Director of Outpatient Services and Programs

Northern Children Services; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Paid Leave

Sick leave accrual

Job summary

Northern Children’s Services is seeking a Director of Outpatient Services & Programs to lead the day-to-day clinical and administrative operations of the Outpatient Program. You will ensure high-quality, trauma-informed care, supervise staff, and manage budgets, dashboards, and program outcomes for children, youth, and families.

The role emphasizes data-driven decision making, regulatory compliance, and cross-functional collaboration with residential and IBHS services to sustain high-quality

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a mental health discipline and PA clinical licensure.
• Minimum six (6) years in a health or social service organization with supervisory experience.
• Experience providing clinical supervision and outcomes-driven treatment.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the Outpatient Program's clinical and administrative operations.
• Monitor documentation quality and billing processes.
• Provide direct supervisory oversight to clinical staff and interns.
• Drive data-informed program improvements and compliance with regulations.

Skills

Leadership

Data-driven

Trauma-informed practice

Program management

Supervision

Education

Master's degree in a mental health discipline

Active clinical licensure in Pennsylvania

Tools

Credible/Qualifacts

Power BI

Janet / Mission Driven Data

UKG

Job description

Job Details

Posting Details

• Posted on November 4, 2026

Locations

• Showing 1 location Philadelphia, PA 19128, USA
• Executive
• Full-Time
• Requisition #: DIREC001710

Description

Description

Join Our Team as a Director of Outpatient Services and Programs and help make a difference in the lives of children, youth, and families!

Northern Children's Services Wins the 2026 Top Workplaces Culture Excellence Award and the 2026 Top Workplaces Professional Development Award For more information, visit https://topworkplaces.com/company/northern-children-s-serv/

Are you passionate about supporting the healthy development of children, youth, and families for a brighter future?
Look no further! At Northern Children’s Services (Northern), every role in the organization contributes to helping us achieve our mission and vision.
We believe that every child and youth has the potential to transform themselves – no matter their background or life situation.
We work to “walk the talk” when it comes to our organizational values: Excellence, Respect, Resilience, Cultural Humility & Justice, Healing, and Wellness.

Why Choose Us? As a Director of Outpatient Services and Programs, you’ll embark on a fulfilling journey.

• Leadership Opportunity
• Supportive Environment
• Empowerment and Progress
• Effective Communication
• Empowerment Through Planning
• Continuous Monitoring and Progress
• Documentation Excellence
• Networking and Collaboration

Benefits.

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Our EAP offers confidential referral and counseling services to help employees and their families manage life's challenges, including stress management, legal and financial concerns, depression, and substance abuse.
• Paid Leave: Employees have access to generous paid time off or sick leave, allowing them to prioritize their health and well-being.
• Employees are eligible to earn 1 hour of (Sick Time) for every 40 hours they work. A Maximum of 40 sick hours may be earned in a calendar year. An employee must be employed for at least 90 days by the employer before being able to use any accrued paid sick leave.Maximum accrual required is forty (40) hours in a year. Unusedsickleavewill be rolled over each year without limit. Employees’sickleaveusage is a maximum of 40 hours a year.

Qualifications You Bring:

• Expertise
• Physical Capabilities
• Trauma-Informed Approach

At Northern Children’s Services, Inc., we value diversity, inclusion, and the well-being of every individual. Join us in our mission to empower children and families, one meaningful interaction at a time. Apply today and be a part of something truly extraordinary!

Northern Children's Services supports the healthy development of children and youth, while stabilizing their families to build stronger communities. Everything we do at Northern Children's Services is designed to create a better future for our families.

Position Summary

Northern Children’s Services (Northern) is seeking an experienced, mission-driven Director of Outpatient Services & Programs (Director) to lead the day-to-day clinical and administrative operations of Northern’s Outpatient Program. Reporting to the Senior Director of Behavioral Health, the Director is a key member of Northern’s Behavioral Health leadership team and plays a central role in ensuring that outpatient services are clinically excellent, operationally sound, and producing measurable outcomes for the children, youth, and families we serve.

