Looking for a job in mental health as a therapist or counselor in the Lee’s Summit or Mid Missouri Area?
Aspire Counseling is looking for a compassionate therapist to work in our Lee’s Summit or Columbia Locations.
Clinicians applying must be committed to providing supportive, evidence-based care to help clients find healing.
Are you a licensed counselor, clinical social worker, or psychologist in Missouri who is tired of the daily grind at an agency job? Do you feel micromanaged, overwhelmed by huge caseloads, and frustrated with being given high acuity clients without the necessary support? Are you exhausted from feeling burnt out and unsupported? We understand how you feel, and we're here to help. You may not be ready to start your own practice or go out completely on your own, but you want to be part of a caring clinical team that values your expertise and experience.
At Aspire Counseling, we recognize that work-life balance is essential, especially for clinicians who work with high-stress clients. We prioritize professional excellence and effective communication, which is why we are seeking a mental health counselor who specializes in anxiety and trauma to join our team. Our team values diversity and the support of both clients and team members. We believe that our clinicians deserve a supportive work environment that encourages growth and professional development.
Why Work With Aspire Counseling
At Aspire Counseling, we believe in providing our clinicians with the support and resources they need to be successful. We offer our clinicians the flexibility to set their own schedule and choose their own clinical focus. We also believe in investing in our clinicians' professional development, which is why we provide ongoing training opportunities, including training in evidence-based treatment modalities such as DBT, EMDR, CBT, and ERP.
We understand that therapy can be emotionally challenging, which is why we prioritize taking care of our clinicians. We offer quarterly optional social gatherings, an annual one-day in-person retreat, and monthly meetings over Zoom. Our team is supportive and upbeat, and we believe in the importance of a positive work environment. We also recognize the importance of work-life balance, which is why we offer our clinicians a reasonable caseload that allows for flexibility and self-care.
Our Ideal Candidate
Our ideal candidate is a licensed counselor, clinical social worker, or psychologist in Missouri with experience working with anxiety and trauma. They are passionate about helping others and are committed to providing evidence-based treatments. They are able to work independently, but also value collaboration with our team. Our ideal candidate is someone who wants to make a difference in their clients' lives, but also values a supportive work environment.
If you're ready to take the next step in your career and join a caring clinical team, we encourage you to apply. At Aspire Counseling, we believe in providing our clinicians with the resources and support they need to be successful. We value work-life balance, professional excellence, effective communication, diversity, and the support of both clients and team members. Join us today and become part of a team that's making a difference in the lives of our clients.
Full or PT Clinician in Columbia - Starting January or April 2024
In Columbia, we’re looking for either a Part or Full time clinician who would start in either January or April 2024. We are looking for someone who will work at least 7am-11am at least three days per week. If you would like to be full time (23 clients per week), you absolutely may work up to that. However, the next clinician we hire will be someone who at least works mornings several days a week.
Full or PT Clinician in Lee’s Summit - Starting January of April 2024
We now have two amazing clinicians in Lee’s Summit, MO and will look to add one more clinician there in either January or April 2024 once their caseloads are full. Then, we will consider this office full. This position will include a full day in office (5 clients) on Thursday, Friday and at least a half day every other Saturday. If you’d like to work additional days of the week, that is welcome but potentially may need to be virtually from home depending on the office space available. There may be an office available at least one day of the week, but our new clinicians are still figuring out their exact office schedules as their caseload fills up.
**Please note that we are NOT hiring a virtual only therapist at this time and are only looking for clinicians who can be in one of our physical office locations at least a couple days per week.**
The Aspire Counseling Story
Aspire Counseling was founded by me, Jessica Tappana, in May 2017. I started Aspire Counseling shortly after having my second child. In fact, I sat in the bank signing a business loan and made phone calls to get a business license when my daughter was only weeks old! I decided to add more therapists when my caseload filled up in only a couple of months.
There was clearly a huge need for quality mental health services in Columbia, MO. I realized that a group practice would benefit my colleagues (they could try private practice without taking on as much risk as I had), myself (I get awesome people to work with and consult with), and my clients (Aspire could serve more people).
Over the last few years, I’ve brought on amazing therapists who have different training, skills and expertise from myself. They’ve given me honest feedback and together we’ve built something amazing. We have a unique, positive, supportive and no drama counseling clinic. Aspire Counseling has an amazing team that I fully trust, caseloads full of the clients we each want to serve and are constantly expanding our contacts in the local community.
