Wellstar Health System logo
Wellstar Health System
Austell, Georgia

Lead Behavioral Health Therapist - Behavioral Health @ Austell

Counselor / TherapistNo weekendsNo nightsFull-Time

Compensation

Pay not listed

The week · per this posting · Monday – FridayWeekdays only

Ask the employer about the pay range, the work setting, call expectations and time off.

Posted 1h ago · Verified live

Job Description

How would you like to work in a place where your contributions and ideas are valued? A place where you can serve with compassion, pursue excellence and honor every voice? At Wellstar, our mission is simple, yet powerful: to enhance the health and well-being of every person we serve. We are proud to have become a shining example of what's possible when the brightest professionals dedicate themselves to making a difference in the healthcare industry, and in people's lives.

Work Shift

  • Day (United States of America)
  • Location: Wellstar Cobb Behavioral Health
  • 3950 Austell RD. Austell, Ga 30152

Shift/Schedule

Day shift/40 hours per week/Monday - Friday.

Job Summary

Functioning under the leadership of the Nurse Manager or designee, the Lead Therapist-Licensed provides clinical leadership and therapeutic services for patients receiving care on the inpatient Behavioral Health Unit.

This role delivers evidence-based, trauma-informed, and patient-centered individual, group and family therapy; completes psychosocial assessments and safety planning; and collaborates with the interdisciplinary team to develop, implement and maintain individualized treatment plans.

The Lead Therapist- Licensed supports safe, high-quality patient care by coordinating therapeutic programming, maintaining the group therapy schedule, guiding the treatment planning process and supporting disposition planning.

As a site-based lead, this position provides clinical guidance to therapists and disposition planners and partners with nursing leadership to promote efficient, consistent and clinically appropriate care.

Core Responsibilities and Essential Functions

1. Individual and Group Therapy a. Provides individual therapy to assigned caseload using evidence-based, trauma-informed and patient-centered interventions aligned with the treatment plan b.

Develops, maintains, and coordinates the group therapy schedule for the inpatient behavioral health unit, including assignment of team members to facilitate groups. c.

Facilitates group therapy sessions focused on coping skills, emotional regulation, relapse prevention, safety planning, psychoeducation and discharge readiness d. Conducts family sessions, as appropriate, to support treatment goals, enhance communication, and promote safe discharge planning. e.

Collaborates with the interdisciplinary treatment team to identify therapeutic needs, monitor patient progress, and update individualized treatment plans. f. Documents individual, group, and family therapy interventions in the electronic medical record in a timely, accurate, and clinically appropriate manner. g.

Provides therapeutic interventions to support crisis stabilization, symptom management, engagement in treatments and continuity of care after discharge.

2. Discharge Planning/Patient Placements a. Coordinate with the care team to develop an appropriate disposition plan and facilitate referrals to recommended level of care for post-discharge follow-up. b. Identifies and documents barriers to timely disposition. c.

Obtains collateral from patients family/identified supports to plan for continued care d. Provides education/counseling to patient/family to assist in understanding, accepting and following medical recommendations of his/her conditions. e.

Understands eligibility processes and criteria for referrals to identified levels of service and resources;. f. Develops a Safety Plan with all patients. g. Allows for any cultural or religious beliefs in providing services and continuity of care.

5. Patient Assessment a. Conduct and interpret comprehensive biopsychosocial assessments for the Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit:

Complete Suicide Risk Assessment

Collaborate with collateral/support contacts b. Establish a disposition plan appropriate for the clinical, medical and biopsychosocial presentation and resource needs of the patient. c. Consult with Psychiatry Team, Nursing staff and other appropriate team members to establish the treatment plan d.

Review the treatment plan with the patient/guardian to ensure comprehension of program services available and provide recommendations. e. Serve as the owner of patient treatment plans, ensuring they are reviewed and updated appropriately in treatment team and signed by all parties.

3. Documentation a. Documents initial psychosocial/functional assessment in the electronic medical record. b. Documents suicide risk assessment in the electronic medical record. c. Documents ongoing reassessments, and safety plan in the electronic medical record. d. Documents each patient contact. e.

Assists with legal documentation as appropriate (i. e., 1013, 1014, 1015, 1021) f. Documents all contact with collateral contacts, support systems and resource referrals in a timely and accurate manner. g. Ensures daily reports are completed to ensure continuity of patient care from shift to shift.

4. Professional Development and Initiative a. Adheres to ethical business practices by striving to perform in a manner that conforms to the highest standards of ethical behavior, integrity and honesty. b. Maintains confidentiality of all patient information. c.

Maintains attendance/punctuality in accordance with system policy and procedure. d. Serves as a team lead by proactively managing the workload across the team, maintaining group schedule and assignments,, working complex cases and offering support to peers. e.

Provides hand-offs to enhance continuity of care, mitigate gaps in services, and escalate barriers in service delivery. f. Attends and participates in staff meetings, required in-services, process improvement activities, and other meetings as requested. g.

Completes all initial and ongoing professional competency assessments, required mandatory education and population specific education.

Performs Other Duties as Assigned

Complies with all Wellstar Health System policies, standards of work, and code of conduct.

