Behavior Health Services Director

Join the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and be part of a team committed to creating a positive impact in the lives of fellow Texans. At HHSC, your contributions matter, and we support you at each stage of your life and work journey. Our comprehensive benefits package includes 100% paid employee health insurance for full-time eligible employees, a defined benefit pension plan, generous time off benefits, numerous opportunities for career advancement and more. Explore more details on the Benefits of Working at HHS webpage.

Functional Title: Behavior Health Services Director
Job Title: Manager VII
Agency: Health & Human Services Comm
Department: Professional Supervision
Posting Number: 21670
Closing Date: 10/18/2026
Posting Audience: Internal and External
Occupational Category: Healthcare Practitioners and Technical
Salary Range: $9,720.33- $13,051.00
Pay Frequency: Monthly
Salary Group: TEXAS-B-28
Shift: Day
Additional Shift: Days (First)
Telework: Not Eligible for Telework
Travel: Up to 5%
Regular/Temporary: Regular
Full Time/Part Time: Full time
FLSA Exempt/Non-Exempt: Exempt
Facility Location: Corpus Christi State Supported Living Center
Job Location City: CORPUS CHRISTI
Job Location Address: 902 AIRPORT RD
Other Locations:
MOS Codes: 0203,0207,0302,0520,0602,0802,1802,5502,6302,6502,7202,7208,7210,7220,111X,112X,113X,114X,16GX,41AX
611X,612X,631X,632X,641X,648X,86M0,86P0,8U000,9G100,SEI15

Brief Job Description:

Come work in an environment where we truly value and respect those we serve and believe in the mission that all people can achieve a higher level of wellness and independence.

The state supported living centers serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are medically fragile or who have behavioral problems. The centers provide campus-based direct services and supports at 13 centers located throughout the state. Learn About Our State Supported Living Centers

If you are looking for a place to work where you can establish a career that is filled with purpose, this is the job for you!

Serves in an on-call rotation, as assigned.

The Director of Behavior Health Services performs highly advanced managerial work, overseeing the clinical and administrative functions of a State Supported Living Center (SSLC) behavior health services department. Oversees the behavior health services department with the SSLC to ensure quality and integration of counseling and ther therapeutic programs with other disciplines, alignment with SSLC strategic goals, and regulatory compliance. Direct and oversees the formulation and execution of long-term strategic departmental plans, departmental policies and procedures, and oversees implementation of local and statewide initiatives. Oversees and evaluates the quality, timeliness, effectiveness and outcomes of plans produced by the department staff. Ensures the behavior health services department is focused on continuous process improvement by identifying issues, providing solutions and managing quality improvement plans. Performs managerial functions and provides professional oversight and guidance to highly specialized employees including Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs), Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), health assistants, behavior health specialists, and skills acquisition plan (SAP) specialists. Oversees daily behavior health services activities, provides feedback, and ensures coordination, integration and collaboration. Within scope of practice, completes diagnostic evaluations such as assessments of intelligence and adaptive behavior, or other standardized tests and develops therapeutic programs. Prepares for and responds to annual survey and regulatory audits. Serves on or leads the work of committees and workgroups. Oversee special projects and the implementation of special initiatives, as assigned. Reviews, develops and approves documents and reports. Works with the State-office Discipline Coordinator for Behavior Health Services and State Reviewers in state-wide efforts to share and facilitate best practices, ensure uniformity of procedures, support system values and mission, and to assist the coordinator to complete projects as requested. Performs other related duties as assigned. Works under minimal supervision with extensive latitude for initiative and independent judgement.

Essential Job Functions (EJFs):

Attends work on a regular basis and may be required to work a specific shift schedule or, at times, even a rotating schedule, extended shift and/or overtime in accordance with agency leave policy and performs other duties as assigned. Serves in an on-call rotation, as assigned.

