Associate Director of Family Therapist

" Make a Difference, Change Lives "

About Us: Recognized as a national center of clinical excellence, Lifeskills Deerfield Beach provides customized, evidence-based residential mental health treatment for adults with complex mental health, substance use, and co-occurring disorders. Specialized programming for the Jewish community, women, and veterans reflects a commitment to culturally responsive, individualized care.

Lifeskills Deerfield Beach provides personalized residential treatment for adults with mental health and co-occurring substance use disorders. Doctoral- and master’s-level clinicians deliver evidence-based care that balances structure, independence, and community, supporting meaningful progress at every stage of treatment.

We use evidence-based treatment methods tailored to each client’s needs. Our team utilizes our social integration approach, which enables clients to receive real-time therapeutic interventions while experiencing real-life situations. Social integration is used to ensure social and life skills treatment concepts are not only learned but also become accessible tools for clients transitioning back to independent living.

Why You Will Love Working With Us!

At Lifeskills, we are a dynamic, dedicated, and growing team of professionals deeply passionate about providing evidence-based and personalized clinical care for mental health disorders and behavioral health conditions.

Since everyone has different experiences with mental health disorders, mental health therapies must be equally as unique to address those diverse needs. Working with qualified doctoral level clinicians at Lifeskills gives individuals the opportunity to develop personalized mental health treatment plans that address their needs and help them take the next step in their recovery.

Our team’s foundation is client centered care and clinical excellence through our 5-star service commitment – Respect, Accountability, Integrity, Flexibility, Service, and Collaboration. We are committed to our team and our team is committed to our clients!

What we offer

• Collaborative environment dedicated to clinical excellence
• Multiple Career Development Pathways
• Company Supported Continuing Education & Certification
• Multiple Health Plan Design Options Available
• Flexible Dental & Vision Plan Options
• 100% Company Paid EAP Emotional Well-Being Support
• 100% Company Paid Critical Illness (with health enrollment plan)
• 100% Company Paid Life & ADD
• 401K with Company Match
• Company-Sponsored HSA, FSA, & DSA Tax Savings Accounts
• Generous Team Member Referral Program
• Parental Leave

How You Will Make a Difference
Therapists are responsible for providing individual and group therapy sessions for clients in a specialized intensive outpatient treatment setting. Position is responsible for assessing the therapeutic needs of the individuals and families, and for developing appropriate treatment plans. Program Therapists act as the primary contact for clients and families throughout the treatment process and serve as a client advocate with the treatment team. Position acts as a liaison with referral sources, clinical partners, and internal resources to coordinate care throughout the treatment process.

Position Summary

Provides clinical leadership and oversight for family services programming. The Family Services Associate Director provides clinical leadership and oversight for family services programming. Position provides leadership and supervisor for Family Therapists, ensuring high quality program service delivery and ongoing clinical skill development. Collaborates with the Director of family Services, clinical leadership and team members on ongoing program and clinical quality improvement, provides clinical team members with education, training, and clinical leadership development. Provides clinical oversight, ensuring the delivery of clinically excellent, client centered care. Coaches and mentors team members in navigating complex and/or difficult communication situations in an honest, accurate, and respectful manner. Position serves as an advocate for clients and families throughout the treatment process.

Relationships and Contacts

Within the organization: Maintains frequent and close working relationships with clients, Management, Clinical Leadership, facility leadership, peers, and vendors.

Outside the organization: May initiate and maintain working relationships with clinical providers, referral partners, families and vendors as needed and directed.

Position Responsibilities

Essential Responsibilities

1. Provides compassionate and professional guidance to clients, families and referring partners seeking clinically excellent behavioral healthcare treatment services.
2. Provides clinical supervision to associate level and licensed therapists in individual and group settings, offering guidance and feedback to motivate and positively develop the family therapy team.
3. Works closely with the Director of Family Services, clinical and direct care teams to ensure a safe, high quality, therapeutic environment is consistently maintained.
4. Provides leadership, coaching and training to Family Therapy team advancing treatment skills, cultural sensitivity and compliance with licensure and accreditation standards.
5. Coordinates and conducts Family Assessments in alignment with internal timelines and procedures, ensuring the needs of clients and families are identified and supported throughout the treatment process.
6. Applies evidence-based clinical skills and techniques to assist families throughout the treatment process and beyond.
7. Conducts regular family therapy sessions and serves as the family advocate in Treatment Team meetings.
8. Contributes to discharge planning processes, ensuring clients and families are well prepared and connected to needed services and resources following the treatment process.
9. Communicates with referral sources and families, keeping them informed of treatment goals, plans and progress.
10. Collaborates with utilization review team members, ensures clinical documentation meets standards necessary to meet client’s level of care, advocates for difficult cases, as needed.
11. Ensures clinical documentation adheres to licensure, accreditation, and payor contract standards, provides oversight to other staff, and interns to maintain compliance.
12. Leads continuous quality improvement for the family department.
13. Coordinates, oversees and facilitates family weekend.
14. Participates in the clinical on call rotation.