This role is not solely a clinical oversight position. The Director is expected to bring both clinical expertise and administrative discipline — embracing data, benchmarks, and performance accountability as core tools of effective leadership.

The Director is responsible for ensuring:

• High-quality, evidence-based, and trauma-informed clinical care
• Strong census and financial sustainability
• Measurable client outcomes, consistently tracked and acted upon
• Clear performance accountability, including adherence to established benchmarks, client surveys, quality assurance standards, and city and state audit requirements
• Effective supervision of clinical staff and Master’s-level student interns

A culture of professionalism, transparency, direct communication, and continuous improvement

Key Responsibilities

This is not solely a clinical oversight role. It is a leadership position requiring operational discipline, data fluency, and the ability to shape and sustain a high-performing program culture.

Clinical Excellence & Program Oversight

Clinical quality must be paired with structured systems that sustain it.

• Oversees the clinical and administrative operations of the Outpatient Program, ensuring delivery of services consistent with best practices and regulatory standards.
• Monitors electronic health records (Credible/Qualifacts) for documentation quality, accuracy, and timely submission; reviews and approves clinical work within the program.
• Ensures clinical supervision structures are strong, consistent, and appropriately matched to staff licensure levels.
• Promotes evidence-based and trauma-informed practices across the program.
• Ensures that children and youth have current, high-quality treatment plans, and that treatment reflects individualized, outcomes-driven care.
• Support clinicians in pursuing licensure and certification in approved evidence-based models.
• Monitors and maintain strict adherence to Northern policies and procedures, as well as the policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements of Community Behavioral Health (CBH) and the state Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS).

Leadership & Supervisory Discipline

The Director must model clear, consistent, and accountable leadership at all levels.

• Provides direct administrative and clinical supervision to Outpatient therapists, program staff, and Master’s-level student interns.
• Ensures that performance expectations are clearly communicated, documented, and consistently reinforced.
• Addresses performance concerns directly and promptly, using coaching, retraining, and corrective action as appropriate.
• Responds to identified issues without defensiveness, avoidance, or minimization.
• Applies performance standards equitably and consistently across all staff members.
• Recruits, trains, supervises, and evaluates program staff in alignment with Northern’s standards.
• Makes appropriate human resources recommendations to the Senior Director of Behavioral Health.

Data, Benchmarks & Outcome Ownership

Northern is a data-informed organization. The Director must embrace and model that value — and bring program staff along in understanding, using, and valuing data as part of professional practice.

• Regularly reviews program dashboards, including census, productivity, access, client outcomes, and documentation compliance.
• Ensures standardized outcome tools are implemented and used consistently across the program.
• Analyzes trends and implements timely, mid-course corrections when performance declines.
• Maintains data integrity, including closed cases, documentation accuracy, and consistent outcome scoring.
• Embraces benchmarks as tools for program improvement and actively builds that understanding within the clinical team.
• Asks consistently: “Are we making a measurable difference?”
• Maintains monthly reports to track key quality performance indicators.

Administrative Leadership & Operational Discipline

Effective program management requires disciplined use of available tools and systems.

• Ensures that the Outpatient Program is fully and effectively using available program management tools (Credible/Qualifacts, Janet/Mission Driven Data, Office 365 including Outlook, Excel, and Power BI, and UKG) as real-time management tools that support mid-course corrections, billing optimization, and program improvement.
• Aligns staffing models with census and program needs.
• Ensures workflows support productivity, documentation quality, and timely billing.
• Oversees productivity, access, discharge planning, and authorization processes.
• Maintains accurate, clean documentation systems and reporting.
• Monitors program budget; maintains operating margin within budgeted guidelines and effectively and responsibly allocates resources.
• Responsible for implementing and documenting disciplinary actions resulting from internal investigations and/or job performance, ensuring that terminations, corrective actions, or performance improvement plans (PIPs) are executed with full documentation and HR alignment.

