Wellness Center Director

Job Description

Job Description

The Bronx Wellness Center will be the first of its kind in New York State, representing a significant investment in integrative community wellness. StartCare’s vision for the Center is to promote healing and uplift community health by meeting people with radical compassion and facilitating mutual trust, connection, and care. StartCare will work alongside the Bronx community to provide accessible, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and recovery-oriented support, available to the people across the lifespan and oriented around justice. Meaningful partnerships with residents, organizations, and local leaders will create a hub of opportunity for guests to connect with each other, social and health care services, and their broader community. Wide-ranging, holistic programming will promote reciprocal healing through discovering and building upon shared strengths.  

POSITION SUMMARY

The Community Wellness Center Director is responsible for the day-to-day management, coordination, and oversight of all operations at the BPC Wellness Center, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, person-centered programming and a welcoming, affirming environment for all guests, consistent with trauma-informed and healing justice principles. Operating at the intersection of community wellness, partnership development, and organizational leadership, the Center Director will guide the Center from its inception through active implementation, ensuring that all programs and services are developed and delivered with fidelity to the Center's social prescribing and healing justice wellness model. The Center Director will serve as the primary liaison between the Center and OMH and the Community Advisory Board, and will lead efforts to strengthen community partnerships, promote operational excellence, and advance the Center's standing as a hub of creativity, wellness, and belonging for the Bronx community.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Center Operations & Administration

• Lead all aspects of Center operations, including program implementation, staffing, scheduling, facility oversight, emergency management, and day-to-day administration, ensuring continuity, quality, and fidelity to the Center's wellness model across all programming domains
• Serve as the primary point of contact for OMH and the Community Advisory Board, attending meetings, preparing updates, and ensuring that OMH reporting requirements and CAB guidance are integrated into ongoing Center operations and planning

• Recruit, supervise, and support a multidisciplinary Center team, fostering a culture of accountability, learning, and staff wellness
• Oversee the implementation of programming across all domains, partnering with Programs & Strategy on development, and ensuring offerings are flexible, culturally responsive, and individually tailored to guest needs.
• Participate in and/or lead case conferences, CD meetings, and staff meetings, as appropriate.  
• Ensure all staff maintain the appropriate current licensure or credentials to perform their job duties. 
• Prepare reports to inform StartCare leadership of the status and implementation of programs, services, and quality initiatives.  

Community Engagement + Fundraising

• Develop and maintain active partnerships with community-based organizations, wellness practitioners, academic institutions, and other local entities, ensuring that local partners are meaningfully integrated into Center programming and that guests are connected to external resources as needed
• Support the Development team in identifying and pursuing funding opportunities, including contributing to grant narratives, funder reports, and donor engagement activities as needed
• Represent the Center and StartCare in community settings, including outreach events, stakeholder engagement, wellness fairs, and sector convenings, in collaboration with the Community Engagement Coordinator and StartCare outreach team
• Travel within the Bronx and greater New York City area for community engagement and partnership activities

Program Development

• Work collaboratively to further develop and operationalize the program model
• Collaborate with the Evaluation Unit to support continuous quality improvement processes, including participation in Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles, review of program data, and implementation of data-informed adjustments to programming and operations

Other 

• Performs other duties as assigned, both on-site at the Center and in the community

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) or Licensed Psychologist 
• Minimum of four (4) years of experience in a supervisory/leadership role in a behavioral health, wellness, or integrative programming context 
• Minimum of two (2) years of experience working with individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) or substance use disorder
• Demonstrated experience developing and maintaining community partnerships, including with hospitals, shelters, courts, jails, and other community resources serving adults with mental illness or substance use disorders
• Experience engaging community members beyond the program setting, including at organized events and/or during street or mobile outreach
• Experience working with state or city regulatory agencies (e.g. NYS OMH or NYC DOHMH)
• Strong organizational and operational leadership skills with experience managing multidisciplinary teams
• Commitment to trauma-informed, person-centered, and culturally responsive service delivery
• Lived experience as resident of the Bronx

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bi/Multi-lingual, with preference for Spanish fluency
• Familiarity with social prescribing, healing justice, psychiatric rehabilitation, or integrative wellness frameworks
• Experience working in a community wellness, arts, or non-clinical programming environment

• Demonstrated connections to the Bronx community and knowledge of the borough's health and social service landscape

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to work a schedule reflective of Center operating hours, which may include evenings and weekends as the Center's hours expand in response to community need

REPORTING STRUCTURE

The Center Director reports to StartCare's Chief of Programs and Strategy and is supported by StartCare's leadership across functional units, including Programs and Strategy, People & Culture, External Affairs and Development, Medical and Behavioral Health Services, and Research and Evaluation

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

These physical demands are representative of the physical requirements necessary for an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodation can be made to enable people with disabilities to perform the described essential functions of the position which are reviewed in each individual case. 

While performing the responsibilities of the role, the employee is required to talk and hear. The employee is often required to sit and use his or her hands and fingers, to handle or feel. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, reach with arms and hands, climb or balance, and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee may be required to lift an object weighing up to 50 lbs., with or without assistance. The vision abilities required by this job include close vision.

LIMITATIONS & DISCLAIMER

The above job description is meant to describe the general nature and level of work being performed; it is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required for the position.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT 

StartCare provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.