Mental Health Therapist - Ellington Place - FT (Mon-Fri, 8:00am - 4:30p)

University Health Behavioral Health is seeking a compassionate, creative, and clinical leader to join our team as a Mental Health Therapist at Ellington Place.

Located in Kansas City, Ellington Place is a 16-bed, unlocked IRTS (Intensive Residential Treatment Services) facility designed to support adults with severe and persistent mental illness. Our mission is to stabilize symptoms, foster independent living skills, and empower clients on their recovery journey. In this role, you will be the driving force behind our therapeutic community, shaping the daily environment through clinical support and structured engagement.

Why You'll Love Working Here

If you want to move away from high-travel case management, this role offers a stable, single-site environment where you can build deep therapeutic connections. You will have the unique opportunity to design and lead the active day programming that gives our clients purpose, structure, and hope. We foster a highly collaborative, team-oriented environment where your clinical creativity is celebrated. Best of all, we provide comprehensive, specialized training in Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy (CT-R), ensuring you have cutting-edge, evidence-based tools to transform lives while advancing your own professional skill set.

Key Responsibilities

• Day Programming Leadership: Direct, implement, and lead the weekly daytime activities and therapeutic groups for the 16 clients residing at Ellington Place.

• CT-R Integration: Design and run structured programming heavily rooted in Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy (CT-R) to help clients discover personal strengths, build skills, and achieve goals.

• Cross-Shift Programming Design: Collaborate with residential leadership to plan and structure therapeutic activities for evening and weekend shifts, ensuring continuity of care.

• Direct Clinical Support: Provide real-time mental health interventions, coping skill development, and clinical guidance to clients throughout the day.

• Single-Site Milieu Management: Maintain a consistent, physical presence at Ellington Place during your shift to cultivate a therapeutic, safe, and empowering community atmosphere.

Perks of the Position

• Predictable Schedule: Consistent Monday through Friday day shift schedule

• Advanced Clinical Training: Receive specialized, fully funded training in Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy (CT-R) to add a powerful evidence-based practice to your clinical toolkit.

• Sustainable Work-Life Balance: Work under a leadership team and a Director of Residential Housing known for being highly attentive to staff needs, avoiding burnout, and protecting your time outside of work.

• Comprehensive Benefits Package: Competitive compensation alongside robust medical, dental, vision, and retirement benefits.

Minimum Requirements

• Master's degree from an accredited program in counseling, psychology, social work, family therapy or closely related field,

• Staff with a master's degree in social work are required to have a MO LMSW (if this hasn't been obtained yet, still apply)

• Knowledge of psychiatric terminology and the process of psychiatric diagnosis.

• Must demonstrate knowledge of the theory and practice of mental health assessment and treatment and have basic research skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills are required, as is the ability to function as a member of a multi-disciplinary team.

• Must have organizational and leadership skills.

• Must be able to demonstrate good independent judgment, adapt to new duties and work in a changing environment.

• If driving is a requirement for the employee, he/she must meet the requirements specified in the Fleet Driving Safety and Compliance Policy and must continue to meet these requirements as a condition of employment.

• Completion of training as directed through orientation and/or by Leadership, Management or Educators in the established timeline for continued employment.

• Completion of training as directed through orientation and/or by Leadership, Management or Educators in the established timeline for continued employment