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Heartland Family Service
Council Bluffs, Iowa

Therapist I or II - Child and Family (Iowa)

CounselorFull-Time

Listed compensation

$50K - $68.3K

The week · per this posting

Ask the employer about the work setting, call expectations, weekend coverage and time off.

Posted 1mo ago · Verified live

Job Description

At Heartland Family Service, we are committed to building a culture that is trauma informed and values and celebrates diversity and inclusion. We believe this allows for better service delivery and innovation, as it encourages our employees to bring various experiences and uniqueness to the workplace.

Trauma Informed Care is an approach to engaging people with histories of trauma that recognizes the presence of trauma symptoms and acknowledges the role that trauma has played in their lives.  Trauma Informed Care also acknowledges the effects of working with trauma survivors on our workforce and seeks to build collaborative and supportive working environments and relationships.

If you believe in our mission of creating healthy families and communities, and like a fast pace, collaborative and team-oriented environment, then Heartland Family Service is the agency for you.

Summary Description of Work

Unique opportunity to complete evaluations for clients who come in for support from Heartland Family Service. After completion, another therapist would be assigned to offer therapeutic support.

Compensation: between $50,000 and $68,316 per year (salary is determined by total years of relevant experience) Work Schedule: 40 hours per week

Click to see benefits and company perks

[https://www.heartlandfamilyservice.org/careers/]

Minimum Qualifications

  • Master’s Degree in Counseling, Social Work, or Marriage & Family Therapy or related field
  • License Eligible – LMHP; LIMHP; PLMHP; PLMSW; LMSW; LCSW
  • LADC or tCADC; CADC or substance abuse treatment experience preferred

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

  • Ability to complete evaluations with a diverse population of clients with co-occurring disorders utilizing evidence-based practices.
  • Establishes a treatment plan, with client participation, which specifies treatment structure, outcomes, goals and objectives; within first 2 sessions.
  • Provides counseling to individuals in group, couple, family, or individual settings, within the framework of the treatment plan and monitors progress.
  • Completes of all case documentation for clinical and billing purposes; maintaining clinical records that meet established standards of timeliness and completeness.
  • Handles cases of the highest degree of complexity.
  • Collaborates with all programs within Heartland Family Service to have a better understanding of what they offer to support evaluation recommendations in Heartland’s continuation of care.
  • *Is prompt and accurate in completing all required reports, statistics and other requirements.
  • Meets clinical requirements of third-party payers (authorizations, reviews, documentation) and provides information necessary for prompt and accurate billing.
  • Provides mental health crisis intervention as needed.
  • *Is dependable and punctual regarding scheduling and attendance.
  • *Strive to make connections between the agency and the larger community whenever possible to contribute to the agency’s ongoing fundraising and friend-raising efforts.
  • Essential functions of this job are to be performed on company physical work site or designated workspace.
  • Abides by all specific program and Agency procedures, policies, and requirements.
  • *Develops personal and program related skills through participation in internal and external training opportunities including printed material and audio and/or visual media.
  • Creates, maintains and shares as appropriate a dynamic self-care plan and helps interns develop appropriate work life balance.
  • Performs other program related duties as assigned.

*DENOTES ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

Key Responsibilities

The therapist will conduct clinical evaluations for clients and establish comprehensive treatment plans within the first two sessions. They are responsible for providing counseling services, maintaining accurate clinical documentation, and collaborating with internal programs to support continuity of care.

Requirements

Candidates must hold a Master’s degree in Counseling, Social Work, or Marriage & Family Therapy. Applicants are required to be license-eligible for positions such as LMHP, LIMHP, PLMHP, PLMSW, LMSW, or LCSW.

Qualifications

Experience
2+ years of experience

Key Skills

Treatment PlanningCase ManagementMental Health EvaluationBilling ComplianceCollaboration

Work-Life Balance Analysis

WeekdayDoc's proprietary algorithm rates Therapist I or II - Child and Family (Iowa) at Heartland Family Service a 7.2 out of 10 for work-life balance — classified as very good. This places the position in the top 25% in Mental Health Therapy (Counseling) — ranked against 7,885 active Mental Health Therapy (Counseling) listings on WeekdayDoc.

Counselor Career Context

Of the 50 active Counselor listings this role was benchmarked against, 42% are remote, 28% have no call, 64% require no weekends.

Counselor pay on WeekdayDoc is down 3.3% vs. the prior quarter (through Aug 2026).

The cost-of-living index for Iowa is 87.8 (US average = 100; BEA Regional Price Parities (2024)), so the posted ~$59k midpoint carries the purchasing power of roughly $67k in an average-cost state. 59.8% of Iowa clinicians report burnout symptoms in WeekdayDoc's Burnout Index (2026-01 data).

Top Counselor Jobs

27 matches · ranked by pay

Salary Distribution27 jobs · 17 employers

7
<$90k
6
$90k-110k
11
$110k-130k
3
$130k-150k

Annual compensation range

Benefits & Perks27 jobs · 17 employers

401k / retirement match
96%
CME allowance
52%
Sign-on bonus
33%
Loan repayment
26%
PSLF eligible
11%

Share of similar jobs offering each benefit

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+ 25 more · ranked by pay

Work-life snapshot

median 6.3this job 7.2
Better work-life than 80% of Mental Health Therapy (Counseling) listings

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 7,885 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

Living in Council Bluffs

Typical 3-bedroom home value
$243k≈ 4.9× annual pay
Typical market rent
$1,350/mo≈ 32% of gross pay
Residents’ average commute
18 min
State income tax
Up to 6%
Sources & methodology

Sources: Zillow home values (Aug 2026), Zillow market rents (Aug 2026), U.S. Census ACS 2024 five-year.

Ratios use this listing’s gross annual pay. Not a cost-of-living guarantee.