Job Summary
We are seeking a highly qualified and experienced Residential Treatment Home (RTH) Administrator to lead the daily operations of an Oregon adult mental health residential treatment program serving individuals with serious mental illness (SMI/SPMI) and complex behavioral health needs.
This position requires directly relevant mental health residential experience that can be independently verified.
We are specifically seeking candidates with demonstrated experience working in an Oregon/OHA-licensed residential mental health setting providing treatment and services to adults with serious mental illness.
Experience limited to intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD), older-adult care, assisted living, physical disability services, or general caregiving will not, by itself, satisfy the experience requirements for this position.
The successful candidate must be able to provide documentation verifying qualifying education, employment history, job responsibilities, populations served, and applicable professional credentials.
REQUIRED EXPERIENCE — PLEASE READ BEFORE APPLYING
Applicants should apply only if they can demonstrate relevant experience in an adult mental health residential treatment setting.
We are particularly interested in candidates who can document at least two years of qualifying residential experience involving adults with serious mental illness and responsibilities such as:
- Delivery, coordination, or oversight of mental health and behavioral health services.
- Residential program management and daily operations.
- Supervision and oversight of residential staff.
- Resident safety and risk management.
- Crisis prevention, de-escalation, and behavioral health intervention.
- Admissions, transitions, and discharge coordination.
- Incident reporting and follow-up.
- Person-centered and trauma-informed services.
- Treatment and service-plan implementation.
- Quality assurance and regulatory compliance.
- Application of Oregon administrative rules, licensing requirements, policies, and procedures.
Candidates with direct experience as an RTH Administrator, RTF Administrator, Program Administrator, Program Manager, Residential Manager, Clinical Supervisor, or comparable mental health residential leader are strongly encouraged to apply.
Clinical Mental Health Experience
Applicants must clearly describe their clinical experience working with individuals with serious mental illness in an appropriately licensed residential mental health setting.
Relevant experience may include responsibilities involving:
- Serious and persistent mental illness.
- Psychiatric symptoms and behavioral health needs.
- Mental health treatment and service-plan implementation.
- Behavioral assessment and observation.
- Crisis prevention and intervention.
- De-escalation.
- Psychiatric stabilization.
- Coordination with psychiatrists, PMHNPs, therapists, QMHPs, nurses, case managers, hospitals, and community providers.
- Monitoring significant changes in psychiatric presentation or functioning.
- Trauma-informed care.
- Person-centered and recovery-oriented services.
Experience solely serving individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities does not meet the mental health experience requirement for this position.
VERIFICATION OF EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
Because the selected Administrator's qualifications may be reviewed as part of the program's licensing process, personal attestation or a résumé alone may not be sufficient.
Final candidates must be willing and able to provide corroborating documentation establishing their qualifying experience.
Acceptable documentation may include:
Employer Verification or Reference Letter
- Written on official employer or agency letterhead.
- Signed by a current or former employer, supervisor, or contracting agency.
- Identifies the applicant's job title.
- Provides dates of employment.
- Describes specific job responsibilities.
- Identifies the population served, including adults with serious mental illness.
- Includes the verifier's current contact information.
Official Position Description
- Issued by the current or former employer.
- Identifies the position and duties performed.
- Supports the period during which the applicant served in the position.
- Preferably signed, dated, and on organizational letterhead.
Professional Licenses and Certifications
Applicants should provide copies of applicable current Oregon credentials, including, where applicable:
- QMHP qualification/credential documentation.
- LPC.
- LCSW.
- RN.
- MD/DO.
- Other applicable Oregon behavioral health or healthcare credentials.
- Relevant national behavioral health certifications.
Education and Training
Relevant education or training may include:
- Behavioral health.
- Psychology.
- Social work.
- Counseling.
- Nursing.
- Human services.
- Other closely related fields.
Please note: Candidates whose qualifying experience or education cannot be independently verified may not meet the requirements for this position.
Key Responsibilities
Program Administration & Operations
- Provide leadership and oversight of the daily operation of the RTH.
- Maintain a safe, structured, therapeutic, person-centered, and recovery-oriented residential environment.
- Ensure adequate staffing and appropriate coverage for a 24/7 residential program.
- Oversee scheduling, staff assignments, onboarding, training, supervision, and performance.
- Participate in resident admissions, transitions, discharge planning, and service coordination.
- Maintain effective systems for program operations, documentation, communication, and accountability.
- Identify operational deficiencies and implement timely corrective action.
- Communicate regularly with organizational leadership regarding program performance, resident needs, staffing, compliance, and significant concerns.
Mental Health & Resident Services
- Provide leadership for services supporting adults experiencing serious mental illness.
- Ensure services are consistent with residents' assessed needs, treatment plans, service plans, and recovery goals.
- Promote psychiatric stability, independent living skills, community integration, autonomy, and recovery.
- Coordinate with psychiatrists, psychiatric prescribers, QMHPs, therapists, nurses, PCPs, case managers, hospitals, pharmacies, counties, families, guardians, and other members of the treatment team.
- Recognize significant changes in resident behavior, functioning, health, or psychiatric presentation and ensure appropriate intervention and notification.
- Promote transition toward the least restrictive and most appropriate level of care.
Crisis & Behavioral Health Leadership
- Ensure staff are prepared to recognize and appropriately respond to psychiatric and behavioral health crises.
- Promote early intervention, prevention, de-escalation, and trauma-informed responses.
- Provide leadership during significant incidents and behavioral emergencies.
