CHICAGO EATING DISORDER PROGRAM

Kathleen O’Connor, LCPC

A Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC), Kathleen O‘Connor graduated from DePaul University with a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She has worked within the mental health and eating disorder treatment community in a variety of capacities including inpatient, residential, and crisis stabilization programs. She joined the Center for Discovery team in 2016 as a Counselor and enjoyed assisting clients to grow and empower themselves while in treatment. As a Primary Therapist, Kathleen works with clients in individual, group, and family therapy. She is passionate about eating disorder recovery and collaborating with patients to find balance in their lives. She brings a genuine passion and enthusiasm to her work as she supports her clients throughout the recovery process. Kathleen strongly believes in the power of therapy with a personalized, direct approach to treatment that addresses the multitude of components of the individual’s struggles.

Jillian Larmon

Jillian has been an employee at Center for Discovery in Glenview for over 6 years when the doors opened for our clients. She has served in different roles throughout the facility including floor counseling staff, education liaison, facility manager, and now serving as program director upon completion of her graduate program from Northwestern University. Jillian was able to complete her graduate internship at Center for Discovery with implementing  Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) program in the facility while also facilitating family and individual therapy.

Jillian enjoys working with clients and families to establish a realistic environment for when the client is ready to transition home. She works with clients in individual, group, and family settings to educate and help clients to utilize skills to be effective for long term recovery. Through DBT skills, the clients and families, can learn effective communication, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and mindfulness. She believes in creating an individualized treatment plan for each client and family that walks through the door!

Caitlyn Campbell

Caitlyn Campbell is a Registered Dietitian with who holds her Master’s of Public Health degree in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Caitlyn first explored her passion for nutrition as an Exercise Science student at Hope College, where she ran cross country and track. While at the University of Michigan, Caitlyn avidly registered for a variety of courses ranging from eating disorder prevention and treatment to weight bias and health. As a graduate student, Caitlyn attended lab meetings for a weight-inclusive eating disorder research group, where she garnered her respect for and interest in providing medical nutrition care from a Health at Every Size® (HAES®) approach.

Caitlyn first began her career with Center for Discovery as a dietetic intern where she gained experience working at the partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient level of care. As a dietitian, Caitlyn practices an intuitive eating philosophy to help patients along their journey to food freedom. Caitlyn values the many roles that food serves in our lives and works to help her patients develop a more neutral relationship with both food and their bodies.

Sarah Stoner

Meghan Thomas, BS

Meghan graduated from Northern Michigan University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. She went abroad to medical school for a year, helping to serve Indigenous Peoples, but felt her calling was in the mental health field with more client contact. She is focused on destigmatizing mental health care and a proactive instead of always a reactive healthcare system. She has a special interest in bringing care to adolescents and their support systems to set them up for success for the rest of their lives. She is a strong advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. Meghan encourages the use Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills and promotes good self-care routines. Outside of work Meghan enjoys reading, taking walks and hikes with her clinically anxious dog and spending time with her husband and friends.

Lauren (Ren) Schmidt

Lauren (she/her) is a licensed social worker who has a BA in sociology with a minor in Spanish and an MSW in clinical social work from the University of Minnesota. She is a strengths-based, solution focused therapist who utilizes an anti-oppressive practice that centers historically exploited and oppressed identities, such as Black and Indigenous people, people of color, LGBTQ+ folks and people with disabilities. In addition to treating eating disorders, she is passionate about working with survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and other significant traumas. She has experience working with autism spectrum disorders, substance use disorders and a variety of co-occurring mental health diagnosis. Lauren identifies as queer with strong ties to a variety of trans and queer communities. She enjoys playing music, engaging in community organizing, practicing Spanish and spending time outdoors. Lauren believes all people are their own experts of self and strives to include each patient in making decisions regarding their own personal goals and needs in treatment as much as possible.

Barrie Isaac

Barrie is a licensed social worker with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Master of Social Work from the University of Illinois. She first developed her interest in the eating disorder population when she worked with college students to promote positive body consciousness. Barrie started with Center for Discovery as a counselor where she enjoyed working closely with patients to support them in their recovery journey. This included facilitating radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO DBT), a treatment targeting disorders of excessive self-control by emphasizing receptivity and openness, flexibility and social connectedness. As a primary therapist, Barrie continues to guide patients on their recovery journey using a client-centered, open and non-judgmental approach in therapy. She uses dialectical behavior, strength-based and trauma-informed therapy. Each client she works with is met with understanding and empathy.