Founding Clinical Director - PHP & IOP (Behavioral Health)

We are seeking a founding Clinical Director to build and lead our Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient programs.

This is a founding, build-phase role. On day one, there is no curriculum, no group schedule, no clinical policy manual, and no clinical team. You will design and stand up all of it - the clinical model, the programming, the documentation standards, and the staff who deliver them - and then lead those programs day to day as our top clinical authority, across both our Metro Detroit care center and our virtual programs statewide.

Because of that, we are looking specifically for a clinician-leader whose experience is rooted in acute-level outpatient care. The person who succeeds here has run PHP or IOP programming directly and has built a program from the ground up before.

You will not be doing this alone. BetWell is committed to resourcing this program properly - leadership support, operational and administrative infrastructure, dedicated clinical expertise, and the staffing you need to build it right. We are looking for a partner to build alongside, not a director we hand a mandate to and walk away from.

What you'll own

• Build PHP and IOP from the ground up - program design, group curriculum, weekly schedule and hour structure, clinical pathways, and the outpatient step-down that follows.
• Own level-of-care integrity. Every admission, step-up, step-down, and continued-stay decision - made honestly, documented defensibly, and grounded in ASAM (substance use) and LOCUS (mental health) criteria.
• Protect reimbursement through documentation. Establish medical-necessity documentation standards that withstand utilization review, concurrent review, and appeals. Lead peer-to-peer reviews. Our census means little if the claims don't hold.
• Hire, supervise, and develop the clinical team - therapists, group facilitators, and case management - including formal clinical supervision of limited-licensed clinicians.
• Establish the compliance and accreditation foundation - Michigan licensure requirements, clinical policies and procedures, and accreditation readiness.
• Partner with our Medical Director (psychiatrist) on psychiatric oversight, and with our Executive Director on census, referrals, and growth.
• Grow into our gambling disorder and online-addiction specialty. Prior experience in this area is preferred but not required - training and dedicated expert support are provided.

Required

• Direct, hands-on leadership experience in PHP and/or IOP. You have worked inside acute-level outpatient programming and are accountable for how it runs.
• Program build experience - you have launched or substantially rebuilt a behavioral health program and know what it takes to go from an empty room to a running census.
• Active, independent Michigan clinical license - LMSW-C, LPC, LMFT, or LP (PhD/PsyD). Limited licenses will not be considered.
• Michigan Approved Clinical Supervisor status, or eligibility and willingness to obtain it promptly.
• Fluency in ASAM and LOCUS medical-necessity criteria, with real experience applying them to authorization and continued-stay decisions.
• Utilization review and denials experience with commercial payers (BCBSM, Priority Health, HAP, Aetna, Optum/UHC, Cigna).
• Substance use and co-occurring expertise - core to our population, not a secondary line.
• Team leadership - you have hired, supervised, and been accountable for a clinical team's quality and outcomes.

Preferred

• You have opened a PHP or IOP and know the licensure, staffing ratios, and space requirements firsthand.
• Experience leading virtual or hybrid IOP/PHP programming.
• Established Metro Detroit referral relationships (hospitals, detox, CMH, EAPs, courts).
• Interest in - or experience with - gambling disorder, gaming, and behavioral addictions. (Experience is a plus, not a requirement; training and dedicated expert support are provided.)
• Accreditation experience (CARF or Joint Commission).

Pulled from the full job description

• Professional development assistance
• Parental leave
• Health insurance
• Paid time off, Full-time · On-site · Troy, MI (Greater Metro Detroit / Oakland County) $120,000 - $150,000, commensurate with experience, * The PHP or IOP programs you've led - where, at what level of care, and the census you carried.
• What you built rather than inherited - the parts of the program that existed because you made them exist.

If that describes your work, we'd be glad to hear from you.

We welcome applicants of every background and are committed to building a team that reflects the community we serve.

Pay: $120,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year, * Health insurance

• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Professional development assistance

BetWell Health is a new behavioral health provider bringing warm, evidence-based care to Michigan - offering Partial Hospitalization (PHP), Intensive Outpatient (IOP), and Outpatient (OP) treatment, in person and virtually, across the full range of substance use disorders and mental health conditions, with a distinct specialty in gambling disorder and online addictions.