Behavioral Health Care Manager

The Opportunity

We are looking for a Behavioral Health Care Manager (BHCM) to join Akido’s Enhanced Care Management (ECM) team serving IEHP members across the Inland Empire. This is a meaningful opportunity for someone with a behavioral health background who is passionate about meeting people where they are—literally and figuratively—and wants to make a real difference for individuals navigating serious mental illness, substance use, and the compounding challenges of poverty, housing instability, and chronic illness.

As a core member of an interdisciplinary ECM team alongside a Registered Nurse, Care Coordinator, and Community Health Worker, you will serve as the team’s behavioral health resource—contributing to care planning, providing direct patient support, and ensuring that patients in crisis or with unmet behavioral health needs are connected to the right level of care. You will work primarily in community-based and clinic settings across the Inland Empire, with telephonic outreach and telehealth as needed.

The minimum education requirement for this role is a MSW or MFT, with a California licensure (LCSW/LMFT) preferred. The BHCM will also need to reside locally to the region served.

What You’ll Do

Behavioral Health Care & Member Support

1. Carry a panel of ECM-enrolled patients with behavioral health needs, including serious mental illness (SMI), substance use disorders (SUD), and co-occurring conditions, as part of a collaborative pod model.
2. Conduct behavioral health screenings and assessments to inform individualized care plans, developed in partnership with the patient and the interdisciplinary team.
3. Provide direct patient support using motivational interviewing, harm reduction, and trauma-informed approaches—meeting members in the community, at clinics, or by phone.
4. Serve as the team’s go-to resource for behavioral health questions, warm handoffs, and crisis response protocols—ensuring that patients presenting with suicidality, acute mental health concerns, or SUD crises are appropriately triaged and connected to care.
5. Connect patients to mental health services, peer support programs, crisis lines, and other community resources in the Inland Empire.

Interdisciplinary Team Collaboration

1. Collaborate daily with the RN Care Manager, Care Coordinator, CHW, and Program Manager to coordinate whole-person care for patients with complex needs.
2. Participate in daily huddles, weekly case conferences, and care planning meetings as the behavioral health voice on the team.
3. Support smooth transitions and warm handoffs to county behavioral health, inpatient, and crisis services as needed.
4. Communicate with PCPs, specialists, and community-based partners regarding patient’s behavioral health status and care coordination needs.

Documentation & Compliance

1. Document all encounters accurately and timely in Care Director in compliance with IEHP ECM program requirements, CalAIM standards, and HIPAA.
2. Contribute to audit preparation, quality improvement initiatives, and metric gap closure in collaboration with the ECM Program Manager and Director
3. Other duties as assigned.

Who You Are

1. Grounded in behavioral health—comfortable working with individuals experiencing SMI, SUD, trauma, homelessness, and other complex psychosocial challenges.
2. Committed to harm reduction, health equity, and meeting people where they are without judgment.
3. A skilled collaborator who can hold the behavioral health perspective on an interdisciplinary team while remaining flexible, creative, and patient-centered.
4. Self-directed and organized, with the ability to manage a caseload, prioritize competing demands, and document consistently.
5. A clear communicator who can build trust quickly with diverse populations and navigate difficult conversations with care.
6. Comfortable working across care settings—community, clinic, telehealth, and telephone.
7. Valid California Driver’s License, reliable transportation, and ability to travel locally across the Inland Empire for in-person visits.

Preferred Qualifications

1. Education requirement for this role is a MSW or MFT, with a California licensure (LCSW/LMFT) preferred. 
2. The BHCM will also need to reside locally to the region served.
3. Experience with Medi-Cal/Medicaid populations, CalAIM, or ECM programs.
4. Familiarity with IEHP and the Inland Empire county behavioral health system
5. Experience working with populations experiencing homelessness, justice involvement, or high emergency department utilization.
6. Bilingual English/Spanish preferred but not required.

License, Certification, and Education Requirements

1. Master’s degree in Social Work (MSW) or Masters in Family therapy (MFT)
2. California licensure not required; licensed or license-eligible candidates strongly preferred.
3. Minimum 2 years of experience in behavioral health case management, care coordination, or direct services with Medi-Cal or similarly complex populations.