Behavioral Health & Safety Clinical Nurse Specialist – APH

Be the Nurse Who Redefines Care.

At Advocate Health, being a nurse means more than delivering exceptional clinical care—it means leading with purpose, compassion, and boldness. As part of our One Advocate Nurse community, you’ll join a unified team committed to lifting others up, embracing innovation, and creating inclusive spaces where everyone can thrive. You’ll be empowered to think boldly, collaborate with humility, and drive change through fearless curiosity. Whether you're at the bedside, in the community, or advancing care through research and education, you’ll help shape the future of health—because here, we’re redefining care for you, for us, for all.

Your feedback matters. Every nurse’s voice is vital in shaping our culture and improving care. We value your insights and experiences because they help us grow stronger together.

About This Location:  

At Aurora Psychiatric Hospital you can count on the most comprehensive continuum of behavioral health care in the state. Located on a beautiful, 30-acre wooded campus in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, our facility offers an ideal healing setting for children, adolescents and adults experiencing mental health or substance concerns.

From our landscaped garden areas to our use of pet therapy dogs, we create a patient-focused, healing treatment experience that fosters recovery. You can rest assured that our team’s expertise and compassion will help you or your loved one begin the journey to recovery in a caring, confidential and comfortable environment.

Major Responsibilities:

• Supports the orientation process by developing, coordinating, facilitating, conducting and evaluating orientation programs for nursing and other healthcare personnel.
• Assists with competency management, which includes using tools that capture objective and subjective data regarding an individual’s knowledge base and actual performance.
• Designs educational activities to address practice gaps for identified target audiences in consultation with a Nursing Professional Development (NPD) Specialist.
• Utilizes best practice standards including adult learning principles in the planning, design, implementation, and evaluation of educational activities in order to facilitate the achievement of desired outcomes (for learners).
• Provides strategies to facilitate a continuous process of lifelong learning which may include role transition, role integration, skill acquisition, and mastery as learners advance from novice to expert in their professions and specialties.
• Collaborates with system and operational leadership to meet the education needs of the site and nursing departments.
• Adjusts materials and teaching strategies appropriate to the situation and the learner’s developmental level, learning needs, readiness, ability to learn, language preference, and culture. Implementation reflects awareness of scope of practice of different employees and disciplines. Uses assisted aids/technologies as needed to meet learners needs.
• Evaluates and analyzes the impact of programming on learners, organizational resources, and patient outcomes and makes adjustments in consultation with an NPD Specialist as needed.
• Establishes and implements appropriate evaluation tools and methodologies to identify needs or gaps in the knowledge, skills, and competencies of nursing personnel to advance the practice of nursing in consultation with an NPD Specialist as needed.
• Develops and supports education needs based on specialty or department in collaboration with regional and system teams.
• Must be able to demonstrate knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of the patients served. Must demonstrate knowledge of the principles of growth and development over the life span and possess the ability to assess data reflective of the patient's status and interpret the appropriate information needed to identify each patient's requirements relative to his/her age-specific needs, and to provide the care needed as described in the department's policies and procedures. Age-specific information is developed further in the departmental job standards.

Education Required:

• Bachelor's Degree in Nursing.

• Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) Certification or Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) Certification – Preferred and/or

  Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree- Preferred

Experience Required:

• Typically requires 3 years of experience in front line nursing.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Required:

• Excellent written and oral communications including strong presentation/speaking skills.
• Excellent interpersonal, negotiation, planning and problem solving skills.
• Critical thinking and analytical skills.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions:

• Generally exposed to a normal office environment.
• Must have functional speech, hearing, and senses to allow effective communication.
• Position requires travel, may be exposed to road and weather hazards.
• Operates all equipment necessary to perform the job.

This job description indicates the general nature and level of work expected of the incumbent. It is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities required of the incumbent. Incumbent may be required to perform other related duties.