Leadership potential and ability to guide clinical staff.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day clinical guidance, consultation, and support to clinicians and staff.
• Assist with case conceptualization, treatment planning, interventions, relapse prevention, and discharge planning.
• Facilitate clinical case staffing and multidisciplinary discussions.
• Review documentation for quality, medical necessity, and alignment of assessments and plans.
• Ensure compliance with documentation standards and EHR requirements.
• Mentor and develop new clinical staff; supervise as needed.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Staff guidance

Documentation quality

EHR proficiency

Crisis assessment

Education

Behavioral health credential/license

Tools

EHR system

Job description

The Lead Clinician provides day-to-day clinical leadership within the Substance Use Disorder Intensive Outpatient Program. The position serves as a clinical resource to staff, promotes consistency and quality of care, supports clinical decision-making, and assists the Clinical Director in maintaining standards of clinical practice, documentation, treatment planning, staff development, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The Lead Clinician maintains an assigned clinical caseload while functioning as a resource and mentor to other clinicians. The position models professionalism, accountability, ethical practice, healthy boundaries, recovery-oriented care, and effective communication. Significant safety, ethical, compliance, staffing, or clinical concerns are escalated to the Clinical Director or other designated leadership in accordance with organizational policy and the scope of the position.

• Provides day-to-day clinical guidance, consultation, and support to clinicians and assigned team members.
• Assists clinicians with case conceptualization, treatment planning, clinical interventions, relapse prevention, discharge planning, and coordination of care.
• Facilitates or assists with clinical case staffing and encourages meaningful multidisciplinary discussion.
• Reviews clinical documentation for quality, timeliness, medical necessity, consistency, and alignment among assessments, treatment plans, interventions, and progress.
• Supports compliance with organizational documentation standards and Electronic Health Record (EHR) requirements.
• Identifies documentation deficiencies and provides coaching and follow-up to improve staff performance.
• Assists the Clinical Director in monitoring completion and quality of assessments, individualized treatment/service plans, progress notes, relapse prevention plans, safety plans, and discharge documentation.
• Provides guidance regarding substance use disorders, co-occurring mental health conditions, stages of change, relapse risk, treatment engagement, and recovery support.
• Promotes evidence-informed interventions appropriate for SUD treatment, including motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioral approaches, relapse prevention, psychoeducation, and recovery-oriented interventions.
• Identifies changes in client presentation, acuity, risk, engagement or functioning that may indicate a need for additional assessment or consideration of a different level of care.
• Provides consultation regarding crisis situations, suicidal/self-harm concerns, relapse, intoxication/withdrawal concerns, behavioral concerns, and significant changes in client status within the scope of the position.
• Escalates significant safety, ethical, compliance, staffing, or clinical concerns promptly to the Clinical Director or designated leadership.
• Maintains an assigned caseload and provides individual, group, and/or family services as required.
• Models high-quality group facilitation and assists clinicians in strengthening group-management and therapeutic processing skills.
• Supports appropriate coordination of care with medical and behavioral health providers, recovery supports, families, probation/parole, hospitals, community agencies, and other authorized stakeholders.
• Assists with orientation, onboarding, mentoring, and development of new clinical staff.
• Provides constructive feedback while maintaining professional and respectful relationships with team members.
• Promotes accountability and addresses concerns directly rather than allowing clinical or operational problems to remain unresolved.
• Recognizes and appropriately addresses potential boundary concerns, countertransference, ethical concerns, and staff/client dynamics through consultation and supervision.
• Assists in identifying training needs and communicates recommendations to the Clinical Director.
• Supports consistent implementation of program policies, clinical procedures, and treatment expectations.
• Participates in quality improvement, chart review, utilization review, program development, and clinical meetings as assigned.
• Promotes a positive clinical culture characterized by accountability, teamwork, communication, professional boundaries, and respect.
• Performs other duties consistent with the position as assigned by the Clinical Director.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Behavioral health degree and an appropriate behavioral health credential/license consistent with the services provided and applicable organizational/regulatory requirements.
• Demonstrated experience treating substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health conditions.
• Experience providing group and individual behavioral health services.
• Demonstrated competence in clinical documentation, individualized treatment planning, crisis/risk assessment, relapse prevention, discharge planning, and coordination of care.
• Demonstrated leadership potential, sound professional judgment, and ability to provide constructive clinical guidance.
• Ability to use an EHR and meet organizational documentation and productivity expectations.
• Ability to maintain professional boundaries, confidentiality, and ethical standards.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Previous experience in a SUD IOP and/or PHP setting.
• Experience mentoring, training, or providing clinical consultation to behavioral health staff.
• Knowledge of ASAM principles and level-of-care considerations.
• Experience with chart audits, utilization review, quality improvement, and multidisciplinary behavioral health teams.
• Board-approved supervisory qualifications when formal supervision toward licensure is included in the assigned duties.