Financial & Census Accountability

Program sustainability is a leadership responsibility. The Director must understand the financial drivers of the Outpatient Program and manage them proactively — not reactively.

• Maintains strong census across the Outpatient Program.
• Proactively identifies and responds to declines in utilization, referrals, or access.
• Partners with the Senior Director of Behavioral Health and Finance to monitor program margins and revenue performance.
• Responds strategically to funding, regulatory, and authorization changes.

Communication, Honesty & Accountability

Responsive, honest, and direct communication is a core professional expectation of this role — not a preference. The Director must be reachable, reliable, and transparent with supervisors, peers, and staff alike.

• Respond to emails, calls and messages in a timely manner, with one business day serving as a general expectation whenever feasible.
• Communicate proactively by providing timely updates on significant issues, risks, and organizational matters.
• Communicates clearly, honestly, and respectfully in professional interactions.
• Demonstrates accountability by acknowledging mistakes and taking appropriate corrective action.
• Clearly communicates organizational goals, priorities, expectations, and decisions.
• Encourages open communication and supports employees in raising questions or concerns through appropriate channels.
• Addresses workplace concerns, interpersonal conflicts, and communication issues promptly and professionally.
• Promotes teamwork, transparency, collaboration, and mutual accountability.
• Demonstrates reliability through consistent follow-through commitments.
• Facilitates fair, objective, and timely resolution of workplace concerns in accordance with organizational policies and established procedures.

Quality Assurance & Compliance

Compliance is not a reactive exercise. The Director is expected to maintain a proactive culture of quality — where audits and reviews confirm what is already known to be true, not reveal surprises.

• Ensures program compliance with governing regulations, including CBH, DBHIDS, OMHSAS, and all applicable DHS-State requirements.
• Collaborates with the Program Quality department to ensure standards are consistently met and exceeded.
• Supports the preparation for and response to city and state program audits; assists in the development and effective implementation of any Plans of Correction (POC).
• Proactively maintains compliance through ongoing staff training, supervision, and documentation monitoring.

Continuous Improvement & Innovation

The best ideas often come from the people closest to the work. The Director must create the conditions for those ideas to surface, be evaluated honestly and acted upon.

• Actively encourages constructive feedback, creative problem-solving, and new ideas from staff at all levels.
• Evaluates proposed improvements based on data and potential impact — not hierarchy.
• Fosters psychological safety: an environment where staff feel comfortable raising ideas and concerns while maintaining clear standards of performance and accountability.
• Models intellectual curiosity and adaptability.

Cross-Department Collaboration

Collaboration is an organizational expectation. The Outpatient Program must function as an integrated part of Northern’s broader mission.

• Maintains an active and collaborative relationship with Northern’s Residential Programs, including conducting or coordinating behavioral health assessments for residents and providing ongoing clinical support for youth in residential care as needed.
• Collaborates closely with the Intensive Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) program to ensure continuity of care, warm transitions, and coordinated clinical planning for shared or transitioning clients.Works directly with Northern’s part-time psychiatrist on shared cases, including coordination of medication management and participation in regular clinical consultation meetings to ensure integrated, high-quality care.
• Coordinates actively with other Northern service components, departments, and outside agencies involved with shared clients.
• Participates in agency committees, working groups, and other bodies as assigned.
• Avoids siloed culture and decision-making; reinforces organization-wide goals and accountability.
• Collaborates with Development and other departments on fund development, grant opportunities, and community engagement as applicable

Trauma-Informed Practice & Culture

• Champions a trauma-informed culture across the Outpatient Program, ensuring that all practices, supervision, and team interactions reflect trauma-informed principles.
• Ensures staff demonstrate emotional intelligence, person-first and strengths-based language, and an understanding of the impact of trauma on child and adolescent development.
• Commits to the maintenance of a therapeutic environment that promotes safety, nonviolence, and resilience for both clients and staff.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Required Education & Licensure

• Master’s degree in a mental health discipline or related field required.
• Active clinical licensure issued by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania required.
• Qualifying licenses include:
  • Licensed Associate Professional Counselor (LAPC)
  • Licensed Behavior Specialist (LBS)
  • Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)
  • Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
  • Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT)
  • Licensed Social Worker (LSW)
  • Licensed Psychologist (Psy.D. or Ph.D.)

