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Director of Social Services

Position Summary

The Director of Social Services is responsible for the leadership, development, coordination, implementation, and evaluation of the Social Services Department within the acute behavioral health hospital. This position provides clinical and administrative leadership to ensure that patients receive comprehensive, trauma-informed, patient-centered behavioral health services throughout the continuum of care.

The Director oversees social work services for psychiatric patients across the lifespan, as applicable to the hospital's licensed programs, and ensures that services are consistent with hospital policies, regulatory requirements, accreditation standards, evidence-based behavioral health practices, and the hospital's mission.

The Director works collaboratively with nursing, psychiatry, medical providers, utilization review, admissions, quality, case management, recreational therapy, behavioral health technicians, families, guardians, referral sources, and community agencies to support safe, timely, and clinically appropriate treatment and discharge outcomes.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Department Leadership & Administration

• Direct, supervise, and evaluate the Social Services Department and assigned social work staff.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate departmental policies, procedures, workflows, and performance standards.
• Establish departmental goals and measurable performance indicators consistent with hospital strategic priorities.
• Ensure adequate staffing and appropriate assignment of social work resources based on patient census, acuity, program needs, and regulatory requirements.
• Develop and maintain departmental schedules, productivity expectations, coverage plans, and workflows.
• Participate in leadership, treatment team, quality improvement, utilization review, and hospital operations meetings as assigned.
• Provide coaching, mentoring, training, and professional development for social work staff.
• Monitor staff performance, documentation, productivity, attendance, competency, and compliance with hospital expectations.
• Ensure timely completion of employee evaluations, competencies, corrective actions, and performance improvement plans when necessary.
• Promote accountability, teamwork, professionalism, and effective communication throughout the department.

Clinical & Behavioral Health Services

• Provide leadership for the delivery of comprehensive psychosocial assessments and behavioral health social work services.
• Ensure patients receive timely psychosocial assessments addressing psychiatric history, family dynamics, social determinants of health, housing, transportation, financial concerns, legal issues, education/employment, substance use, support systems, and barriers to treatment.
• Ensure development and ongoing review of individualized treatment plans in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team.
• Participate in interdisciplinary treatment team meetings and provide clinical recommendations regarding treatment, discharge needs, level of care, and community resources.
• Provide or oversee individual, family, and group interventions within the scope of licensure and hospital programming.
• Utilize trauma-informed, recovery-oriented, culturally responsive, and patient-centered approaches.
• Assist patients in identifying coping strategies, developing support systems, improving functioning, and addressing psychosocial barriers to recovery.
• Provide crisis intervention and support during psychiatric emergencies, behavioral health crises, family crises, and other situations requiring social work intervention.
• Facilitate family meetings and assist with communication between patients, families, guardians, providers, and the treatment team.
• Support patients and families in understanding diagnoses, treatment recommendations, discharge plans, community resources, and continuing-care needs.

Discharge Planning & Continuum of Care

• Lead the hospital's social services discharge planning process.
• Ensure discharge planning begins at admission and is updated throughout the patient's hospitalization.
• Coordinate safe and clinically appropriate discharge plans based on each patient's psychiatric, medical, social, functional, and environmental needs.
• Coordinate referrals and link patients to appropriate levels of care, including outpatient therapy, psychiatry, PHP, IOP, residential treatment, PRTF, crisis services, substance use treatment, community mental health services, primary care, and other appropriate resources.
• Establish and maintain relationships with community providers, behavioral health agencies, residential programs, schools, DSS, law enforcement, courts, shelters, housing providers, and other referral resources.
• Address barriers to discharge, including housing instability, transportation, financial limitations, medication access, lack of family support, legal issues, and unavailable community services.
• Ensure appropriate follow-up appointments and referrals are arranged prior to discharge.
• Monitor readmission trends and identify opportunities to improve discharge planning and continuity of care.
• Participate in efforts to reduce avoidable delays in discharge and length of stay.

Patient & Family

• Assist patients and families in navigating behavioral health services and community resources.
• Identify and address social determinants of health that may affect treatment outcomes and successful transition to the community.
• Assist with obtaining resources such as transportation, housing, financial assistance, food assistance, medication assistance, identification documents, and other essential services.

Regulatory, Documentation & Compliance

• Ensure Social Services practices comply with applicable federal and state laws, CMS Conditions of Participation, state behavioral health regulations, Joint Commission standards, hospital policies, and applicable payer requirements.
• Maintain oversight of timely, accurate, complete, and clinically appropriate social work documentation.
• Ensure psychosocial assessments, treatment plan documentation, progress notes, family interventions, discharge planning documentation, referrals, and other required documentation are completed within established timeframes.
• Monitor documentation for quality, accuracy, medical necessity, and consistency with the patient's clinical presentation and plan of care.
• Participate in accreditation surveys, regulatory inspections, audits, chart reviews, corrective action plans, and performance improvement activities.
• Develop and implement corrective actions when deficiencies are identified.
• Maintain confidentiality and ensure compliance with HIPAA and other applicable privacy requirements.
• Ensure appropriate documentation and coordination for patients requiring guardianship, DSS involvement, involuntary treatment, court involvement, protective services, or other legal/social interventions.

