Clinical Lead (Las Cruces)

Date posted: October 1, 2026

Pay: $36.00 - $47.00 per hour

Job description:

Choice Recovery Path (CRP)

Changing Lives One Choice at a Time

Lead Clinician, Substance Use Disorder IOP

Las Cruces, NM | Full-Time | On-Site | $36.00-$47.00/hour

Ready to Lead Without Leaving Clinical Work Behind?

At Choice Recovery Path (CRP), great clinical leadership is about more than reviewing charts or managing a checklist. It's about helping clinicians grow, strengthening the quality of care, and creating an environment where both clients and clinical teams can succeed.

We're looking for an experienced and motivated Lead Clinician to provide day-to-day clinical leadership within our Substance Use Disorder Intensive Outpatient Program (SUD IOP) in Las Cruces. This position combines direct clinical care with mentorship, consultation, documentation oversight, and support for the continued development of our clinical team.

You'll maintain an assigned clinical caseload while serving as a trusted resource to other clinicians and working closely with the Clinical Director to promote consistent, ethical, evidence-informed, recovery-oriented care.

If you're ready to take the next step in your clinical career while staying connected to the work that brought you into behavioral health in the first place, we'd love to hear from you.

What You'll Do

Lead & Support the Clinical Team

• Provide day-to-day clinical guidance, consultation, and support to clinicians and designated team members.
• Help clinicians strengthen case conceptualization, treatment planning, clinical interventions, relapse prevention, discharge planning, and coordination of care.
• Facilitate or assist with clinical case staffing and meaningful multidisciplinary discussion.
• Mentor clinical staff and help build confidence, consistency, and sound clinical judgment.
• Assist with orientation, mentoring, and professional development of new clinical staff.
• Provide constructive feedback while promoting accountability, teamwork, healthy professional boundaries, and respectful communication.

Strengthen Clinical Quality

• Review clinical documentation for quality, timeliness, medical necessity, and consistency .
• Help ensure assessments, individualized treatment plans, interventions, progress notes, relapse prevention plans, safety plans, and discharge documentation align with clinical and organizational standards.
• Identify documentation deficiencies and provide practical coaching and follow-up.
• Participate in chart reviews, utilization review, quality improvement initiatives, program development, and clinical meetings.
• Support consistent implementation of CRP clinical procedures, treatment expectations, and EHR documentation standards.

Provide Excellent Client Care

• Maintain an assigned clinical caseload and provide individual, group, and/or family services as required.
• Model high-quality group facilitation and help other clinicians strengthen therapeutic processing and group-management skills.
• Apply evidence-informed SUD interventions, including motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioral approaches, relapse prevention, psychoeducation, and recovery-oriented practices .
• Provide guidance related to substance use disorders, co-occurring mental health conditions, treatment engagement, stages of change, relapse risk, and recovery support.
• Recognize significant changes in client acuity, risk, functioning, or engagement and help determine when additional assessment or consideration of a different level of care may be appropriate.
• Support effective coordination with medical and behavioral health providers, recovery supports, hospitals, community agencies, and other authorized stakeholders.

What We're Looking For

Required Qualifications

• Behavioral health degree and an appropriate New Mexico behavioral health credential/license consistent with the services provided and applicable regulatory and organizational requirements.
• Demonstrated experience treating substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health conditions .
• Experience providing individual and group behavioral health services.
• Strong competency in clinical documentation and individualized treatment planning.
• Experience with crisis/risk assessment, relapse prevention, discharge planning, and coordination of care.
• Sound professional judgment and demonstrated leadership potential.
• Ability to provide clear, constructive clinical guidance to colleagues.
• Comfortable working within an Electronic Health Record (EHR) and meeting documentation and productivity expectations.
• Strong commitment to professional boundaries, confidentiality, and ethical clinical practice.

We'd Especially Like to Meet You If You Have

• Previous experience in a SUD IOP or PHP setting .
• Experience mentoring, training, or providing clinical consultation to behavioral health professionals.
• Knowledge of ASAM principles and level-of-care considerations .
• Experience with chart audits, utilization review, or quality improvement.
• Experience working as part of a multidisciplinary behavioral health team.
• Board-approved supervisory qualifications, particularly if formal supervision toward licensure becomes part of the assigned responsibilities.

The Leadership Style We're Looking For

We're not simply looking for the most experienced clinician in the room.

We're looking for someone who can be approachable while maintaining accountability, confident without being controlling, clinically curious, organized, ethical, collaborative, and adaptable . The right Lead Clinician can address difficult issues directly and professionally, receive feedback, recognize personal limitations, seek consultation when appropriate, and model the standards expected of the clinical team.

Why CRP?

You spend your career supporting other people. We believe your employer should support you, too.

Competitive Compensation & Benefits

• $36.00-$47.00 per hour
• CRP covers 85% of medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 12 paid federal holidays
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Paid sick leave
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Life insurance
• First-Time Home Buyers Assistance Program
• Continuing Education Assistance
• Professional growth and leadership opportunities
• The opportunity to help shape clinical quality and culture within a growing behavioral health organization

More Than a Title

Becoming a Lead Clinician doesn't have to mean giving up the reason you became a clinician.

At CRP, this role gives you an opportunity to continue working directly with clients while extending your impact through the clinicians around you . Your experience can help another clinician develop stronger clinical judgment. Your feedback can improve the quality of a treatment plan. Your leadership can help a team navigate a difficult case. And your work can ultimately improve the experience and outcomes of clients throughout the program.

The Details

• Position: Lead Clinician, Substance Use Disorder IOP
• Location: Las Cruces, NM
• Department: Clinical Services
• Program: Substance Use Disorder Intensive Outpatient Program (SUD IOP)
• Reports To: Clinical Director
• Status: Full-Time
• Pay Range: $36.00-$47.00 per hour
• Work Arrangement: On-Site

Choice Recovery Path is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where every employee can contribute, grow, and do meaningful work.

Benefits:

• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Referral program
• Vision insurance

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply

Application Question(s):

• Please list your valid New Mexico behavioral health license(s)/credential(s).

Work Location: In person