Required Experience

• At least six (6) years of experience in a health or social service organization, with at least three (3) years in a supervisory or administrative leadership role.
• Demonstrated experience providing clinical supervision utilizing evidence-based practices and outcomes-driven treatment, with expertise in working with children, adolescents, and families.
• Strong knowledge of CBH, the Department of Behavioral Health and Disability Services (DBHIDS), OMHSAS, and applicable Department of Human Services (DHS)-State regulations and procedures.
• Knowledge of and experience working with commercial insurance and authorization processes.
• Proficiency in electronic health records systems (Credible/Qualifacts preferred) and healthcare information technology.
• Demonstrated ability to use data and program dashboards to drive operational and clinical decision-making.
• Strong track record of building and sustaining high-performing clinical teams.
• Passionate about Northern’s mission and able to articulate and promote its philosophy, values, and goals to internal and external stakeholders.

Preferred:

• Experience in outpatient behavioral health programs serving children and youth in an urban setting.
• Familiarity with Mission Driven Data (Janet), Power BI, or similar program management/reporting tools.
• Knowledge of the child welfare system.

Core Competencies

• Clinical expertise paired with strong operational and administrative discipline
• Data-literate and outcomes-oriented; embraces benchmarks as tools for improvement
• Clear, direct, and transparent communicator
• Strong supervisory skills with courageous accountability
• High emotional intelligence
• Collaborative and cross-functional; avoids siloed thinking
• Trauma-informed practice and culture-building
• Problem-solving and continuous improvement mindset
• Mission-driven and deeply committed to the children, youth, and families Northern serves

Physical Capabilities & Other Requirements

• Ability to walk up and down steps.
• Ability to operate a computer, printer, and calculator.
• Ability to support after-hours operations, including occasional nights and weekends.
• This position requires travel throughout the City of Philadelphia.

Northern Children’s Services is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991. All accommodations will be evaluated on a case-by‑case basis relative to the essential functions of the position. Discrimination is prohibited in employment, promotion, assignment, or dismissal on the basis of race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, disability, or any other protected class.

Trauma-Informed Principles

• Northern Children’s Services is committed to fostering a therapeutic environment rooted in safety, nonviolence, and resilience. Our policies are guided by trauma-informed principles, ensuring that we create a supportive and healing atmosphere for clients and staff.
• A trauma-informed approach recognizes that past experiences, including trauma, can significantly impact a person’s behavior, emotions, and interactions. Therefore, we strive to:
  • Use emotional intelligence: Respond with empathy and awareness, even in difficult situations.
  • Communicate effectively: Listen actively, ask clarifying questions, and avoid judgmental language.
  • Understand trauma’s impact: Be aware that clients or colleagues may react based on past experiences, not just the present moment.
  • Apply person-first, strengths-based language: Focus on people’s strengths and abilities rather than defining them by their challenges (e.g., saying "a person experiencing homelessness" instead of "a homeless person").

By adhering to these principles, we ensure that our workplace is not only effective but also compassionate and inclusive for everyone.

All accommodation will be evaluated on a case- by case basis, evaluating the essential functions of the positions. DISCRIMINATION IS PROHIBITED IN EMPLOYMENT, PROMOTION ASSIGNMENT OR DISMISSAL, ON THE BASIS OF RACE, RELIGION, COLOR, AGE, SEX, NATIONAL ORIGIN, and HANDICAP, OR RECEIPT OF SERVICES FOR MENTAL DISABILITY.

Equal Opportunity Employer This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.