In February 2023, we officially opened our Lee’s Summit office and are excited to help even more clinicians at this new location.
Therapist Benefits at Aspire Counseling
At Aspire Counseling, we know you do your best work when you feel supported and empowered. So, we do everything we can to make that happen.
Here are some of our benefits all of our clinicians enjoy:
Freedom to choose your own clients. Have a client who’s not a good fit? It’s ok to refer them to someone else!
Freedom to choose your own schedule. And that includes making changes to your schedule! If you’re offering in person sessions, you may be limited at times by openings on the schedule. However, there are no requirements about working specific days or times. You’re encouraged to consider both the needs of your clients AND your own needs when setting or changing your work schedule.
A No-Drama Work Culture
Collaboration/Consultation including quarterly social get together, consultation teams for EBPs (EMDR, DBT, CPT & soon ERP)
Snacks & drinks for when you’re in the office
Access to excellent tools (books, an EMDR light bar, TONS of sand tray miniatures, etc)
Traditional Benefits for *Full Time Clinicians
Health Insurance (paid at 50%)
Vision Insurance (100% covered by Aspire)
PTO paid at your administrative rate
8 Holidays paid your administrative rate
Paid bereavement leave should it ever be necessary
Higher pay for any clients you see beyond 23 per week
*A “Full Time” clinician is someone who regularly has 23 paid client sessions per week. This is set purposefully lower than many other settings to allow clinicians to meet their own work/life needs, have time for appropriate consultation and continuing education and avoid burnout
What Aspire Counseling Expects of Mental Health Therapists
Evidence Based Practice
Every single clinicians at Aspire Counseling is trained in and able to provide at least one well researched treatment for their ideal client population. However, evidence based practice is truly about the balance and THAT is what sets Aspire Counseling apart. Our clinicians make treatment decisions based on balancing clinical expertise (including your own training, personality & experience), the best available research and the values/needs/preferences of your individual client.
Clinical Expertise & Focus
Every single therapist we have on staff is different. We each have a different personality, different strengths and different ideal clients. You bring your training, experience and personality to the table each time you meet with a client. We aren’t interested in cookie cutter therapists. We’re interested in compassionate, skills therapists.
Ideal Team Player
We cannot overstate how important it is to us that we have a supportive, collaborative team environment. We want everyone to feel welcome in our team, be able to communicate with one another as needed and generally like interacting with our colleagues. To be more specific, an ideal team player has three important characteristics:
Hard Working. This means that everyone is a hard worker and self starter. Our therapists are self motivated to seek out training and constantly improve, grow their own caseload, start new groups/projects/services, complete paperwork in a timely manner and consult with other therapists.
Humble.It is important that all of our team members be able to admit their own mistakes and weaknesses. We need to know when we need some support and to be able to seek out the consultation of other therapists.
People Smart. All of our therapists are considerate and kind to one another. They have a basic understanding of people and a general awareness about how their own actions impact others.However, every single Aspire Counseling team member has at least two of these important character traits. It is essential that we bring on true team players to keep that drama free, supportive culture described above.
Open Communication
At Aspire Counseling, we value open communication. This means that we expect therapists to be self aware enough to acknowledge their own weaknesses or struggles. We ask that you attend monthly staff meetings as often as possible and participate in both formal and informal consultation opportunities. It’s essential you be able to reach out and ask for consultation when needed.
We also ask for open communication about non clinical issues. You might talk to your office mate about re-arranging furniture or point out during a staff meeting that the carpet isn’t getting vacuumed often enough. Problems are addressed openly and respectfully. Being able to discuss these issues helps avoid resentment among team members or larger problems down the road.
Apply to Join the Aspire Counseling Team!
If you are looking for a position as a mental health counselor in Missouri and think you’d go a good fit for Aspire Counseling, please let us know! Even if we’re not looking to expand at that exact moment, we will always consider bringing on the perfect candidate. Please e-mail Jessica Tappana at Jessica@aspirecounselingmo.com with your resume and cover letter.
From there, our hiring process will include some or all of the following components:
A supplemental application you fill out to provide us additional information
A quick phone screening with one of our team members
A full interview (can be conducted over Zoom) with Jessica
Reference & Background Check
Aspire Counseling ~ Healing starts here!
