Description

We're building the mental health care that older adults deserve and that can be difficult to access. We're looking for a founding clinical leader to oversee, mentor, and grow the team of clinicians who deliver it, and to help shape its future.

About Brightrise
We bring geriatric-specialized mental health care to older adults at home — Medicare-covered, by video or telephone — with warmth and compassion. We're launching in Iowa, a state with a large rural senior population, with plans to expand across the Midwest. We were founded by a successful behavioral healthcare operator who watched his own father fall through every gap in a system that wasn't built for his age, and set out to build the resource he couldn't find.

The opportunity
This is a rare chance to help build a model of care, not inherit one. You'll lead the clinical heart of Brightrise — overseeing, mentoring, and supporting a growing team of geriatric-specialized clinicians. You'll serve as the licensed clinical principal of our practice, while an experienced operating team handles the business side. You'll work closely with our founding clinical advisor, Dr. Michele Karel, on clinical strategy. Dr. Karel is a national thought leader and board-certified geropsychologist who served as the National Mental Health Director for Geriatric Mental Health for the Veterans Health Administration (VA), shaping programs for mental health care for older veterans nationwide. Given we're in the launch phase, this begins as a part-time role and is designed to grow into a full-time leadership role as the practice scales and de-risks.

What you'll do

• Oversee, mentor, and support a growing team of clinicians — clinical supervision, case consultation, and the day-to-day clinical leadership that keeps quality high as we scale.
• Serve as the licensed clinical principal of our affiliated professional corporation, holding genuine clinical authority, with Brightrise's management company handling all business operations.
• Uphold clinical quality and safety — supervision, quality review, and crisis/safety protocols.
• Optionally carry a light caseload at launch to help set the standard of care, then step fully into oversight as the team grows.
• Partner with Dr. Karel to shape the clinical model and standards — and, as we grow, the individualized geriatric training clinicians complete.
• Help refine clinical protocols for our focus areas: late-life depression and anxiety, grief and bereavement, adjusting to illness and declining health, caregiver stress, and sleep difficulties.
• Partner on clinician recruiting and on relationships with referral partners.

What we offer

• Mentorship from a field leader — Dr. Michele Karel as your strategic advisor and thought partner.
• Real clinical leadership — the founding clinical voice of the practice, backed by an experienced operating team.
• A role designed to grow — part-time now, scaling to full-time as the practice grows and de-risks.
• A meaningful leadership role as our licensed clinical principal, with competitive compensation.
• Anticipated time commitment — ~10–20 hours/week to start (depending on mutual availability and needs), converting to full-time as the company grows.
• Benefits — a generous benefits package that begins when the role becomes full-time.

Requirements

Who you are

• A licensed geropsychologist (PhD/PsyD) or senior clinical social worker (LISW/LCSW) with deep experience caring for older adults: late-life depression and anxiety, grief, caregiver strain, and coping with illness and/or cognitive changes.
• Licensed or licensed-eligible in Iowa, and willing to become licensed in additional states as we grow (you can live anywhere in the US).
• Training and experience with one or more evidence-based psychotherapies (e.g., CBT, PST, IPT, ACT).
• Experienced supervising and mentoring master's-level clinicians and/or clinicians-in-training.
• Experienced with telemental health care, by video and phone (required) — it's how all of our care is delivered.
• A teacher and mentor at heart — you've led and grown others, and enjoy it.
• Energized by building something new and by our mission.

Nice to have

• Program-leadership experience.
• Academic or curriculum-design background.
• Existing referral relationships in Iowa.
• Hospice, palliative, or medical / health-psychology experience.