Staff Therapist - Family Systems Therapist - Child, Adolescent and Family Team

DEPARTMENT: Clinical Services

REPORTS TO: Director of Child, Adolescent and Family Therapy

LOCATION: Hybrid work arrangement from home office and any office location in Chicago, Evanston, or Northbrook

FLSA CLASSIFICATION: [EXEMPT]

THE ORGANIZATION

Through clinical services, education, and research, The Family Institute at Northwestern University is one of the nation’s leading relationship-based behavioral health organizations committed to strengthening and healing children and adolescents, couples, families, and individuals. When you join The Family Institute, you are joining a team of over 230 collaborators comprised of clinicians, educators, researchers, therapists-in-training, partners, and administrators across three service sites. We are a strong, independent organization focused on advancing the world of behavioral health.

Learn more about our culture.

THE ROLE

The Family Therapist provides relationally informed mental health care with a primary focus on family systems across the lifespan, including working with families with young children, adolescents, emerging adults, and adult children. This role requires advanced clinical skills in assessing and intervening with complex family structures, intergenerational dynamics, developmental transitions, and changing family roles over time. The Family Therapist supports the mission of The Family Institute, the vision for Clinical Services, and the organization’s core values of relational health and systemic wellness. This position assumes comfort and competence working with families at varying developmental stages and levels of complexity, including intact, blended, multigenerational, and nontraditional family systems.

ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide psychotherapy that is empirically informed, theoretically grounded, culturally responsive, and explicitly rooted in family systems theory, with families spanning early childhood through adulthood.
• Conduct comprehensive family assessments that account for developmental stage, family life cycle transitions, attachment patterns, intergenerational influences, and cultural context.
• Develop and implement systemic treatment plans that address family dynamics, relational patterns, and individual goals, adapting interventions appropriately for families with young children as well as families with adult children.
• Demonstrate clinical competence in working with:

1. Parents and caregivers of young children navigating early development, parenting stress, and family adjustment
2. Families with adolescents and emerging adults addressing autonomy, identity development, communication skills, conflict resolution, and boundary renegotiation
3. Families with adult children managing intergenerational conflict, caregiving roles, estrangement, reunification, or family-of-origin concerns

• Provide timely responses to current or prospective families and offer appropriate referrals when needs fall outside the scope of services.
• Document all clinical services accurately and in a timely manner within the EHR, in accordance with organizational and regulatory standards.
• Build and maintain a clinical caseload that includes family therapy cases while meeting established productivity and revenue expectations.
• Participate in weekly individual supervision, if required, and a weekly peer clinical consultation group with a focus on systemic and relational practice.
• Attend monthly Clinical Services meetings and all other required organizational meetings.
• Collaborate effectively with families, colleagues, operational staff, and external systems (e.g., schools, healthcare providers, social services) in a culturally attuned and relationally ethical manner.
• Maintain compliance with organizational policies, confidentiality standards, and ethical guidelines.
• Demonstrate ongoing commitment to professional development, particularly related to family systems, lifespan development, and relational intervention.
• Apply AI and/or automation tools that streamline or improve processes, efficiency and quality while exercising discretion and ethical judgment.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the manager for business necessity.

Optional Job Responsibilities

1. Contribute to a class (e.g., guest lecturer)
2. Supervise therapist in-training
3. Participate in a clinical, educational, or research program
4. Present a topic to external groups (workshop, presentation)
5. Receive meta vision
6. Develop and disseminate a “product” (e.g., workshop, talk, blog) that drives referrals to The Family Institute

SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS
Knowledge and Skills

• Demonstrated training and clinical experience in family systems therapy, with the ability to adapt interventions across developmental stages and family structures
• Strong understanding of developmental and intergenerational dynamics within family systems
• Ability to maintain clear professional boundaries while engaging in complex relational work
• Effective interpersonal, teamwork, and collaboration skills, particularly in multidisciplinary environments
• Strong organizational, time-management, and clinical documentation skills

MINIMUM HIRING SPECIFICATIONS

• Master’s degree in a license eligible discipline
• Minimum of one year of postgraduate clinical experience, with direct experience providing family or relational therapy
• Ability and willingness to work some evenings and Saturdays to accommodate families across schedules and developmental needs