Maine Township Expands Access to Mental Health Services

One in five adults will be diagnosed with a mental disorder within
any given year. Maine Township’s MaineStay Youth & Family Services
now offers residents convenient access to affordable psychiatric care
when therapy or counseling is not enough.

Made possible by grant funding from Maine Township and a partnership
with The Josselyn Center, psychiatric services offered at Maine Township
Town Hall include comprehensive psychiatric evaluation, medication
management, consultation, collaboration and referral. Clients must be 18
years old or older and Medicaid recipients are welcome.

Residents interested in obtaining psychiatric services should call MaineStay at 847-297-2510 to begin the intake process.
When
Maine Center closed abruptly in 2015, many low-income clients receiving
psychiatric care were left without access to local services. To ease
the burden on its residents, Maine Township has responded by providing
funding for several mental health centers in surrounding communities
with funds previously allocated for Maine Center and began exploring
options so residents could receive services closer to home.

“Access to psychiatric care is a critical need and can make the
difference between functioning and not functioning in society,” said
MaineStay Director Richard Lyon. “For low-income clients, it is nearly
impossible to find a psychiatrist willing to work with them and those
who do typically have to wait six months or more to obtain an
appointment.”

In addition, recently many of the referral sources Maine Township has
used for residents have stopped accepting new clients from Maine
Township, according to Lyon. The budgetary concerns caused by a lack of
state funding mean that many mental health providers are struggling to
remain solvent.

“At a time when access to mental health services is being reduced
throughout Illinois due to the state budget crisis, Maine Township is
proud to be one of the only organizations able to expand access to
mental health care for those who are most vulnerable and in need," said
Maine Township Supervisor Carol A. Teschky.

MaineStay Youth & Family Services was founded in 1975 and
supports the growth of healthier families in the Maine Township
community by providing affordable strength-based counseling and
comprehensive programs focused on prevention and education. All their
programs and groups for families and at-risk youth are either free or
low-cost. The Josselyn Center is a CARF-accredited community-based
behavioral health center in Northfield that serves more than 60
communities in the Northern Illinois region.

For more information about MaineStay visit www.mainetownship.com/mainestay or call 847-297-2510. For more information about The Josselyn Center visit www.josselyn.org or call 847-441-5600.
Caption:

MaineStay
and a partnership with The Josselyn Center have launched new
psychiatric services in Maine Township. On July 27, was the first day of
serving clients at Maine Township Town Hall in the new program. Here, L
to R, are Richard Lyon, Director of MaineStay Youth & Family
Services; Dr. Mary Ellen Walsh, M.D., Psychiatrist at The Josselyn
Center; and Suzan Eckstein, Program Director of Clinical Services at The
Josselyn Center.