- Ensure incidents are appropriately documented, reported, investigated, reviewed, and followed up.
- Identify behavioral or operational patterns contributing to incidents and develop corrective strategies.
- Maintain professional judgment and leadership during high-stress situations.
Staff Leadership & Development
- Recruit, supervise, coach, evaluate, and develop residential staff.
- Establish a culture of professionalism, accountability, teamwork, compassion, and respect.
- Provide regular supervision and performance feedback.
- Address performance concerns and implement corrective action when appropriate.
- Ensure appropriate professional boundaries between staff and residents.
- Ensure staff complete required training and demonstrate competency.
- Support staff in effectively working with residents experiencing complex psychiatric symptoms and behavioral challenges.
Compliance & Quality Assurance
- Maintain compliance with applicable Oregon mental health residential licensing requirements.
- Maintain readiness for licensing inspections, surveys, investigations, audits, and quality reviews.
- Maintain complete and current personnel, training, resident, incident, and program records.
- Monitor compliance involving resident rights, confidentiality, medications, safety, emergency preparedness, and required reporting.
- Conduct internal quality-assurance reviews.
- Develop and implement plans of correction when deficiencies are identified.
- Maintain familiarity with applicable Oregon Administrative Rules, organizational policies, and licensing expectations.
Resident Rights & Safety
- Protect residents' dignity, privacy, rights, choice, autonomy, and self-determination.
- Respond appropriately to resident complaints and grievances.
- Maintain an environment free from abuse, neglect, exploitation, discrimination, intimidation, and retaliation.
- Identify and promptly respond to safety concerns.
- Maintain appropriate professional boundaries while developing respectful therapeutic relationships.
Documentation & Communication
- Ensure documentation is accurate, objective, complete, timely, and compliant.
- Review incident reports and other required documentation for completeness and quality.
- Maintain effective communication with staff, residents, treatment providers, counties, families/guardians, and community partners.
- Ensure significant changes in resident health, psychiatric presentation, medication, behavior, or safety are communicated to appropriate parties.
- Maintain confidentiality and protect resident information.
Minimum Qualifications
Candidates should have:
- Demonstrated experience serving adults with serious mental illness (SMI/SPMI).
- Qualifying clinical and/or residential mental health experience consistent with Oregon licensing expectations for the Administrator position.
- Demonstrated leadership or supervisory experience in a residential mental health program.
- Strong knowledge of psychiatric and behavioral health needs.
- Experience supervising staff in a 24/7 residential environment.
- Knowledge of trauma-informed, person-centered, and recovery-oriented practices.
- Strong crisis-management and de-escalation skills.
- Strong written documentation and professional communication skills.
- Ability to interpret and implement policies, procedures, licensing requirements, and administrative rules.
- Ability to successfully complete all required background checks and employment requirements.
Strongly Preferred
- Two or more years of verifiable experience in an Oregon/OHA-licensed residential mental health setting serving adults with serious mental illness.
- Previous experience as an RTH/RTF Administrator, Program Administrator, Program Manager, Residential Manager, Clinical Supervisor, or comparable position.
- Current Oregon behavioral health or healthcare credentials, when applicable.
- Experience interacting with OHA, counties/CMHPs, licensing personnel, hospitals, and community behavioral health providers.
- Experience preparing for licensing inspections and responding to regulatory findings.
- Experience with incident management, quality assurance, plans of correction, medication systems, and staff training.
Background Check Requirement
Employment is contingent upon successfully completing all applicable background-check requirements for individuals working in an Oregon licensed mental health residential program, including applicable criminal records and abuse checks and receipt of an acceptable fitness determination.
REQUIRED APPLICATION MATERIALS
To help us determine whether your experience meets licensing requirements, please submit:
- Current résumé.
- Copies of applicable Oregon professional licenses or credentials.
- A detailed description of your mental health residential experience.
- Names of the Oregon/OHA-licensed mental health residential programs where you obtained qualifying experience.
- Your job title at each qualifying program.
- Dates of employment for each position.
- Description of the population served.
- Description of your clinical, supervisory, administrative, and residential responsibilities.
- At least one professional reference who can independently verify your qualifying experience.
- Any available employer verification letters or official position descriptions supporting your experience.
Applicants should be prepared to provide additional verification documentation before a final employment offer is made.
Ideal Candidate
The successful candidate will be a leader who is:
- Experienced specifically in adult mental health residential treatment.
- Compassionate while maintaining clear expectations and boundaries.
- Calm and decisive during crises.
- Highly organized and accountable.
- Strong in staff supervision and development.
- Knowledgeable about serious mental illness.
- Committed to trauma-informed and person-centered care.
- Protective of resident rights, dignity, and autonomy.
- Comfortable with regulatory oversight and detailed documentation.
- Able to communicate professionally with OHA, counties, providers, residents, families, and employees.
- Able to make sound decisions under pressure.
Why Join Our Team?
This position provides an opportunity to lead a residential program dedicated to helping adults experiencing serious mental illness achieve greater stability, independence, recovery, and community integration.
The Administrator will have a meaningful role in shaping program culture, developing staff, protecting resident rights, maintaining regulatory compliance, and improving the quality of services delivered to residents.
If you have verifiable Oregon residential mental health experience and are ready to provide strong, hands-on leadership to an adult mental health residential program, we encourage you to apply.
Equal Opportunity Employer
We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to qualified applicants. Employment decisions are made without regard to characteristics protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.
Pay: $70,000.00 - $80,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Flexible schedule
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
Work Location: In person
