Group Therapist, Eating Disorders

Weekly outpatient therapy isn't always enough, and a trip to the ER isn't the only answer. Patients and their families rely on Compass Health Center when in crisis – every day, we help people overcome depression, anxiety, suicidality, obsessions/compulsions, trauma, chronic pain, and other obstacles in order for our patients to live freely.

About This Role

At the core of Compass, we believe in the power of community and connection, which is why we are committed to our group-based programming. As a Group Therapist in the Over-18 Eating Disorders Program, you’ll spend the majority of your time with our patient facilitating evidence-based groups and providing secondary support for meals and snacks. You’ll deliver a structured curriculum built on CBT-E, exposure therapy, DBT, and ACT, and you’ll partner closely with the entirety of our treatment teams, including Registered Dietitians, Primary Therapists, Family Therapists, and Psychiatry Team Members to ensure comprehensive and compassionate care.

Compass is proud to be a trailblazer within the future of behavioral health, offering fully virtual PHP/IOP programs to patients across the entire state of Illinois. Our virtual programs meet the needs of modern healthcare, providing flexibility for both patients and clinicians while increasing access to fundamental care.

What You'll Do:

Group Facilitation

• Facilitate evidence-based groups across the program curriculum, including CBT-E, exposure therapy, DBT and MED-DBT, ACT, and general CBT content
• Deliver curriculum content with fidelity to program design, adjusting intervention selection, pacing, and examples to fit group composition, acuity, and co-occurring presentations
• Recognize how co-occurring OCD, trauma, and mood presentations show up in group and during eating blocks and select interventions accordingly
• Draw on ERP, DBT, ACT, and behavioral activation as indicated when co-occurring symptoms surface in the groups
• Develop therapeutic group relationships that promote positive change in patients

Eating Support

• Provide therapeutic support during supported meals and snacks, including direct observation, coaching, and post-meal support
• Identify and respond to eating disorder behaviors, rituals, and accommodation-seeking
• Support patients in distress during and after eating blocks using skills consistent with the program’s treatment model

Team Communication

• Relay clinical observations from groups and eating blocks to the treatment team during daily rounds and as needed
• Contribute group-based observations to overall case formulation
• Document group participation and clinical observations in the electronic medical record

Program Operations

• Participate in required program training, fidelity monitoring, supervision, and consultation
• Provide feedback on curriculum content and delivery through program leadership
• Other duties, as assigned

Who You Are:

Credentials and Experience

• Psychologist or master’s level therapist (required)
• Hold, or be eligible to obtain, a master's level provisional or independent clinical license in the state of Illinois
• 1+ year of post-Master's clinical experience, or a relevant Master's level internship
• Experience treating eating disorders (strongly preferred)
• Experience treating OCD, anxiety, PTSD, and/or depression (preferred)
• Have experience in a PHP, IOP, residential, or inpatient setting (preferred)
• Experience with patients in crisis, and a strong passion for working within high acuity environments

Skills and Approach (preferred)

• Passionate about facilitating group therapy and seeking an environment to work collaboratively with others
• Possess a core skill set in CBT and DBT
• Working knowledge of conceptualization of eating disorder treatment and co-occurring conditions
• Ability to deliver interventions that reliably address maintaining mechanisms of disorders, and ability to tolerate patient distress without accommodating or reassuring
• Practices from weight-inclusive framework
• Adopts “all foods fit” approach towards clinical nutrition
• Works within defined curriculum and fidelity expectations rather than an idiosyncratic model
• Seeks and uses supervision and consultation

We are committed to a fair and equitable work environment. The expected compensation range for this role is below. This range includes multiple career path levels across the organization; where you fall in the range is dependent upon a number of factors including, but not limited to, your years of experience, type of experience, location, and education/certifications. Compass reserves the right to update these ranges.

We know job descriptions can be intimidating, so if this sounds like an opportunity for you, please don't hesitate to apply!

Who We Are

Compass Health Center is a recognized leader in crisis-level mental health, bringing passion, connection, and patient-centered care to the Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient space (PHP/IOP). Based in Chicagoland, we serve hundreds of patients every day, ranging from ages 5 through adulthood, in our onsite facilities or through our flourishing virtual programming. Compass fills a critical gap between outpatient and inpatient care through an intermediate level of Behavioral Healthcare.

A few more things we want you to know: our values are super important to us, and hopefully will be to you, too. Cultural humility, teamwork, continuous improvement, connection, patient centered care, passion, innovation, and agility should be your power sources. Joining Compass is an opportunity to feel fulfilled through a joint mission towards healing our communities.

Benefits & Perks

We know that you will be dedicated to your purpose here. We look at that investment as a two-way street. We are proud to offer plenty of space for growth, and opportunities to pursue continuous development within our organization.

For eligible positions, our other benefits include: comprehensive medical/dental/vision plans, 401k program with company matching, generous PTO (including competitive parental leave after 1 year of employment), and continuous training through CEU seminars and volunteering opportunities.

What’s Next?

Compass is committed to cultivating diverse and dynamic teams who exude passion for their craft, so whether or not you check all the boxes, we encourage you to apply – we’d be grateful to hear from you!

Originally posted on Himalayas