Licensed Admissions Clinical Reviewer

Fully Remote, Part- Time. LCSW, LMFT, LPCC/LPC, or Licensed Psychologist.

$48–$65 per hour, depending on experience, qualifications, and geographic location.

Monday-Friday 2:00PM-5:00PM PST

Primary Purpose and Function

Muir Wood operates 17 facilities throughout Northern, Central, and Southern California, providing residential and outpatient treatment for boys and girls ages 12–17 with mental health and substance use disorders. Our structured, compassionate environments help teens and their families navigate complex challenges while developing healthier, more productive ways of managing their lives. We provide Joint Commission-accredited residential treatment and a verified Supplementary Education Program, with a guiding philosophy centered on kindness and compassion rather than confrontation and control.

The Licensed Admissions Clinical Reviewer provides senior clinical expertise and decision-making support during the admissions process. This is not a traditional intake or utilization review position. The role focuses on prospective clients whose clinical histories, symptoms, behaviors, or family circumstances require additional assessment and professional judgment before admission.

The Licensed Admissions Clinical Reviewer will review complex referrals, gather additional information from families and referring professionals, consult with Clinical Directors, and determine whether a prospective client can be safely and appropriately served within a Muir Wood program.

The ideal candidate has significant adolescent residential treatment experience, strong clinical judgment, and a practical understanding of admissions and placement. They approach each referral with curiosity and collaboration, balancing the needs of the teen and family with program capabilities, milieu considerations, and safety. When appropriate, the clinician will identify additional information, safeguards, or supports that may create a responsible path to admission.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

Clinical Review and Admission Decisions

• Review elevated or clinically complex admission assessments, supporting records, treatment history, and collateral information.
• Assess clinical presentation, acuity, risk factors, treatment needs, family dynamics, and readiness for residential treatment.
• Determine clinical appropriateness for admission and identify the Muir Wood program best suited to the prospective client's needs.
• Approve admissions within established authority and escalate cases requiring additional medical, psychiatric, or executive review.
• Determine when additional records, assessments, stabilization, safety planning, or a different level of care is necessary before admission.
• Document admission decisions and the clinical rationale for approval, deferral, escalation, or decline.

Family and Referral Consultation

• Communicate with parents and caregivers to clarify clinical history, recent behaviors, safety concerns, family dynamics, and treatment expectations.
• Consult with referring clinicians, hospitals, schools, and other professionals when additional clinical context is needed.
• Communicate clinical recommendations and decisions clearly, compassionately, and with appropriate sensitivity.
• Help families understand requests for additional information, stabilization, safety planning, or alternative treatment recommendations.

Collaboration With Admissions and Programs

• Serve as a clinical resource to the Admissions team for elevated, complex, or uncertain referrals.
• Partner with Clinical Directors to assess program fit, current milieu considerations, accommodations, and the program's ability to meet the prospective client's needs.
• Communicate relevant clinical risks, precautions, accommodations, and initial treatment priorities to the receiving program before admission.
• Promote consistent clinical decision-making across programs while accounting for differences in population, capabilities, and current milieu.
• Participate in case reviews and contribute to improvements in admission criteria, escalation pathways, and clinical review practices.
• Identify recurring referral trends, clinical gaps, and opportunities to improve assessment quality and admissions processes.

Minimum Qualifications

Required

• Master's degree or higher in social work, marriage and family therapy, counseling, psychology, or a related behavioral health discipline.
• Active, unrestricted independent clinical license, such as LCSW, LMFT, LPCC/LPC, or licensed psychologist.
• At least five years of behavioral healthcare experience, including significant experience in adolescent residential treatment.
• Strong assessment experience with complex clinical presentations, including conditions or concerns that may involve suicidality, self-harm, aggression, substance use, trauma, eating concerns, neurodivergence, family instability, elopement risk, and other safety or treatment-complicating factors.
• Demonstrated ability to make sound clinical placement and risk decisions when information may be incomplete, evolving, or conflicting.
• Experience collaborating with admissions professionals, families, referring clinicians, and residential program leadership.
• Excellent clinical documentation and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to make timely decisions while maintaining appropriate clinical boundaries and escalation practices.
• Ability to work independently and manage sensitive information with discretion in a remote environment.

Preferred

• Experience as a residential Clinical Director, senior clinician, clinical admissions reviewer, assessment clinician, or in a comparable clinical decision-making role.
• Experience working across multiple residential programs or levels of behavioral healthcare.
• Knowledge of adolescent co-occurring mental health and substance use treatment.
• Experience assessing neurodivergent adolescents and identifying appropriate accommodations and program supports.
• Familiarity with California adolescent residential treatment requirements and standards.

Schedule and Work Arrangement

This is a fully remote, part-time W-2 position that may be performed from anywhere in the United States, subject to applicable employment and licensing requirements.

The role will begin at approximately 10–15 hours per week, with the opportunity to grow to approximately 16–20 hours per week based on admissions volume, organizational needs, and the clinician's availability.

The anticipated schedule is four days per week, building toward approximately four hours per day. Specific coverage hours will be established in advance and will overlap with the Admissions team and California-based program leaders. Because admissions decisions can be time-sensitive, responsiveness during scheduled working hours is essential.

The predictable, part-time schedule may be well suited to an experienced clinician who maintains a private practice or another compatible part-time role.

Role Boundaries

The Licensed Admissions Clinical Reviewer is responsible for pre-admission clinical assessment, consultation, and placement decisions. This position does not carry an ongoing therapy caseload, provide continuing treatment to prospective clients, or replace the authority of the program's Clinical Director once a client has been admitted.

Work Environment

This is a remote position performed primarily from a home office or comparable workspace. The employee will regularly sit, use a computer and keyboard, and communicate verbally by phone and video conferencing.

Muir Wood Core Values

Muir Wood employees are committed to providing the highest level of care and service to our clients, families, and referral partners. Employees are expected to embody the following core values: Integrity, Excellence, Innovation, Compassion, Collaboration, Service