Oversees the behavior health services department within the SSLC to ensure quality, integrated therapeutic services that align with SSLC strategic goals and regulatory requirements, with the overarching goal of providing treatment that helps individuals develop new skills or abilities, remediate or restore an impaired skill, or maintain existing skills related to behavioral and emotional regulation and activities of daily living (ADLs). Ensures that skills acquisition programs (SAP), positive behavioral support plans (PBSPs), psychiatric support plans (PSPs), counseling plans and other therapeutic programs in the department are effective and are in compliance with Intermediate Care Facility Serving Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF-IID) standards, and all other relevant state and federal laws, rules and regulations. Ensures therapeutic services are delivered within the scope of practice for all behavioral health staff for each therapeutic area. Oversees procurement of therapeutic resources necessary for robust service delivery such as reinforcers for behavioral treatment, materials for skill acquisition training and contracts for counseling services. Leads the department in resolving clinical differences between colleagues, or across disciplines, to foster effective collaboration.

Direct and oversees the development and implementation of long-term strategic departmental plans, policies and procedures, and ensures execution of local and statewide initiatives. Establish priorities for achieving departmental goals and objectives, developing and approving schedules for work completion on an ongoing basis. Conducts annual, quarterly, monthly or more frequent monitoring of the quality, timeliness, and effectiveness of plans developed by department staff, including Positive Behavior Support Plans (PBSPs), Psychiatric Support Plans (PSPs), Skill Acquisition Plans (SAPs), and counseling plans, utilizing QSR tools, SAP audit tools and individualized audit tools created to target specific areas of performance. Develops and implements tools and techniques which monitor behavioral health services and activities such as Section K: Behavior Health, Section C: Restraints, and Section S; Skill Acquisition and Pre-Treatment Sedation of the Quality Service Review (QSR) process. Establishes interrater reliability on QSR tool with the behavioral health services leads to ensure consistent and accurate monitoring. Oversees and evaluates behavioral health services outcomes, including the development of new skills, increased use of emotion regulation and coping strategies, improvement in functional and socially appropriate behaviors and overall reductions in behaviors that interfere with daily living, through personal observation, staff interviews, document reviews, and by using available data such as peer-to-peer incidents, use of restraints, and self-injurious behaviors frequency data.

Ensures the behavioral health services department is focused on continuous process improvement in the areas of restraint reduction, self-injurious behavior reduction, skill building, and emotional and behavioral regulation. Proactively identifies issues and provides solutions. Oversees and manages corrective action plans and quality improvement plans designed to achieve established goals and objectives, including formal quality improvement plans and plans of correction following regulatory or state-office reviews. Establishes minimum standards for each QAQI meeting and then supplements these by identifying areas of deficits. Focuses on those areas for QAQI by leading a root cause analysis, establishing baseline data, developing and implementing a plan and tracking progress. Develops new departmental procedures to improve programs and services while ensuring policies related to behavioral health, restraint and skill acquisitions are implemented effectively.

Provides professional oversight and guidance to highly specialized employees including Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs), Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), health assistants, behavior health specialists, and skills acquisition plan (SAP) specialists, seeking additional clinical expertise when clinical issues are outside their licensure and scope of practice. Provides opportunities for professional development of behavioral health staff, including applied behavior analysis, learning principles, behavior change techniques, positive behavior support, treatment and data integrity measures, behavior assessment, skill acquisition planning, the interaction effects of psychotropic medication and behavior, evidenced-based counseling, trauma informed approaches, restraint reduction, and contemporary psychological issues to positively impact service delivery. Maintains current knowledge in relevant professional areas. Ensures department staff adhere to regulatory standards, established state and local procedures/protocols and are using best practices for an integrated approach to the treatment of individuals with complex medical, behavioral and therapeutic needs. Examples of integration include collaborative approaches to identifying and addressing the root cause of crisis events such as emergency restraint, peer-to-peer aggression with serious injury or self-injurious behavior.

Performs managerial functions, directly supervising the BCBAs and has line management authority over all department staff. Performs personnel activities such as hiring, supervising and evaluating staff and fostering recruitment and retention of professional staff in order to maintain a professional and sufficient departmental workforce. Oversees allocation of staff resources, adjusting staffing assignments on homes/units based on current needs. Ensures there is an on-call behavioral health staff who is available to respond to emergent needs at the center. Makes recommendations for changing emphasis to hiring behavioral staff with counseling, behavioral health and/or education/psychology credentials depending upon the changing needs of persons served at the SSLC. Takes action to improve employee retention and reduce turnover.

