Mental Health Counseling Jobs in Maine

Job no: 493122

Work type: Staff Full Time - Full Year

Location: Lewiston, ME

Categories: Student Affairs: Counseling and Psychological Services

Title: Director of Counseling and Psychological Services

Position Purpose:

The Director of CAPS serves as the chief mental health officer at Bates assuming responsibility for all of the administrative functions and clinical services offered by CAPS. The Director leads a talented multi-disciplinary team of mental health professionals committed to student well-being and academic success offering short term intervention and treatment, case management, and clinical expertise around campus issues. The Director offers critical clinical perspective and participates in decision making around intervention issues impacting community safety and well-being.

Job Duties:

Leadership and Administration:

• Provide strategic leadership and oversight of CAPS, including strategic planning, oversight of clinical operations including clinical/psychiatric case management functions, and supervision and evaluation of staff.
• Oversee departmental budgets, resource allocation, and external contracts to promote continuous review of departmental priorities and initiatives.
• Manage a multidisciplinary team of licensed mental health professionals, administrative staff, and graduate interns.
• Ensure compliance with professional standards, state laws, and ethical guidelines.
• Develop and implement short and long-term goals aligned with the college’s mission of supporting the holistic development of all students.
• Serve as the chief mental health officer on campus representing CAPS in times of crisis as well as on campus committees and task groups, such as the Bates Care Collaborative (campus well-being team).
• Support divisional and institutional initiatives through collaboration with campus partners and student leaders to amplify student well-being through community connection.
• Lead ongoing integration of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in clinical practice, staff development, and student engagement.
• Develop and maintain understanding of local and national trends and initiatives in college mental health and clinical best practices through ongoing professional engagement.
• Provide ongoing training to CAPS clinical staff around emerging practices and techniques in clinical practice.
• Partner with Health Services to support integrated care, including consultation regarding psychopharmacological treatment and a coordinated support plan.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with local clinical providers, including partners at local behavioral emergency services, to ensure strong pathways of continued care for clients requiring intervention beyond the scope of practice of CAPS.
• Develop and maintain clinical/psychiatric case management practices that support high quality care for students navigating complex clinical presentations.

Clinical Services:

• Serve as chief mental health officer for the college leading clinical support services, proactive training opportunities to community members, and response to mental health aspects of acute community events.
• Responsible for all clinical services related to student mental health including: timely access to services, individual and group therapy, brief treatment, crisis intervention, psychiatric care, community consultation, case management and referrals, etc.
• Ensure oversight and confidentiality of the Electronic Medical Record system (Titanium) and supervise staff to ensure maintenance of documentation of clinical care aligned with professional standards.
• Lead CAPS Clinical Team meetings to ensure students are receiving levels of care appropriate to their conditions, as well as participating in assessment and intervention of students with high risk/safety concerns.
• Oversee and manage the on-call rotation, providing back-up consultation and secondary support to ProtoCall (answering service/first line intervention for after hours crisis/assessment calls) and to the Deans On-Call to provide necessary after-hours crisis response.
• Maintain an appropriate clinical caseload, providing individuals and group counseling and psychotherapy to students.
• Lead data informed assessment of programs and services to evaluate student outcomes and implement strategies for continuous quality improvement.
• Cultivate close relationships with St. Mary’s Hospital staff to allow information sharing and treatment planning for students who are at the hospital and to review continuity of care for students returning to campus.
• Supervise clinical case manager to provide case management resources to students post hospitalization, off campus referrals to specialized providers, and to support students with unique clinical needs.

Supervision and Training:

• Provide clinical supervision and professional development for all staff, including pre-licensure clinicians, case manager, and graduate interns, and support them with obtaining requisite hours and supervision for licensing as applicable.
• Maintain connection to graduate programs to support graduate practicums and internships that allow the continuation and potential expansion of the graduate trainee program at Bates.
• Cultivate a supportive environment that promotes team cohesion, trust, and skill development through shared learning and reflection.

Campus Collaboration, Outreach and Well-Being:

• Serve as member of the Well-Being at Bates Steering Committee to implement campus wide initiatives grounded in dimensions of well-being.
• Strategize with the Office of Student Well-Being to develop creative programs that support student growth and development through connection and belonging.
• Lead and manage facilitation of community programming in support of mental well-being dimension under the dimensions of well-being model.
• Collaborate with campus partners to design and implement outreach, prevention programming, and educational initiatives that promote student well-being and resilience.
• Offer workshops pro-actively or in request from campus partners that support knowledge and trainings related to mindfulness, self-care, suicide prevention, etc.

Minimum Qualifications:

Education

• Master’s or doctoral degree from a regionally accredited university in Counseling, Psychology or Social Work.
• Valid clinical professional license, either in Maine or with the ability to receive such license in Maine within 90 days of starting the position.

Experience

• 5-7 years of clinical experience working with college-age populations (or its equivalent).
• Demonstrated experience in team leadership and supervision of fully licensed clinicians, preliminary licensure clinicians, case managers, and graduate interns.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Progressive leadership in a college counseling center or comparable mental health service.
• Prior administrative and supervisory experience managing an inter-disciplinary team of clinicians.
• Familiarity with electronic record keeping systems, such as Titanium.

Skills and Knowledge

• Commitment to equity and inclusion, and serving the needs of a culturally and educationally diverse community.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including intercultural sensitivity.
• Experience with program assessment, data-informed decision making, and wellness programming.
• Strong ability to collaborate with campus and community partners.
• Knowledge and experience overseeing departmental budgets, and resource allocation.
• Strong sense of how to lead using emotional intelligence.

Benefits:

Bates College offers competitive salaries, excellent benefits (health, dental, sick leave, 24 days of vacation, 2 personal days, 13 paid holidays, dependent care subsidy, free parking, access to library and athletic facilities & more), and a supportive, collegial environment in a drug and smoke-free workplace.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:

Bates College is committed to the principle of equal opportunity and providing an educational and work environment free from discrimination. The college prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status and other legally protected statuses in the recruitment and admission of its students, in the administration of its education policies and programs, or in the recruitment of its faculty and staff. Bates College adheres to all applicable state and federal equal opportunity laws and regulations. All college faculty, staff, students, contractors, visitors, and volunteers are responsible for understanding and complying with the Non-Discrimination Policy.

Inquiries concerning the college’s policies, compliance with applicable laws, statutes, and regulations (such as Title VII, Title IX, and ADA/Section 504), and complaints may be directed to Gwen Lexow, Title IX Officer, 207-786-6445 or via email at glexow@bates.edu.

About Bates:

Bates is internationally recognized as a leading liberal arts college, attracting 2,000 students from across the U.S. and around the world.

Since 1855, Bates has been dedicated to educating the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community. Committed to opportunity and excellence, Bates has always admitted students without regard to gender, race, religion, or national origin.

Cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action, Bates prepares leaders sustained by a love of learning and zeal for responsible stewardship of the wider world. Bates engages the forces — intellectual trends, demographic changes, and technology — that are transforming higher education and the world into which our students graduate.

Bates has highly competitive admissions, graduates over 90 percent of its entering students, and more than half of its alumni earn graduate degrees. Bates employs 200 faculty members and 550 staff.

The college is proud of deep roots in the Lewiston/Auburn community, Maine’s second-largest urban area with a population of approximately 65,000. Bates is located on a beautiful, 133-acre, traditional New England campus in Lewiston, an emerging city with an entrepreneurial climate, a lively arts scene, and a dynamic business community. Bates is 35 miles north of Portland, 140 miles north of Boston, and 350 miles north of New York City.

Advertised: 1 Jun 2026