Book Now!

Job Description: Early-career Fellow Psychotherapist (MSW, MA, LSW or LPC)

Early career fellow members of our clinical team are first-time private practice providers who are either recent graduates of clinical social work or counseling programs, or are switching from another line of social work to practicing psychotherapy. They receive more intensive support from their supervisors and they have stricter professional development requirements. They primarily provide evidence-based individual and couples therapy services to adult clients in our outpatient practice offices located in South Loop and Lakeview neighborhoods. They treat a range of presenting problems such as anxiety, depression, LGBTQIA+ issues, life transitions, relationship issues, race and ethnicity issues, self-esteem and trauma, while keeping each client’s unique identity and desired goals at the front and the center. We also expect clinicians to submit their progress notes within the same calendar day, attend at least one-hour-per-week individual supervision, contribute to our psychoeducational outreach efforts, pursue professional development, and be an active participant in our team meetings.

Apply Now!

Key recurring tasks of this position include:

  1. Conducting full length (53-60 min) psychotherapy sessions with clients on a weekly basis
    • Providing evidence based psychotherapy treatment using a range of modalities such as the Psychodynamic method, CBT, DBT, and Gottman method.
    • If clinically necessary, referring clients to appropriate level of care (e.g., psychological evaluation, medication, intensive outpatient program)
    • If clinically necessary, intervening when a crisis presents itself and taking appropriate actions to ensure safety of client(s)
    • Engaging in psychoeducation during sessions as needed to help clients better understand the mental health landscape
    • Upholding and modeling strong boundaries
    • Upholding and modeling reliability, dependability, and punctuality
    • Prioritizing client care and well being above all else
    • Preparing strong progress notes and posting them within the same day
  2. Attending one hour weekly supervision with a fully licensed clinician
  3. Occasionally conducting 15-minute phone consultations with prospective clients (compensated work)
  4. Completing minimum 3 hours of self-guided professional development training per week
  5. Developing psychotherapy tools (e.g., worksheets, resources, guides, cheat sheets) to be shared with the whole team.
  6. Contributing to our psychoeducational outlets.

Key Traits

We see our early-career fellow psychotherapist opening as a starter position. We understand that any early-career fellow clinician will need strong supervision and ongoing professional development opportunities so that they can close any gaps in their clinical knowledge/skills while providing therapy services to their clients to their absolute best ability. If you are just graduating from your master’s program or if you plan to transition to private practice from another line of work, this position may be a good fit for you.

However, we still expect any candidate to appreciate the importance of seeing themselves as “newcomer” therapists. We expect our early-career fellow clinicians to be motivated to engage in intense ongoing professional development, display openness to feedback, and follow the guidance of their supervisors. In addition, we invest heavily in our early-career fellow clinicians such as providing them weekly individual supervision with a fully licensed clinician, an assigned physical office, professional marketing, steady stream of referrals, a competitive salary, training opportunities in evidence based modalities, and a competitive benefits package, as well as growth opportunities within our practice. Therefore, we expect each candidate to apply to this position with an intention to be a long-term member of our team.

According to best practices of mental health care and codes of ethics, we expect our early-career fellow clinicians to be fully committed to the following principles:

  • Integrity
  • Honesty
  • Adhering to our profession’s ethics code
  • Reliability
  • Dependability
  • Client-first approach

Minimum expected qualifications

  • Holding an MSW, MA or equivalent degree from a Social Work or Counseling program.
  • A strong internship experience and at least two references from your internship.
  • Satisfactory knowledge in at least modern evidence based psychotherapy modalities (e.g., ACT, CBT, DBT, Gottman method, Psychodynamic method)
  • Strong knowledge of HIPAA
  • Strong knowledge of professional code of ethics (ACA or NASW)

In addition, we prefer applicants who share our clinical team’s commitment to the principles of trauma-informed care for our clients:

  • Commitment and enthusiasm to ongoing learning and growth through supervision and seeking additional trainings to close learning gaps and meet client needs
  • Working at an assigned physical office five days a week.
  • Offering both in-person and telehealth sessions.
  • Upholding strong boundaries with clients, co-workers, and management.
  • Commitment to a fixed schedule with minimum 3 evenings availability
  • A full caseload of 20+ weekly client sessions booked

Compensation and Benefits

  1. Up to $50,000 gross compensation per year
  2. Fee-for-service model with a guaranteed minimum salary upon attaining full time status and maintaining full time workload for 90 days.
  3. Comprehensive benefits package
    • Medical insurance (BCBS PPO)
    • Dental insurance (Guardian Dental PPO)
    • 10 days paid time-off
    • 5 days unpaid time-off
    • 401k plan and 2% matching (Guideline)
    • Weekly individual clinical supervision
    • In house CEU academy
    • Starter resources and referral lists
  4. Strong professional support to help you develop and succeed
    • Professional photoshoot and bio writing support
    • External training catalog
    • Weekly individual supervision, supervision contract, and learning agreement
    • Minimal administrative overhead due to sophisticated and thorough practice management
    • Structured, reliable and systematic policies that acknowledge client needs and clinicians
    • Extensive office closure calendar in addition to PTO and UPTO.

If you are interested in our Early-career Fellow Psychotherapist opening, please apply on our Careers Page.

We look forward to connecting with you and hopefully to have you as a member of our team.