ATU Nurse Leader - Day Shift (61654)

Job Summary

The ATU Nurse Leader – Day Shift is responsible for the day-to-day clinical and operational leadership of the ATU during daytime hours. This role oversees nursing staff, mental health technicians, and therapeutic programming to ensure safe, high-quality, patient-centered care in a structured treatment environment.

Essential Functions

• Provide day-shift leadership and operational oversight for the inpatient mental health unit, ensuring effective coordination of patient care, staffing, and daily therapeutic programming.
• Supervise, support, and hold accountable registered nurses, licensed practical nurses if applicable, and mental health technicians assigned to the day shift.
• Cooker programming to ensure groups, therapeutic activities, milieu management, and patient engagement interventions are carried out as planned.
• Partner with interdisciplinary team members, including providers, therapists, case managers, and other support staff, to support individualized treatment plans and continuity of care.
• Ensure safe staffing, appropriate assignment distribution, and real-time response to changes in census, acuity, admissions, discharges, and patient behavioral needs.
• Provide clinical guidance and leadership in psychiatric and behavioral health interventions, including crisis response, de-escalation, observation practices, and therapeutic communication.
• Oversee medication administration practices, nursing documentation, patient assessments, care planning, and handoff communication for compliance, timeliness, and quality.
• Monitor unit operations to promote a safe, therapeutic, trauma-informed environment for patients, staff, and visitors.
• Coach staff on performance expectations, workflow efficiency, patient engagement, professionalism, and adherence to policies, procedures, and standards of care.
• Participate in hiring, onboarding, orientation, training, competency validation, and ongoing development of nursing staff and mental health technicians.
• Address staff concerns, patient care issues, and operational barriers promptly and escalate issues as needed to nursing or administrative leadership.
• Support performance improvement initiatives, patient safety efforts, restraint and seclusion reduction strategies, and quality outcome monitoring.
• Review incidents, patient concerns, and staff-reported events; assist with follow-up, documentation, corrective action, and process improvement planning.
• Ensure compliance with applicable regulatory, accreditation, and organizational standards related to behavioral health care, staffing, documentation, and patient treatment programming.
• Lead or support shift huddles, safety rounds, interdisciplinary communication, and daily coordination meetings to align care priorities and operational needs.
• Serve as a role model for therapeutic leadership, customer service, professionalism, accountability, and respectful team collaboration.
• Handle with Care Instructor which helps train all staff and perform ongoing drills.
• Back up support for operations in ordering clients’ needs such as food and supplies.
• Solves client grievances and properly documents outcomes.
• Supports Prior Authorizations for medications and reviews any Laboratory denials.
• Orients new staff and performs ongoing competency assessments and trainings.

Required Qualifications

• Current, active Registered Nurse (RN) license in the applicable state.
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) preferred.
• Minimum of 3 – 5 years of nursing experience, with behavioral health, psychiatric, or inpatient mental health experience strongly preferred.
• Prior leadership, charge nurse, supervisor, or management experience required.
• Demonstrated knowledge of psychiatric nursing practice, crisis intervention, trauma-informed care, and therapeutic milieu management.
• Experience supervising or coordinating the work of multidisciplinary staff, including nursing staff and mental health technicians, preferred.
• Current CPR certification and other required facility-based training or certifications.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

• Strong leadership, team supervision, and conflict resolution skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced inpatient behavioral health environment.
• Strong clinical judgment and decision-making skills related to psychiatric and medical needs.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to coach staff, foster accountability, and build a collaborative team culture.
• Knowledge of safety practices, observation levels, risk assessment, and behavioral crisis response.
• Proficiency in documentation standards, electronic health records, and quality monitoring processes.
• Ability to coordinate programming, staffing, and patient care operations simultaneously.
• Commitment to patient-centered, trauma-informed, and recovery-oriented care.
• Able to perform all aspects of Handle with Care to include the physical management portion.