Are you ready for another look behind the scenes at some of the team members who make Ascend such an amazing place? We’re here with A Day in the Life of one of our Primary Therapists. Meet Emily and learn more about what she does to enhance our residential treatment programs, ensuring your clients thrive.
What Is a Primary Therapist?
A Primary Therapist at Ascend is the essential guide point for every client who enters our program. They are critical to mapping each client’s personalized treatment plan, identifying underlying concerns, and educating parents and families on mental health needs. The road to recovery can be long, and a Primary Therapist is here for clients from their admission through discharge. Our therapists begin with clinical assessments, refining treatment specifics as clients progress, and conclude with a recommendation for aftercare when clients leave Ascend.
Who Is Emily?
Emily is one of our newest Primary Therapists, joining the Kallos program in 2024. In our Kallos program, we focus on disordered eating as a primary mental health concern. Emily began her time with us by running DBT groups, meeting with clients for individual therapy, and facilitating family therapy sessions. As she acclimated to our processes, she spearheaded a new program that led to the development of the Body Image and Self-Esteem curriculum.
A Day in Her Life
When Emily enters the house, she’s immediately greeted by the current admits, who are typically eating breakfast. They’ll sing a song together or invent a new joke while munching on cereal and drinking orange juice. Her day continues with back-to-back individual therapy, family therapy, case consultations, insurance reviews, and group programming. Sometimes, her day includes a little bit of each, but other times, she’s focused solely on therapy sessions. Since therapy sessions can be heavy, she works to ensure that all her other interactions with clients are a bit more fun and lighthearted to establish better rapport and support throughout the day.
Between therapy sessions, consultations, and reviews, Emily strives to touch base with all the team members involved in client care, including Dietitian Elika and Dr. Colvin, discussing updates and changes to their personalized treatment plans as clients encounter new challenges.
Life Before Ascend
Emily has always been sensitive to the macro-level social issues that can result in a lack of access to mental health support. She’s a firm believer in the power of mental health education and preventative care that allows for the early intervention many teens require for radical transformation and rehabilitation. She has been working with teens and their families for a few years, completing her clinical hours in school-based counseling. She’s also a recent MA graduate of Social Work from Columbia University!
Why Emily Loves Ascend
Working at Ascend means interacting with clients on a daily basis, an experience Emily has found incredibly powerful. Residential treatment provides a unique setting that encourages authentic connections with clients and families to ensure long-lasting changes in their lives. She finds that few other organizations offer the same opportunities for intentional interactions that have such a positive impact on so many lives.
Emily’s time at Ascend has also been an enlightening learning experience. Collaborating with other therapists and clinicians who have decades of experience is an amazing opportunity for personal and career growth.
Why Emily Is Such a Great Fit
Emily’s passion for mental health and disordered eating makes her a brilliant addition to our team. She has spent much of her time developing and refining the Body Image and Self-Esteem groups to help our clients expand their understanding of body neutrality and body acceptance. In this part of our program, Emily talks with clients about redirecting negative body image commentary, embracing new relationships with food, and understanding social media’s effects on their minds. Together, they explore neutral self-talk, diet culture and fads, and creative arts — all as a means of cognitive restructuring around body image and self-esteem.
Challenges & Motivation
While Emily finds Ascend a powerful place to explore vulnerability and experience healing, there are challenges that make some days really tough. Battling insurance companies to deliver the best experience for clients and working with time constraints can create unique hurdles for clients in treatment. In these cases, Emily strategizes with Dr. Colvin, our Kallos Clinical Director, to explore new ideas and think outside the box to ensure the highest level of care.
On her hardest days, Emily reminds herself of everything that keeps her passionate about her work. She knows that starting just one small shift in someone’s life can result in a massive ripple effect that encourages them for years to come. Making a positive impact is Emily’s primary motivation every day she walks into Kallos House.
Keep Up With Us
Now that you know a little more about Kallos and what Emily does there, you may want to explore some of the other roles that ensure Ascend delivers amazing treatment to every client. Check out what mentoring looks like with Manny, what it means to network with Noah, and how our executives stay on top of everything with Allison!
