Staff Spotlight: Mandy Gross, Program Coordinator

In the fall of 2014, Mandy Gross joined The Emily Program as an intern. Soon after Cleveland Residential opened in 2015, she accepted a full-time position as an eating disorder technician at the house.

“I knew long before working for TEP that I wanted to become a therapist and work with people suffering from eating disorders,” she said. “So, I was very hopeful that my internship would lead to my dream job and lucky for me, it did.”

Today, Mandy is the program coordinator at Cleveland Residential, where she runs groups and holds a small caseload of individual clients. On a typical day, she can be found running 1 to 3 skills groups, supporting meals or snacks, and meeting individually with a few clients.

Cleveland Residential has a variety of groups to address its clients’ needs, including group therapy, psychoeducation, skills, processing, nutrition, and cooking programs.

“Some groups are more learning-based, while others are more discussion-based,” said Mandy.

She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from The Ohio State University and went on to earn a master’s in social work from Case Western’s Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.

Learn more about Mandy and why we think she stands out!

TEP: What’s one thing you hope clients take away from programming?

Mandy: I hope clients realize they are not the only ones struggling, learning, or growing. We are all doing the best we can, while also striving for better. I hope they also take away tangible skills they can use in their everyday lives to help them manage more effectively.

TEP: What advice can you offer clients?

Mandy: Treatment is hard, but it’s an opportunity to make changes in your life with 24/7 support. Treatment can be an opportunity to gain awareness and insight and can offer an environment of people who understand on a different level what clients are going through, especially since eating disorders can be incredibly isolating and lonely. 

Fighting an eating disorder is very challenging and is not something we expect people to do on their own.