Compass Health Center accepts most major commercial insurance plans. Insurance benefits and coverage are verified individually, call us to understand how Compass works with you to make care as affordable as possible.
Mental Health & Substance Use Treatment
It’s Not Either/Or. It’s Both/And.
For teens, young adults, and adults who are navigating mental health challenges and substance use, we provide evidence-based, compassionate, integrated care for both. Our treatment model is built for those whose mental health symptoms are complicated by substance use, and who need support in both areas. Whether you’re experiencing anxiety and using substances to cope, struggling with depression alongside alcohol or drug use, or seeking to reduce or abstain, our program is designed to treat the whole person, mind and body together.
About the Program
Program offerings may differ by location. Kindly call us to confirm specific program details.
Ages
- Teen (13-18)
- Young Adult (18-23)
- Adult (23+)
Treatment Levels
- IOP
- PHP
In-Person
- Chicago, IL
- Northbrook, IL
- Silver Spring, MD
- Oak Brook, IL
Virtual Locations
- Washington, D.C.
- Virginia
- Illinois
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Wisconsin
Program Overview
Addressing Mental Health & Substance Use Together
For too long, mental health and substance use have been treated as separate issues. But the research is clear: they are deeply connected, and people need care that addresses both, without forcing them to choose one or the other.
This is why our Mental Health & Substance Use Program provides integrated, specialized, evidence-based treatment that supports teens, young adults, and adults in achieving long-term well-being. This program is offered in-person and virtually across all levels of care at Compass Health Center, including Partial Hospitalization (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient (IOP). Our program helps individuals build the skills they need to manage their mental health and pursue their treatment goals in a safe, supportive environment.
Not Sure If This Program Is Right for You?
You’re not alone. Many people come to us feeling uncertain, unsure if what they’re going through is “serious enough” or if they’re ready for treatment.
Here’s the truth: If you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or like things are getting worse—not better— we’re here to help.
Let’s take the first step together.
Ages
Who We Help: Specialized Care by Age Group
Our Mental Health & Substance Use Program supports teens, young adults, and adults through age-specific treatment tailored to their unique needs and stage of life.
- Developmentally appropriate care for mental health concerns such as anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, as well as substance use, including alcohol, vaping, and marijuana.
- Support for family dynamics, peer relationships, and school functioning to create stability across environments.
- Individual, group, and family therapy that builds coping skills, resilience, and motivation for lasting change.
- Treatment that addresses identity development, independence, and co-occurring mental health issues and substance use.
- Flexible, transition-focused programming to support school, work, and relationships.
- Emphasis on relapse prevention, peer support, and life skills.
- Integrated care for complex mental health and substance use challenges.
- Focus on long-term well-being, relapse prevention, and daily functioning.
- Flexible scheduling for working professionals, caregivers, and other responsibilities.
Our Specialized Approach
It’s All Connected, So We Treat It That Way
Many individuals use substances as a way to manage underlying emotional pain and mental health challenges. Our Partial Hospitalization (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient (IOP) Programs are designed to go beyond surface-level symptom management to uncover and treat the fundamental causes.
Evidence-Based Therapies
Gold-standard clinical approaches rooted in research and best practices.
Multidisciplinary Team
Includes psychiatrists, licensed clinicians, nurses, and Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselors (CADCs).
Personalized Treatment Plans
Tailored care plans built around each participant’s goals for sustainable progress.
24/7 Psychiatric Access
On-call prescribers available around the clock for urgent needs outside program hours.
Integrated Care Model
A psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner follows each participant throughout treatment and manages medication when appropriate.
Psychiatric Evaluations
Initial evaluation within 48 hours, with ongoing medication management and regular consultation.
Immediate Access
Mental health assessments within 24 hours, with program entry as soon as the next day.
Mental Health Symptoms Drop Significantly with Care
Individuals in Compass Health Center’s Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) program begin treatment with moderate to severe anxiety and/or depression. Within the first two weeks, 92% of individuals report a dramatic reduction in depressive symptoms. By the time they complete the program, most report a 40% to 60% reduction in symptoms. These outcomes are more than just numbers. They reflect real, life-changing progress.
Depression. Anxiety. PTSD. OCD. Substance use. These challenges don’t exist in isolation, and treatment shouldn’t either. Our integrated care model helps you heal the whole picture, without having to choose which part of yourself to treat first.
Feeling stuck? You don’t have to stay there. Take the first step.
Gold Standard, Evidence-Based Treatment Modalities
We work closely with each individual to understand their goals, whether that means reduction or abstinence, and tailor treatment accordingly. Our clinical team uses evidence-based therapeutic approaches that support each person’s unique needs and experiences, including:
Individual therapy is a confidential, one-on-one session between a patient and a licensed therapist focused on supporting mental health treatment through evidence-based care. In these sessions, the therapist and patient work together to explore thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, identify unhelpful patterns, and develop personalized coping strategies and treatment goals.
