Chicago, Illinois, March 10, 2022 — Compass Health Center’s Behavioral Health Trauma Program in Chicago has undergone tremendous growth and expansion in the past 18 months resulting in an expanded team of passionate and dedicated clinicians with diverse clinical backgrounds ready to serve the community.
There has been a growing demand for trauma-focused, intensive behavioral health programs in the community. Compass Health Center’s expansion is helping serve more patients in need of care. Last year alone, Compass Health Center saw a 25% increase in demand for trauma treatment. As a result, Compass has hired additional psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and specialized trauma clinicians to meet community demand.
This decision to expand is attributed to a myriad of factors, most notably, the pandemic, which has exacerbated the need for mental health programs and Compass’s growing reputation throughout the state with Compass Virtual. According to the National Trauma Institute, 60% of adults report abuse or other difficult family circumstances during childhood, and 26% of children in the U.S. will witness or experience a traumatic event before they turn four. Additionally, those impacted by trauma are 15 times more likely to attempt suicide, three times more likely to experience depression, and three times more likely to have serious job problems.
“Compass Health Center’s Trauma Partial Hospitalization (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient (IOP) programs at our Chicago location offer targeted and integrated treatment for survivors of trauma. We are eager to serve more patients and offer more tailored and individualized treatment plans,” said Carrie Overbey, LCPC, Chief Clinical Officer, Compass Health Center – Chicago.
The Trauma PHP/IOP programs provide psychoeducation on the impacts of trauma, tangible skills to cope with symptoms, and strategies to live a meaningful and value-aligned life. Beyond these core offerings, patients also have the option to work with specialists and receive family therapy, substance use counseling, art therapy, trauma-informed yoga, 1:1 skills coaching, panic management, and psychiatric medication management.
“Compass’s approach to trauma is unique. Our integrative approach allows patients to build a robust toolset to discover what works best for them. Each patient has a multi-disciplinary team who work collaboratively, ensuring each situation is evaluated from multiple expert perspectives. In the Trauma Program, we focus on creating a safe holding environment so a patient can build insight, learn to cope sustainably, and tap into their strength and resilience. We believe in setting a solid foundation for the long-term work that will continue beyond Compass and work with patients to ensure they have the supports and plan they need for moving beyond Compass,” said Kaitlin Thompson, LCSW, CADC, Director of the Trauma Program Compass Health Center – Chicago.
The Trauma PHP provides evidence-based intensive behavioral health treatment for young adults and adults whose symptoms are impacting daily life and who may need more support than available in once-a-week outpatient therapy. Similarly, the Trauma IOP is designed for young adults and adults who require more intensive, wrap-around treatment than would be available in outpatient settings but not a higher level of care like PHP or hospitalization.
Compass Health Center was founded in 2011 by David Schreiber, MD, and Claudia Welke, MD, child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrists who recognized the Chicago community’s need for intensive, non-hospital-based psychiatric care. While working together in a hospital that provided PHP/IOP and inpatient hospitalization, Drs. Schreiber and Welke realized that there were not enough treatment options for the children and adults they treated in behavioral health crises. As a result, children were being placed on long wait lists, which often led to decompensation, resulting in ER visits leading to inpatient care admission. Drs. Schreiber and Welke realized that with the proper resources in place, many of these ER and inpatient hospitalizations could have been avoided and replaced with a level of care that was timelier, more appropriate, less costly, and disruptive.
Compass Health Center’s evidence-based, comprehensive treatment model provides patients ages five through adulthood with intensive care. Meeting patients’ behavioral health needs leads to better, outcomes-driven care. Today, Compass Health Center is Illinois’ largest and most respected PHP/IOP, with more than 45 full-time psychiatrists/PNP’s and 350+ highly trained master-level therapists covering both location-based and virtual care models. Our primary treatment modalities include medication management, group therapy (e.g., DBT, CBT, ACT, ERP), individual therapy, family therapy, experiential therapy, and psychiatric nursing.
To learn more about our programs or to schedule an intake, visit our website or call to speak to one of our intake specialists.
Downloadable Resource: Healing Through Empowerment – Trauma-Related Book Recommendations
Kaitlin Thompson, LCSW, CADC
Compass Health Center, Director of Trauma Program – Chicago Location
Kaitlin has been at Compass for 1.5 years and prior to that worked with veterans, service members, and their families for 6 years. She has been in the mental health field since 2007, has worked at all levels of care, with both children and adults, and maintained a small private psychotherapy practice on the side for the past 7 years. She has specialized training and certification in a number of treatment modalities for both trauma and addiction treatment. She has published articles on the delivery of trauma treatment, has presented at multiple national conferences, and led numerous community trainings on this topic. She holds a 300-hour certification in Trauma-Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga and is currently working towards her MBA to support her interest in trauma-informed leadership.
Compass Health Center
312.404.4127 | kjones@compasshealthcenter.net