GROWING
CAPACITY
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
As mental health issues such as depression, addiction and suicide have become national epidemics, the need for mental health services is critical, especially in underserved communities. In response, we at Metropolitan have extended our mental health services – part of our behavioral health specialty – to all of our Centers.
From Evanston/Skokie, in Chicago, across DuPage County and in the southwest suburbs, youth and adults can access a spectrum of care, ranging from counseling for those who have lost loved ones to crisis intervention for clients experiencing psychiatric episodes.
ONE IN FIVE ADULTS
IN AMERICA EXPERIENCE
A MENTAL ILLNESS
18% OF ADULTS
- 42 MILLION PEOPLE -
LIVE WITH ANXIETY DISORDER
ONE HALF OF ALL
CHRONIC MENTAL ILLNESS
BEGINS BY AGE 14*
*Statistics from the National Alliance on Mental Illness
THE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CONSORTIUM OF ILLINOIS
In our effort to make behavioral health services more accessible, Metropolitan helped found the Behavioral Health Consortium of Illinois (BHC). This pioneering, county-wide collaborative, led by the Cook County Health Care System, features 12 behavioral health providers and serves Medicaid, Medicare and commecial insurance recipients. Youth and adults now have a single point of contact – one referral number – through which they can secure mental health and substance abuse disorder services in their community. BHC members collectively offer more than 75 office-based locations throughout Cook County.
Behavioral Health Consortium Members
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH & DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE SERVICES INTEGRATION
As behavioral health care is often needed to help domestic violence survivors heal, Metropolitan is integrating its domestic violence services and behavioral health services. Training staff members from both areas in their colleagues’ key service standards enables us to provide a more comprehensive, “wrap-around” approach for client care and treatment. Metropolitan continues to roll out full integration into 2019.
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AT METROPOLITAN
"To be empowered means to be stronger than that person – that person being your old self."
– Donald
CILA
Donald and “Anne” live at our Southeast CILA (Community Integrated Living Arrangement), a shared-apartment space for adults with developmental disabilities to live independently in an environment supported 24/7 by caring staff. Newly re-opened after state budget cuts shut it down last year, the Southeast CILA is growing quickly; Donald and Anne were the first to move in, but only four months later, they have six neighbors. Donald and Anne specifically wanted to move into a CILA facility when they moved out of the nursing home where they had been living before. Here, they receive case management, medication monitoring, transportation to appointments, and training for job and life skills. “I’ve learned things here that I wish I had been taught before,” Donald says. “It’s a good place; I feel better about myself more often.” “You want to feel safe – you want a place to call your own,” says Program Supervisor Jennifer Altman. “Our clients have not always been treated with dignity and respect in other parts of society, but we want them to have what any other person can have: a home.” a home.”
ADULT MENTAL HEALTH: MOVIE NIGHT
It’s Movie Day at Metropolitan Southeast Chicago. Our Adult Mental Health program is screening “Thor”. Estoria - a program client who, according to our staff, is a “real character” – made tacos to share for the event. Rochelle is quieter, but she laughs the loudest at Estoria’s jokes. They’re both regulars at the monthly Movie Day, when clients in Southeast Chicago’s support groups enjoy movie snacks and each other’s company.