Additional Responsibilities

1. Functions within the guidelines of the facility’s Code of Ethics and in accordance with corporate compliance.
2. Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications related to specialized treatment modalities and population served.
3. Conducts chart audits following program policy timelines, as requested.
4. Adheres to facility policies, procedures, rules, and regulations, implementing regularly.
5. Maintains positive attitude and acts as a team player with others on the treatment team.
6. Attends and completes all training within assigned time frames as required by the facility.
7. Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Requirements

Education and Experience

Position requires a Master’s degree in Counseling, Psychology, Social Work or closely related field and a minimum of 5 years of experience within a behavioral healthcare setting. Position requires a LCSW, LMHC, or LMFT. Must be licensed to practice and provide clinical supervision in the State of Florida.  Experience in treating Mental Health/SUD is strongly preferred.

Doctoral level preferred (License not required)

Master's Level - Full licensure required (LCSW, LPC, LMFT, LMHC)

Physical Requirements

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee will be required to communicate with peers/general public, clients, and/or vendors.
• Job performance will require the ability to move throughout the building as well as sit or remain stationary for extended periods of time.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee may be required to talk or hear, sit, stand, walk, reach, climb or balance, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl, taste, or smell.
• Must be able to travel in and out of state to all facilities within the network of services, as necessary.
• Ability to move twenty-five pounds.

Other Requirements

• Position requires incumbent to have a valid driver’s license acceptable driving record.
• Clearance of criminal background, TB test, and any other mandatory state/federal requirements.
• Current CPI, CPR and First Aid certification

Skill Competencies

• Ethics and Values – adheres to and promotes the ethics and values outlined in the company and accrediting/licensing bodies Code of Ethics and Corporate Compliance. Consistently upholds and models a prominent level of Integrity in clinical services and team member interactions.
• Clinical Knowledge – acquires and maintains a working knowledge of current theory and evidence-based practice. Proactively seeks supervision, consultation and continuing professional development to ensure knowledge and skills are maintained relative to position and clinical program delivery.
• Cultural Competence – continuously strives to provide client-centered, culturally competent care, recognizes, and affirms cultural and linguistic diversity through therapeutic alliances and ongoing professional development.
• Screening and Assessment – engages clients and members of the client support system, as appropriate, in screening and assessment to develop individualized, client-centered, evidence-informed care plans. Leverages established screening tools for psychosocial, pain, domestic violence, substance use, self-hard, and distress assessments, among others.
• Care Planning and Intervention – develops and implements evidence-informed care plans that promote clinical excellence throughout the client-centered continuum of care. Care plans outline necessary steps, identified collaboratively with the care team, to achieve objectives identified in the biopsychosocial assessment. Leverage evidence-informed, clinically excellent treatment interventions.
• Advocacy – advocates for the needs and interest of clients and families to promotes clinical excellence through improved outcomes, access to care, and service delivery. Participates in quality improvement initiatives aimed at enhancing client outcomes and strengthening clinical service delivery.
• Interdisciplinary and Interorganizational Collaboration – promotes cross functional collaboration among team members and referral partners to support and enhance clinical service delivery and support.

Lifeskills South Florida provides equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, creed, ancestry, national origin, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, disability, gender identity, genetic information, service in the military, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law. Equal employment opportunity applies to all terms and conditions of employment. Lifeskills South Florida reserves the rights to modify, interpret, or apply this job description in any way the organization desires.  This job description in no way implies that these are the only duties, including essential duties, to be performed by the employee occupying this position.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities. This job description is not an employment contract, implied or otherwise.  The employment relationship remains “At-Will.”