Oversees daily behavioral health activities by attending the daily morning medical meeting and Incident Management Team Review (IMRT) and by maintaining a frequent physical presence on the homes/units to oversee behavior health services and to ensure coordination of behavioral health services with other areas throughout the facility to facilitate best practices, ensure uniformity of procedures, and to support system values and mission. Provides feedback to behavior health staff and residential services leadership of their findings in areas such as implementation of proper restraint techniques, trauma-informed practices to de-escalate situations, SAPs, PBSPs, and PSPs. Interacts with individuals residing on campus in an emotionally supportive and therapeutic manner to model and provide an environment of caring, dignity and respect. Within areas of licensure, completes diagnostic evaluations such as assessments of intelligence and adaptive behavior, or other standardized tests within the scope of practice. Based on assessments, develops therapeutic programs such as those to address challenging behaviors and increase adaptive, social and emotion regulation skills, as needed.

Prepares for and responds to annual survey and regulatory audits, which can occur at any time. Responds to requests for information such as monitoring schedules and a list of individuals with positive behavior support plans (PBSPs), SAPs, and individuals receiving direct therapy services. Serves on or leads the work of committees and workgroups including QA/QI council, IMRT, Administrative Review team, Critical Incident Team, Mortality Review Committee, and other special projects and other cross-functional committees and teams. Assistants with facility management, such as being the assigned duty officer (ADO). Oversee special projects and the implementation of special initiatives, as assigned. Examples of special projects include topics of restraint reduction, self-injurious behavior, trauma-informed practices, and emotion regulation.

Works with the State-Office Discipline Coordinator for Behavioral Health Services and State Reviewers in state-wide efforts to share and facilitate best practices, ensure uniformity of procedures, support system values and mission, and to assist the coordinator to complete projects as requested. Established Inter-Rater reliability on the QSR tools with the State Reviewers. To prepare for monthly meetings, ensures staff enter behavior health data into the assessment timeliness tracker, MATS and other electronic systems. Reviews the data produced in the SSLC Key Indicators Platform (SKIP) and trend reports. Participates in discussions on trends (restraints, self-injury, peer to peer aggression, etc.), policy updates, trends, and changes needed based on issues seen through state-wide reviews and through individual cases such as in mortality review committee. Represents the SSLC as requested at local, state, and national conferences and meetings as requested.

Reviews, develops and approves documents and reports such as assessments in the electronic medical record, SAPs, PBSPs, restraint trends, data from SKIP and MATS. At least monthly, reviews documentation of staff into the electronic health record for accuracy and completeness and ensure compliance with state and facility standards. Depending upon the tenure and experience of a staff member or the nature of complexity of an individual, reviews, at least monthly, the collection of data and production of plans involving the individual such as PBSPs, PSPs, Counseling Plans, or SAPs. When they are issued, reviews the findings from annual regulatory survey, monitoring visits and other audits to look for trends and areas within restraint, behavior health services or skill acquisition that need improvement. Uses information contained to address both personnel and system issues and guide plans that produce improved outcomes in the areas of crisis intervention, restraints, and peer-to-peer aggression. Ensures documents produced by staff are of professional quality and appearance and have accurate and appropriate content.

Other duties as assigned include but are not limited to actively participating and/or serving in a supporting role to meet the agency’s obligations for disaster response and/or recovery or Continuity of Operations (COOP) activation. Such participation may require an alternate shift pattern assignment and/or location.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs):

Knowledge of ICF/IID Standards and their application as well as other relevant federal and state laws and regulations, departmental and agency policy.

Knowledge of applied behavioral analysis services to persons with developmental disabilities.

Knowledge regarding etiology and characteristics of developmental disabilities.

Knowledge of standardized evaluations, including assessments of intelligence and adaptive behavior.

Knowledge regarding medications used to assist with positive behavior supports and systems to track treatment effectiveness.