Family therapy occurs between a therapist and all or some family members. It is often focused on exploring the dynamics within a family, improving communication, resolving conflict, and helping families live more harmoniously. Supporting families in family therapy to integrate evidence-based skills as a family and as individuals can be incredibly impactful. Skills can help family members feel more connected with one another and empower them to manage stressors in the family system. At times, the therapist might want to meet with individuals alone to prepare for sessions with the whole family system; however, most of the treatment is provided with families together. At Compass, family therapy is an essential part of our treatment model. Ensuring our patients and their loved ones feel informed, supported, and engaged in the treatment process and practicing evidence-based skills is a top priority. Our dedicated family therapists work closely with patients to identify who should participate in family therapy sessions and to create a focus for those sessions to best support their goals at Compass.
Group therapy includes one or two group facilitators and a cohort of participants (typically between 4 – 16 people in the space). The number and make-up of participants in each group may depend upon program census, type/content of group, and various other factors. The group therapy space is developed to be a confidential and supportive milieu in which participants can learn and practice coping skills and discuss topics to build insight and actively move towards identified treatment goals. Group members are encouraged to validate and relate to each other and engage with therapists to discuss and process skill integration, emotions, and thought processes that influence specific behaviors and share about current struggles and successes. Group therapy at Compass Health Center focuses on building awareness around behavioral goals, learning and practicing evidenced-based skills, and using a confidential space to process relevant and relatable topics with peers. Group facilitators guide understanding related to skills and topics linked to ACT, DBT, and CBT while connecting these topics to treatment objectives and skill application and integration in the home, school, and work settings. Groups may be didactic, psychoeducational, interpersonal/process, or experiential and often employ multiple techniques to increase engagement and impact.
ERP is one of the most effective treatments for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and other complex anxiety diagnoses, including Illness Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and other anxiety disorders. Patients gradually confront their feared object or situation in a hierarchical, prolonged, and planned manner. By doing so, patients learn to gain mastery over their anxiety and fears.
DBT is an evidence-based model of treatment designed by Dr. Marsha Linehan to help patients build meaningful lives and improve their ability to regulate emotions. DBT guides patients through identifying patterns in thinking, behavior, emotions, and interpersonal interactions that contribute to problems in living. Once identified, the goal is to change these patterns using coping skills. The “D” in DBT refers to dialectics, the presence or co-occurrence of two seemingly contradictory or opposing concepts simultaneously. DBT centers on the dialectic of acceptance and change and encourages individuals to walk the middle path between the two, working to balance acceptance (“I’m doing the best I can,” “this is how things are right now”) and change (“I need to try different for things to be different”). DBT comprises four central tenets to help people accept and change: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Interpersonal Effectiveness, and Emotion Regulation.
CBT is an evidence-based, present-focused, structured, and time-sensitive therapy proven effective by thousands of studies over decades for many physical and mental health concerns. CBT centers around the interconnectedness of a person’s thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and physiological responses. CBT posits that the way one perceives and reacts to a situation causes them the most distress, rather than the situation itself. CBT offers skills to reduce distress by helping individuals identify distorted thinking patterns, evaluate their effectiveness, and reframe thinking to more realistic and helpful thoughts. CBT focuses on building awareness of what an individual experiences in the here and now and then problem-solve using this insight to create change in thinking patterns and behaviors using this increased insight and specific coping skills.
ACT is an evidence-based therapeutic model that combines behavior modification interventions with specific types of acceptance and mindfulness exercises. ACT aims to change a person’s relationship with their own troubling thoughts, whether it is ruminating on past mistakes, focusing on potential threats in the future, or feeling overwhelmed by traumatic memories. In changing how a person thinks about and responds to these troubling thoughts, that person frees themselves up to live a value-based, rich, full, and meaningful life. Since there is no manualized protocol for ACT, Compass adapts tools to meet patients and groups where they are at in their treatment journey. These tools assist patients in making room for their emotional experiences and to have space to focus on identifying and doing what is most important to them.
CPT addresses “stuck points” (trauma-centered cognitive distortions) via applying cognitive-behavioral techniques, such as Socratic dialogue, challenging questions, and collaborative identification of common thinking errors. These interventions aid patients’ trauma recovery processes, allowing for more flexible thinking and the development of new, balanced beliefs.
Executive functioning skills are mental skills that allow a person to organize, plan, and follow instructions, think flexibly, and demonstrate impulse control. These skills are utilized daily as individuals prioritize tasks, achieve goals, and learn. Executive function challenges can make it hard to focus, follow directions, and regulate emotions. Executive function skills are learned; patients benefit from modeling and explicit teaching.
Interpersonal effectiveness refers to constructive communication. The phrase “Interpersonal Effectiveness” is a DBT term that denotes a set of skills designed to help individuals manage challenging situations, validate the emotions and experience of self and others, improve and maintain current connections, and create new meaningful relationships. Interpersonal Effectiveness skills offer concrete guidance and support around balancing acceptance and change within relationships, asserting wants and needs in effective ways that maintain the relationship, and navigating complex situations in values-aligned ways.
