Program Director: Holistic Mental Health and Wellness Empowerment Pilot Program

LIFE AFTER JUSTICE

Program Director

Holistic Mental Health and Wellness Empowerment Pilot Program, Chicago Western R3 Zone

Organization: Life After Justice (LAJ)

Employment type: Contract, professional services (hourly)

Location: Chicago, IL, hybrid, with regular presence in Chicago’s Western R3 census tracts

Reports to: Executive Director

Supervises: Program Manager, and through the Program Manager, the LAJ Empowerment Fellow; provides clinical oversight of contracted therapists, wellness practitioners, retreat facilitators, and the data analysis consultant

Program term: September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027

Funding source: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), Restore, Reinvest and Renew (R3) Program, and other LAJ funds

About Life After Justice

Life After Justice is a Chicago-based nonprofit founded and led by people who were wrongfully convicted and incarcerated, including Co-Founders Jarrett Adams and Antione Day and Board Chair Terrill Swift. LAJ exists to fill a gap the field left open: people who come home after a wrongful conviction usually can’t use standard reentry services, which are built for people who committed the offenses they were convicted of. LAJ’s Holistic Mental Health and Wellness Empowerment Pilot, launched in October 2022, provides trauma-informed psychotherapy, resource coaching, and family support to exonerees, with the goal of building a replicable model of care for the trauma of wrongful incarceration. This position supports an ICJIA R3 grant that expands the pilot to serve 25 people living in Chicago’s Western R3 census tracts, communities hit hard by wrongful convictions tied to the Jon Burge and Ronald Watts cases and by decades of disinvestment.

Position summary

The Program Director provides the clinical and programmatic leadership for LAJ’s Holistic Mental Health and Wellness work. The role sets the clinical framework and quality standards for participant care, supervises the Program Manager, and guides the design of an in-person and blended model of care that builds toward a replicable, evidence-informed statewide model. The Program Director provides clinical direction for the two-day therapeutic wellness retreat, oversees outcome tracking with the data analysis consultant, and helps ensure the program meets its reporting, documentation, and compliance obligations. This is a senior, funder-facing role for a clinician who can hold a high standard of care while helping LAJ prove and scale a model that does not yet exist anywhere.

Key responsibilities

• Provide overall clinical and programmatic leadership for the pilot, keeping fidelity to LAJ’s trauma-informed model and alignment with the grant’s objectives.
• Set the clinical framework, quality standards, and supervision structure for participant care, and provide clinical consultation to the program team.
• Supervise the Program Manager, and through that role support the LAJ Empowerment Fellow and the coordination of contracted therapists, wellness practitioners, retreat facilitators, and the data analysis consultant.
• Guide the design of the in-person and blended model of care, drawing on the program’s history, methods, and outcomes to build a model that can be replicated across Illinois.
• Provide clinical direction for the clinician-guided, two-day Immersive Clinical Wellness Retreat, including the care approach, facilitator selection, and participant readiness.
• Oversee the clinical and reintegration outcome tracking with the data analysis consultant, and translate findings into program improvement and the statewide model.
• Help ensure the program meets ICJIA reporting and documentation requirements and the standards required under GATA and the R3 agreement, in partnership with the Executive Director and LAJ’s contracted CPA, and review program reports before submission.
• Assist the Executive Director in representing the program to funders, clinical and community partners, and organizational leadership.
• Contribute to sustainability and expansion planning, including documenting the program design and lessons learned to support future funding.

Qualifications

• Doctorate (PhD or PsyD) in clinical psychology, counseling, social work, or a closely related field.
• Current clinical licensure in Illinois, or license-eligible with a clear path to Illinois licensure.
• Senior experience leading or directing behavioral health, trauma-focused, or wellness programs, including clinical supervision of staff or providers.
• Deep expertise in trauma-informed care; experience with justice-impacted, formerly incarcerated, and exonerated people.
• Demonstrated ability to design, evaluate, and improve programs, and to build replicable, evidence-informed models of care.
• Experience managing multiple contracted providers, timelines, and deliverables at once.
• Familiarity with government or foundation grant compliance, reporting, and outcome tracking, with state grant experience such as GATA or ICJIA a plus.
• Strong written and verbal communication, including comfort presenting to funders, partners, and organizational leadership.
• Professional experience with wrongful conviction, incarceration, or the criminal legal system, or demonstrated cultural competency with Chicago’s West Side communities, is preferred though not required.

Compensation

This is a contract, professional services position compensated at $200 per hour.

Additional Information

This program is funded by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority through the Restore, Reinvest and Renew (R3) Program.

Pay: $200.00 per hour

Benefits:

• Employee discount

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Chicago, IL 60605