Required Minimum Education

Masters Social Work or Masters Professional Counseling

Required Minimum License(s) and Certification(s)

All certifications are required upon hire unless otherwise stated.

LPC - Lic Professional Counselor or LCSW - Lic Clinical Social Worker GA or MFT - Marriage & Family Therapist BLS - Basic Life Support or ARC-BLS - Amer Red Cross Basic Life Support or BLS-I - Basic Life Support - Instructor CPI-TRNG - Crisis Prevention Reqd Trng or AVADE (Wellstar) - De-Escalation or AVADE-P (Wellstar) - De-Escalation - Provisional (30 Days) within 30 Days

Required Minimum Experience

Minimum 4 years experience working with adult/child populations. Required and It is preferred that candidates have experience working with behavioral health patients. (internships and volunteer experiences may apply) Preferred informal leadership experience Preferred

Required Minimum Skills

Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing; capacity to think abstractly and develop innovative services that can better meet organizational and patient needs; specific interest in behavioral health and willingness to work at various WellStar sites depending upon need; knowledge of behavioral health best practices; basic technological capabilities in Word, and Excel, as well as the ability to utilize a Telemedicine cart for remote assessments.

Join us and discover the support to do more meaningful work—and enjoy a more rewarding life. Connect with the most integrated health system in Georgia, and start a future that gives you more.

Key Responsibilities

The Lead Therapist provides clinical leadership and delivers evidence-based individual, group, and family therapy within an inpatient behavioral health unit. They also coordinate therapeutic programming, manage treatment plans, and collaborate with the interdisciplinary team to ensure high-quality patient care and effective discharge planning.

Requirements

Candidates must hold a Master's degree in Social Work or Professional Counseling and possess a valid license such as LPC, LCSW, or MFT. A minimum of 4 years of experience working with adult or child populations in a behavioral health setting is required.

Qualifications

Education
Master's degree (postgraduate degree)
Experience
2+ years of experience

Key Skills

Psychosocial assessmentTrauma-informed careEvidence-based practiceInterdisciplinary collaboration

Work-Life Balance Analysis

WeekdayDoc's proprietary algorithm rates Lead Behavioral Health Therapist - Behavioral Health @ Austell at Wellstar Health System a 6.4 out of 10 for work-life balance — classified as good. This places the position in the Above average in Mental Health Therapy (Counseling) — ranked against 7,943 active Mental Health Therapy (Counseling) listings on WeekdayDoc. Contributing factors include no weekend requirements, no night shifts.

Counselor Career Context

Of the 50 active Mental Health Therapy listings this role was benchmarked against, 46% are remote, 18% have no call, 70% require no weekends.

The cost-of-living index for Georgia is 96.3 (US average = 100; BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)). 59.8% of Georgia clinicians report burnout symptoms in WeekdayDoc's Burnout Index (2026-01 data).

Mental Health Therapy by the numbers
MeasureThis jobMarket
Work-life score6.4 / 10 · above average in mental health therapy (counseling)ranked against 7,943 Mental Health Therapy (Counseling) listingslisting-based score, 0–10
Cost of livingGeorgia index 96.3US average = 100BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)
Mental Health Therapy listings in Georgia193 active7,967 nationallylive on WeekdayDoc, Oct 2026
Work settingon-sitepeers: 46% remote · 18% no call · 70% no weekends50 benchmarked listings
Sign-on & loan repaymentnot statedGeorgia Counselor listings: 6% state a sign-on bonus · 17% offer loan repayment326 active listings, Oct 2026
Sources: WeekdayDoc live listing index (7,943 Mental Health Therapy (Counseling) listings), BEA Regional Price Parities (2024); as of Oct 2026. Same values as the Weekday Verdict and Market Insights on this page.

Top Counselor Jobs

46 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution

45 jobs · 34 employers
14
<$65k
14
$65k-85k
11
$85k-105k
2
$120k
4
$125k+

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks

35 jobs · 34 employers
401k / retirement match
94% this job
CME allowance
37% this job
Sign-on bonus
29%
Loan repayment
26%
PSLF eligible
23%

Share of similar jobs offering each benefit

#1

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Adjuvant Behavior Health · Austin, Texas, United States

$60-$62/hr
#2

Therapist - Adult Outpatient/Elmira

Aurora Mental Health & Recovery · Aurora, Colorado

$61k-$127k
#3

Licensed Clinical Mental Health Therapist - LICSW/LPCC/LMFT

$74k-$126k
#4

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT, LPC, LCSW)

$92k-$125k
+ 44 more · ranked by pay

Work-life snapshot

median 6.0this job 6.4
Better work-life than 60% of Mental Health Therapy (Counseling) listings

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 7,943 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

  • No weekends
  • No nights
Wellstar Health System logo

About Wellstar Health System

Hospitals and Health Care
Marietta, Georgia
10,000+ employees

Benefits & Perks

Health Insurance
Dental
Vision
401k
PTO
CME Allowance

Living in Austell

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$280k
Typical market rent
$1,669/mo
Residents’ average commute
31 min
State income tax
Up to 5.8%
Sources & methodology

Sources: Zillow home values (Sep 2026), Zillow market rents (Sep 2026), U.S. Census ACS 2024 five-year.

City-level figures. Not a cost-of-living guarantee.