Distress tolerance refers to sitting with experiences of distress (distressing thoughts, emotions, urges, and/or physiological responses). In DBT, distress tolerance refers to specific skills designed to help individuals navigate crisis moments as effectively as possible. These skills focus on guiding individuals through radically accepting the situation as it is and, at the same time, working to change what they can. DBT Distress Tolerance skills support individuals in skillfully moving through distressing realities without increasing their suffering.
Emotion regulation refers to adjusting or modulating one’s emotions. The phrase “Emotion Regulation” is a DBT term that denotes a set of skills designed to help individuals both increase resilience to intense emotions and decrease suffering related to emotions. These skills are not designed to “eliminate” or “avoid” emotions, but rather to help individuals identify and express emotions, alter their responses to their emotions, shift the emotions they are experiencing and/or the intensity of their emotions, and navigate difficult to sit with emotions safely and effectively.
Mindfulness is a term used in various ways based on setting and context. DBT defines Mindfulness as “the act of consciously focusing the mind in the present moment without judgment and attachment to the moment.” Mindfulness is active—it is something all people can engage in, actively choose to do, and can develop into practice with repeated effort. Most Mindfulness activities and tools, including the DBT Mindfulness skills, are adapted from cultural and spiritual traditions like meditation and breathwork. DBT Mindfulness skills help individuals practice being fully present in the moment, tuning in to what is happening inside and around them, and moving forward aligned with inner wisdom.
Art therapy is a specific type of experiential therapy that engages individuals in art-making and creative expression to explore internal experiences, build insight, and learn and apply skills related to treatment goals. Art therapy is a therapeutic intervention led by professionally trained art therapists with specific educational and practical experiences. At Compass, art therapy is integrated into programming in age-specific, values-aligned, and skills-focused ways.
Art therapy is a therapeutic modality that utilizes art materials and the artistic process alongside work with an art therapist within a therapeutic setting. Art materials aid clients in communicating and processing their emotions through non-verbal means. By observing the process, form, content, interests, and comments, an art therapist comprehensively assesses a client’s needs and determines treatment plans to restore, maintain or improve an individual’s mental health.
Motivational Interviewing is a therapeutic technique that helps individuals bridge the gap between their current behavioral choices and their identified goals. The four tenets of Motivational Interviewing (MI) are facilitating engagement, focusing on goals, evoking awareness and motivation, and planning for reasonable steps to move toward helpful goals. Open-ended questions, validation, reflective listening, and summarizing are helpful tools to guide these steps.
Animal-assisted therapy at Compass Health Center is a structured, goal-directed therapeutic intervention that incorporates interactions with trained therapy animals as part of a patient’s overall treatment plan. Guided by a licensed clinician, these sessions use animal interactions to help patients reduce anxiety, build emotional regulation skills, increase motivation, and improve social engagement. Animal therapy availability varies by program and location.
For More Information or to Schedule an Assessment, Call Us or Fill Out the Form Below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Mental Health & Substance Use Treatment: It’s Not Either/Or. It’s Both/And.
Our structured, evidence-based treatment combines several therapeutic approaches, including CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), and motivational interviewing, to help you build skills, set goals, and move forward in your recovery.
Yes. We treat co-occurring mental health and substance use concerns together in one comprehensive program. Treatment may include relapse prevention, harm reduction, abstinence-based approaches, and medication-assisted treatment (MAT) when clinically appropriate.
Yes. Every participant receives weekly individual therapy with a licensed clinician or Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC), plus regular check-ins with a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner for ongoing medication and mental health support.
Yes. We encourage regular family therapy sessions to help build trust, understanding, and accountability throughout the treatment process.
You’ll attend daily group therapy focused on skill-building, relapse prevention, cope-ahead planning, and psychoeducation. Additional group sessions include experiential activities, supportive process groups, and support for building connections outside of treatment.
Yes. We offer art, drama, improv, movement, mindfulness, animal-assited, and yoga as part of our comprehensive approach to care. These offerings vary by location and age-group.
Yes. If clinically indicated, psychiatric medication management is provided, including access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) options such as Suboxone, Vivitrol, and Naltrexone.
Urine drug screening is included in the program, when clinically recommended, and is used as a tool to support accountability and safety.
Our Impact
We understand that success can look different for everyone depending on your hopes and needs. Here are a few ways we define success:
95%
of patients step down to a lower level of care after treatment
99%
would refer a family member or friend
97%
of patients choose to start a program the same day or next day
90%
of patients maintain progress, not requiring higher care levels for 12+ months post-treatment
Compass saved my life! I came into Compass with suicidal ideations and no hope. After a couple of weeks of being in the program, I did not have those thoughts anymore. Compass helped me change my mindset, from a negative pattern of thoughts to a more positive and optimistic frame of mind.
A deeply meaningful experience.
They gave me hope again.
Compassion first, always.
Meet Forward, Compass Health Center’s Lookbook
Mental health care is changing—and so is the way we tell its story.
Forward is a collection of voices, insights, and design that feels less like a brochure and more like a magazine you’d actually want to flip through. We created this Lookbook to show how care can be approachable, engaging, and thoughtfully designed—just as our treatment experience is. Inside, you’ll find our philosophy, programs, and patient outcomes shaping Compass care today, and what’s next.