Mental Health Clinical Director

Milestone Treatment; Virginia Beach (VA); On-site; USD 85,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

401(k) matching

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Paid time off

Job summary

Milestone Treatment Center in Virginia Beach is seeking an experienced Mental Health Clinical Director to provide clinical leadership for behavioral health and substance use treatment programs. The role focuses on shaping programming, developing a multidisciplinary team, and ensuring compassionate, evidence-based care while meeting Virginia regulations.

You will collaborate with executive leadership and lead clinicians daily, balancing clinical judgment with organizational strategy to improve

Qualifications

• Active LCSW or LPC licensure is required.
• Experience leading or managing clinical teams in behavioral health.
• Experience with mental health or substance use disorder treatment.
• Strong clinical documentation, treatment planning, patient confidentiality, and professional standards.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to lead in a fast-paced treatment environment and handle competing priorities.
• Strong interpersonal skills for collaboration with clinicians, leadership, patients, families, and partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead development, implementation, and continuous improvement of clinical programs, policies, and procedures.
• Oversee daily clinical operations, ensuring high-quality behavioral health and SUD treatment.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a multidisciplinary clinical team.
• Provide or ensure clinical supervision per Virginia scope-of-practice and supervision requirements.
• Partner with leadership on recruiting, credentialing, onboarding, training, and professional development.
• Promote accountability, collaboration, compassion, and clinical excellence.
• Ensure evidence-based, trauma-informed, and recovery-oriented practices across programming.
• Oversee utilization review, medical necessity determinations, and payer requirements.
• Maintain high standards for documentation, treatment planning, and patient records.
• Lead quality assurance and performance improvement initiatives; coordinate audits and action plans.
• Serve as a clinical liaison among executive leadership, staff, patients, families, payers, and regulators.

Skills

Active LCSW or LPC

Clinical team leadership

Mental health/substance use treatment

Clinical documentation & privacy

Written and verbal communication

Fast-paced leadership

Interpersonal collaboration

Job description

Mental Health Clinical Director

Salary: $85,000–$100,000 annually
Schedule: Full-Time
Work Location: On-site
Required Licensure: Virginia LCSW or LPC

Lead Clinical Care. Develop Great Teams. Make an Impact.

Milestone Treatment Center is seeking an experienced Mental Health Clinical Director to provide clinical leadership for our behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment services in Virginia.

This is a key leadership position for a clinician who wants to do more than manage a department. The Clinical Director will have the opportunity to shape clinical programming, develop and support a multidisciplinary team, strengthen quality of care, and help ensure that every patient receives compassionate, evidence-based treatment.

You will work closely with executive leadership while leading the clinicians responsible for delivering care every day. We are looking for someone who combines strong clinical judgment, effective leadership, and a solid understanding of Virginia behavioral health regulations with a genuine commitment to patients and the professionals who serve them.

What You'll Lead

As Mental Health Clinical Director, you will provide clinical and operational leadership across our behavioral health and substance use disorder programs.

You will:

• Lead the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of clinical programs, policies, and procedures.

• Oversee daily clinical operations and ensure consistent delivery of high-quality behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment.

• Lead, mentor, and develop a multidisciplinary clinical team, including therapists, counselors, licensed professionals, and licensed-eligible clinicians.

• Provide or ensure appropriate clinical supervision in accordance with Virginia scope-of-practice and supervision requirements.

• Partner with leadership on recruiting, credentialing, onboarding, training, performance management, and professional development of clinical staff.

• Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, compassion, and clinical excellence.

• Ensure evidence-based, trauma-informed, and recovery-oriented practices are incorporated throughout treatment programming.

• Oversee utilization review, medical necessity determinations, continued-stay reviews, and payer requirements.

• Maintain high standards for clinical documentation, treatment planning, and timely completion of patient records.

• Lead quality assurance and performance improvement initiatives, including audits, incident reviews, corrective action plans, and ongoing process improvement.

• Serve as a clinical liaison among executive leadership, staff, patients, families, payers, and regulatory agencies.

Clinical & Regulatory Leadership

The Clinical Director will play an important role in maintaining Milestone's commitment to safe, ethical, and compliant patient care.

This includes ensuring clinical services meet applicable requirements established by:

• Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS)

• The Joint Commission

• Virginia professional licensing and scope-of-practice requirements

• HIPAA

• 42 CFR Part 2

• Applicable federal and state patient-rights and confidentiality requirements

You will help ensure our clinical team understands these expectations and has the leadership, training, and systems necessary to meet them consistently.

What We're Looking For

Required

• Active LCSW or LPC licensure

• Demonstrated experience leading or managing clinical teams in a behavioral health environment

• Experience with mental health and/or substance use disorder treatment

• Strong understanding of clinical documentation, treatment planning, patient confidentiality, and professional standards

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• Ability to lead effectively in a fast-paced treatment environment and manage competing priorities

• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with clinicians, leadership, patients, families, and external partners

Highly Valued

• Experience working within Virginia's behavioral health system

• Knowledge of Virginia DBHDS regulations and licensing requirements

• Experience with The Joint Commission accreditation standards

• Leadership experience within addiction treatment, residential treatment, PHP, IOP, or other behavioral health settings

• Experience with utilization review, medical necessity, payer authorization, or continued-stay processes

• Experience supervising licensed and licensed-eligible clinicians

• Experience with quality assurance, compliance, audits, or performance improvement initiatives

Why Milestone?

Clinical leadership has a direct impact on both the people receiving treatment and the professionals providing it.

At Milestone, the Mental Health Clinical Director will have the opportunity to build strong clinical teams, influence how care is delivered, improve programming, and help create an environment where both patients and clinicians can succeed.

We are looking for a leader who understands that excellent clinical care requires more than policies and documentation. It requires engaged leadership, accountability, compassion, collaboration, and a commitment to continually getting better.

If you are an experienced behavioral health leader ready to take ownership of a clinical program and help shape its continued growth, we'd like to hear from you.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary: $85,000–$100,000 per year

Benefits include:

• 401(k)

• 401(k) matching

• Medical insurance

• Dental insurance

• Vision insurance

• Paid time off

Work Location: On-site

Milestone Treatment Center is an equal opportunity employer.