Quality Improvement & Performance Management

• Participate in the hospital's Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) program.
• Monitor Social Services department performance through measurable indicators and audits.
• Track and evaluate trends related to discharge delays, readmissions, referrals, documentation compliance, length of stay, patient/family concerns, and continuity of care.
• Develop and implement performance improvement initiatives based on identified trends or deficiencies.
• Participate in root cause analysis, corrective action planning, and monitoring of sustained improvement.
• Provide leadership with regular reports regarding departmental performance, barriers, risks, and improvement opportunities.

Community Relations & Referral Development

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with behavioral health providers, hospitals, community agencies, schools, residential programs, government agencies, and other referral partners.
• Represent the hospital professionally within the behavioral health and community services network.
• Participate in community outreach and education initiatives as requested.
• Identify gaps in community resources and communicate those needs to hospital leadership.
• Collaborate with Admissions and Marketing to strengthen referral relationships and improve access to appropriate behavioral health services.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Master's degree in Social Work, Counseling, Psychology, or a related behavioral health discipline from an accredited institution, as required by applicable state regulations and hospital policy.
• Current, unrestricted professional license appropriate to the position and scope of services, such as LMSW, LISW-CP, LCSW, LPC, or other applicable behavioral health license.
• Minimum of three (3) years of behavioral health or psychiatric social work experience, with demonstrated experience in an acute psychiatric or inpatient behavioral health setting preferred.
• Previous supervisory or management experience required; Director-level behavioral health experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of psychiatric treatment, crisis intervention, psychosocial assessment, discharge planning, and community behavioral health resources.
• Knowledge of CMS Conditions of Participation, Joint Commission standards, HIPAA, patient rights, and applicable state behavioral health regulations.
• Experience working with interdisciplinary treatment teams in an acute behavioral health environment.
• Strong knowledge of levels of behavioral health care and community-based resources.
• Experience with discharge planning for patients with complex psychiatric, social, family, housing, substance use, legal, or behavioral health needs.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to prioritize multiple responsibilities in a fast-paced hospital environment.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, motivate, and hold staff accountable.
• Ability to manage confidential and sensitive patient, employee, and organizational information appropriately.
• Strong critical-thinking, problem-solving, conflict-resolution, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with physicians, advanced practice providers, nursing, clinical leadership, hospital administration, patients, families, and community partners.
• Reliable transportation required for community coordination, meetings, and outreach activities when applicable.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience as a Social Services Director, Director of Case Management, Clinical Social Work Director, or comparable behavioral health leadership position.
• Experience in an acute psychiatric hospital, psychiatric emergency service, crisis stabilization program, PHP, IOP, residential behavioral health, or comparable setting.
• Experience with Joint Commission and/or CMS surveys.
• Experience with QAPI, performance improvement, audits, and corrective action planning.
• Experience developing behavioral health programs and community partnerships.
• Experience working with adolescents, adults, families, and/or patients with complex behavioral health needs.

Core Leadership Expectations

The Director of Social Services is expected to:

• Lead with professionalism, accountability, compassion, and integrity.
• Promote a trauma-informed and recovery-oriented culture.
• Maintain a visible presence within the hospital.
• Ensure Social Services is an active and accountable member of the interdisciplinary treatment team.
• Address barriers to treatment and discharge proactively rather than reactively.
• Develop staff and create a culture of continuous learning and professional growth.
• Hold staff accountable for timely, accurate, and clinically meaningful documentation.
• Collaborate effectively across departments to support patient safety and positive outcomes.
• Identify operational problems and implement sustainable solutions.
• Maintain strong relationships with patients, families, referral sources, community partners, and hospital leadership.
• Support the hospital's commitment to providing safe, effective, timely, compassionate, and high-quality acute behavioral health services.

The Social Services Director is responsible for planning, developing, organizing, implementing, evaluating and directing of the social service programs of the facility
USD $75,000.00 - USD $80,000.00 /Yr.
The wage range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience, education and training, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs.

• Responsible for planning, developing, organizing, implementing, evaluating and directing of the social service programs of the facility


• Develops and implement policies and procedures for identifying the medically-related social and emotional needs of the patients/residents


• Assists in providing solutions to social and practical environmental problems, including seeking financial assistance, discharge planning (including collaboration with community agencies) and providing referrals to other community agencies when specialized assistance is required

• Must have a current Social Work license, in good standing with the state (as required)


• Must have, as a minimum, one (1) year experience in a human services field in a hospital, skilled nursing care facility or other related medical facility


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