Compass Health Center’s Summer Creative Arts Therapy Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP), offered from June 27th to August 5th, provides a nurturing, evidence-based treatment environment for children and teens to communicate experiences creatively while helping to reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression.
“The creative arts and experiential therapies offer fun and meaningful ways for children and teens to engage in treatment, personal growth, and connection. We are excited to offer this unique opportunity this summer as a part of our continuum of services,” Beth Hope, LCSW, Senior Director of Child and Adolescent Programs, Compass Health Center – Northbrook, said.
This program, available in-person at all of our Chicagoland locations and online through Compass Virtual, is designed to help children and teens struggling with behavioral health challenges gain the skills necessary to navigate the road ahead during the summer months. This comprehensive program is led by our psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and master’s level clinicians including individual therapists, group therapists, family therapists, and experiential therapists. Creative art therapies enable children and adolescents to interact with and gain a deeper understanding of their environment.
This IOP may be suitable for children (ages 8-13) or teens (ages 13-18) with depression, anxiety, difficulty communicating (selective mutism), OCD, ASD, distress, and impairment in daily life, which may prevent them from fully engaging in school, camp, or activities.
“Therapeutic art, music, movement, and improv activities translate seamlessly to the virtual environment. With the expert guidance provided by our experienced virtual clinicians, adolescents will be engaged, connected, and active throughout their time in treatment,” Taryn Kerr, LCSW, Senior Director of Virtual Programs, Compass Virtual.
Areas of Focus
- Generalized Anxiety
- Social Anxiety
- Depression
- Interpersonal Effectiveness
- Mindfulness
- Emotion Regulation
- Distress Tolerance
- Executive Functioning
Creative Arts Therapies
- Art
- Drama
- Dance movement (DMT)
- Improv
- Music
- Recreation
- Yoga
What are Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP)?
Our Intensive Outpatient Programs are a short-term treatment model consisting of half-day treatment for three hours a day on three or more days a week. Children and teens can address their mental health while going to school and returning home each day after the program. At Compass, we provide both daytime and evening options.
IOP services are typically the next step after PHP or inpatient care for those with pre-existing mental health disorders. IOP care is also used as an initial treatment or preventive measure for individuals struggling with their mental health before starting a PHP or checking into a residential facility.
Learn more about Compass Health Center and Compass Virtual
Compass was founded by child and adolescent psychiatrists David Schreiber, MD, and Claudia Welke, MD when they recognized the need for comprehensive, patient-centered, non-hospital based psychiatric care in the Chicago area.
While working together in a hospital that provided PHP/IOP and inpatient hospitalization, Drs. Schreiber and Welke realized that there were not enough psychiatrists or hospital beds to treat the children they saw in behavioral health crises. As a result, children were being placed on long wait lists, which often only made them sicker, resulting in ER visits that would lead to admission for inpatient care. Dr. Schreiber and Dr. 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 less disruptive.
In 2011, Compass Health Center’s first location in Northbrook, IL opened its doors, serving adolescent and young adult patients. Since then, Compass has served more patients each year, expanding to new regions, opening new specialty care offerings, and steadily expanding the variety of patients we treat.
We encourage you to download our Creative Arts Summer IOP flyer and share it with your friends, colleagues, and family. Together, we can make a difference in destigmatizing mental health and increasing access to treatment.
