Director of Psychological Services

NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan is the community hospital of choice for residents of East Harlem, northern Manhattan, and neighboring communities. The hospital provides culturally-sensitive care in a welcoming and hospitable setting, emphasizing primary care medicine and utilizing the latest advances in medical science. Metropolitan delivers high quality health services with compassion, dignity, and respect to all, without exception. Since its founding in 1875, the hospital has been affiliated with New York Medical College, representing the oldest partnership between a hospital and a private medical school in the United States. Metropolitan is a part of the NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest municipal hospital and health care system in the country.

About the Role

Under the general direction of the Executive Director or their designee of a major hospital center, this role formulates policies and practices, coordinates, develops the services of the Psychology Department, and plans the scope of services such as psychodiagnosis, psychotherapy, training and education, and research to achieve the objectives and effectuation of policy and practice in support of efficient and effective mental health services.

Responsibilities

• Develops, plans, directs, and administers programs for psychological services throughout the hospital center to support diagnosis, evaluation, adjustment, and rehabilitation.
• Collaborates with administrative and professional staff in planning psychological services, participation and educational programs, and in formulating policies and practices in accordance with the objectives of the hospital center.
• Develops and administers programs to provide support for therapeutic management of patients through counseling and psychotherapy in treatment objectives.
• Defines the psychological service role and function, and interprets the service program and patients’ needs to hospital administration and medical staff.
• Establishes Psychology Service Department policies, methods, and procedures providing for adaptability, program assignment, and program development.
• Establishes program priorities within the total scope of program planning.
• Organizes the personnel of the department into areas of responsibility, authority, and specialization.
• Staffs, directs, guides, and controls departmental activity.
• Organizes the department to respond promptly to needs of divisions and other departments and maintains flexibility of operations.
• Evaluates personnel performance, work progress of the department, establishes work performance standards, provides managerial leadership to attain effective productivity, and initiates action to accomplish objectives.
• Responsible for credentialing and clinically privileging all Psychologists.
• Evaluates and audits psychological service programs, program accomplishments, and makes recommendations for appropriate action.
• Formulates research objectives and programs in areas of clinical psychology and directs programs for training in research methodology and development of advanced psychological testing design.
• Directs research findings and reports activities, interprets, and disseminates to top echelon management.
• Plans with graduate schools of clinical psychology for field placement units and their integration in the psychological service program, conferring with faculty on students, supervision, and assignment.
• Administers intern and extern programs and develops standard guidelines for utilization of Psychology Interns within the existing service requirements of the department.
• Formulates, develops, establishes, and administers in-service training programs for members of the Psychology Department and training programs for mental health professionals in the theory and data pertaining to mental health functioning and the use of psychological skills and services.
• Maintains relationships with professional societies in relation to maintenance of standards and new psychological approaches and concepts in support of mental health care.

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Psychology with specialization in areas of Clinical Theory and Practice from a college or university accredited by the American Psychological Association.
• New York State license to practice psychology, or approved equivalent with a valid diploma from the American Board of Professional Psychology.
• Six years of clinical experience, of which four are in psychopathology and two years in an administrative and supervisory capacity with the psychologist group.