Director of Mental Health, UConn Student Health and Wellness
The University of Connecticut, the state’s flagship institution serving over 30,000 students, is currently recruiting for the position of Director of Mental Health, UConn Student Health and Wellness. This exceptional opportunity requires an experienced and skilled clinician to provide extensive strategic leadership and vision in the provision of services to support integrated and holistic student health and wellness across the main campus (Storrs) and at the regional campuses. Through innovation, collaboration, and excellent communication, the new Director will have the opportunity to be a transformational leader, identifying and implementing strategies to strengthen mental health services and programs to provide optimal utilization and systems to address student mental health.
The President, Vice President for Student Affairs, Dean of Students, and Executive Director, Student Health and Wellness Services each have a strong commitment to the mental health and wellbeing of the UConn community. Given this support, the Director will have the opportunity to embrace new and creative models and facilitate innovative use of resources to serve the University’s diverse student population and engage with the staff. Supporting the JED Campus Initiatives, educating across departments in student affairs, building engagement to support resiliency, and helping students navigate the steps in these processes are essential factors for success. The Director will manage opportunities to foster changes given the increased demand of services. As a campus mental health leader, the Director will be an advocate and visionary in thinking about effective systems and measures, embracing cultural competence values, and effectively listening to students and staff.
The Director must demonstrate excellent clinical skills, a deep appreciation of diversity and inclusive practices, a significant and visible record of being an inspirational leader and effective supervisor, and the ability to create an atmosphere for a collaborative and forward-thinking team.
Position Summary
The Director of Mental Health, UConn Student Health and Wellness, is responsible for the development and implementation of a comprehensive, holistic, and coordinated approach to mental health in order to positively impact the mental health and overall wellbeing of UConn students. Reporting to the Executive Director of Student Health and Wellness (SHaW), the Director of Mental Health is a key member of the SHaW Executive Leadership Team working collaboratively to implement a shared vision to promote a healthy campus culture, to create proactive strategies to help the student population achieve improved mental health, to enhance student access to mental health services, and to develop skills for managing stress and promoting resiliency.
The Director of Mental Health is responsible for the development of a high quality university counseling service across the UConn campuses, which requires a deep understanding of best practice models and key trends that may be adapted to the changing undergraduate and graduate student population needs. This includes an understanding of how integrated care models, stepped-care models, and other cutting-edge strategies and interventions may best serve the needs of our diverse student body. The Director will engage in connections and collaborations with leaders from SHaW, including Medical Care and Health Promotion, to support a multi-disciplinary approach to services and programs across the continuum of care. The Director will also be expected to build a cohesive team among the mental health staff and facilitate effective collaborations across the University to accomplish departmental, divisional, school/college and university goals and priorities.
The Director will provide strategic leadership and direction to a multi-disciplinary mental health staff committed to the management of existing and long-term mental health needs of a diverse student population. The multi-disciplinary team includes: psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, doctoral interns, social work interns, psychology practicum students, and administrative staff. The Director is responsible for the oversight of supervision and evaluation of staff, ongoing staff development, policies and procedures, a community outreach program, a training program, and the front desk medical office operations, including operations, billing, and personnel budgets. The Director maintains a minimal caseload of direct clinical services and provides consultation to clinical staff on difficult cases.
Overview of Key Responsibilities:
1. Provide leadership to ensure the implementation of clinical counseling services which adhere to the highest professional standards and best practices for college counseling services, including providing and overseeing the delivery of clinical supervision, psychotherapy, crisis intervention, professional consultation, outreach programming, a training program and administration.
2. Contribute to creating a culture of care and success for all university students from enrollment to commencement by providing leadership, oversight, and commitment to a diverse, inclusive, and collaborative student counseling unit.
3. Understanding of and commitment to the principles and practices of college health, including supporting integrated clinical care, working in partnership with physicians, medical providers, clinicians and health promotion colleagues; participating in a model of team-oriented leadership, working in partnership with fellow directors in SHaW to address multi-faceted challenges; and responding to the needs of various external constituents.
4. Ability to provide financial and administrative management, understanding the nature of a complex mental health medical clinic, which includes insurance billing, scheduling, and management of wait times.
Minimum Acceptable Qualifications:
1. Doctorate or Master’s degree in Counseling, Clinical Psychology, Social Work or related clinical/counseling specialty from an accredited institution of higher education.
2. Licensed or license-eligible in the State of Connecticut.
3. A minimum of 8 years post-graduate clinical work experience.
4. Demonstrated managerial leadership experience, including a minimum of 3 years of direct supervisory responsibilities.
5. Demonstrated commitment to diversity and inclusion, competence in working with culturally and ethnically diverse populations, and awareness of how issues of difference, power, and privilege manifest in higher education environments.
6. A track record of collaboration and innovation in addressing the mental health needs of a college-aged population.
7. Proven track record establishing and maintaining effective work relationships professionally and clinically, including meaningful collaboration with medical services and health promotion; excellent verbal and written communication skills.
8. Highly effective interpersonal skills, supervision, and leadership skills that will allow effective interaction with clients, parents, faculty, staff, medical, mental health, other professionals, and those concerned with the mental health issues of UConn students.
9. Experience in a progressively responsible administrative role that required planning, evaluating, directing the day to day administration of a complex mental health service operation and mental health service staff, and using various resources to accomplish long-term and short-term goals for the institution.
10. Demonstrated planning, strategy development, and organizational skills.
Preferred Qualifications:
1. Experience in a college/university mental health setting
2. Training and experience in short-term models of treatment.
3. Exposure to integrated care models.
4. Experience with billing and insurance processes.
About the University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut, or UConn, is one of the nation’s top 25 public universities. UConn is a Carnegie Foundation Research University-Extensive institution, a Land Grant and Sea Grant college, and member of the Space Grant Consortium. It is the state’s flagship institution of higher education and serves a total enrollment of approximately 32,000 students on the main campus in Storrs in addition to its School of Law, Health Center (Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine), School of Social Work, Business Learning Center, and four regional campuses.
The University is internationally recognized for research in wide-ranging areas, such as additive manufacturing, psychology, gifted and talented education, genomics, human rights, health promotion and disease prevention, visual arts, and linguistics. Connecticut’s commitment to higher education helps UConn attract students who thrive in the most competitive environments, as well as globally renowned faculty members. Through its $1.6B Next Generation Connecticut investment, the State of Connecticut is supporting the transformation of the University of Connecticut into a top public research institution, fueling Connecticut’s economy with new technologies, training highly-skilled graduates, and creating new companies, patents, licenses, and high-wage jobs. As a vibrant, progressive leader, UConn fosters a diverse and dynamic culture that meets the challenges of a changing global society and provides a stimulating and rewarding environment in which to learn, work, and contribute.
For more information about UConn, please go to: http://uconn.edu/about-us/