Knowledge of the principles of clinical therapeutic evaluation and treatment and their application to individuals with IDD complex histories, and dual diagnoses.

Skill in assessing, diagnosing and analyzing individual’s skills and abilities, and to train and oversee others in these areas.

Advanced writing skills in developing technical reports and other relevant documents.

Skill in the use of computer software programs and the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system to document, track and trend data and produce reports.

Skill in the administration of standardized evaluations, including assessments of intelligence and adaptive behavior

Skill in applied behavior analysis and development and oversight of positive behavior support and skill acquisition plans.

Advanced leadership skills in motivating staff and effectively implementing program changes.

Ability to train staff in programming and related psychological/behavioral areas.

Ability to supervise clinical, paraprofessional, and clerical staff.

Ability to work with minimal supervision and make varied decisions within broad guidelines/parameters.

Ability to communicate effectively in verbal and written form to individuals or groups including presentations, professional papers, procedures, technical reports, other narratives.

Ability to employ administrative/management skills to make effective decisions to benefit individuals’ services.

Ability to coordinate separate programs (SAPs, applied behavioral analysis, counseling services) into an integrated department.

Ability to establish and maintain working relationships with staff at all levels, individuals served, parents, guardians, and other residents.

Ability to establish goals, plan activities, complete complex tasks, solve complex problems, develop and implement policies and procedures, and make varied decisions within broad parameters and minimal supervision.

Ability to collaborate within the team setting, assume leadership, and to assign and supervise the work of others and to communicate effectively both orally and in writing.

Registrations, Licensure Requirements or Certifications:

Certification as a Behavior Analyst by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board is preferred.

If not Board Certified as a Behavior Analyst at the time of employment, must be eligible to pursue board certification upon hire, and must attain certification within four years of hire date, along with licensure as a behavior analyst in Texas.

Initial Screening Criteria:

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a master’s degree in psychology, social work, counseling, education, applied behavior analysis or a related field; and

At least one year of experience in service provision to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities; and

Experience in applied behavior analysis and behavior support plan development, implementation, and evaluation.

Experience in training, leading, assigning, and/or prioritizing the work of clinical and paraprofessional staff is preferred.

Additional Information:

Applicants must pass a fingerprint criminal background check, pre-employment drug screen, and registry checks including the Client Abuse/Neglect Reporting System (CANRS), Nurse Aide, Medication Aide and Employee Misconduct and HHS List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE).

Males between the ages of 18 – 25 must be registered with the Selective Service.

All State Supported Living Center Employees are subject to Random Drug Testing.

Flexibility in work hours may be required for this position. The position may be required to work overtime and/or extended hours. Must be willing to work weekends and holidays.

All applicants must be at least 18 years of age to be considered for employment at a state-operated facility.

Review our Tips for Success when applying for jobs at DFPS, DSHS and HHSC .

Active Duty, Military, Reservists, Guardsmen, and Veterans :

Military occupation(s) that relate to the initial selection criteria and registration or licensure requirements for this position may include, but not limited to those listed in this posting. All active-duty military, reservists, guardsmen, and veterans are encouraged to apply if qualified to fill this position. For more information please see the Texas State Auditor’s Job Descriptions, Military Crosswalk and Military Crosswalk Guide at Texas State Auditor's Office - Job Descriptions.

ADA Accommodations:

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), HHSC and DSHS agencies will provide reasonable accommodation during the hiring and selection process for qualified individuals with a disability. If you need assistance completing the on-line application, contact the HHS Employee Service Center at View phone number on aiapply.co. If you are contacted for an interview and need accommodation to participate in the interview process, please notify the person scheduling the interview.

Pre-Employment Checks and Work Eligibility:

Depending on the program area and position requirements, applicants selected for hire may be required to pass background and other due diligence checks.

HHSC uses E-Verify. You must bring your I-9 documentation with you on your first day of work. Download the I-9 Form

Telework Disclaimer:

This position may be eligible for telework. Please note, all HHS positions are subject to state and agency telework policies in addition to the discretion of the direct supervisor and business needs.