New mental health program opens at Mile Square Englewood

WHAT:

The University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System Mile Square Health Center and Metropolitan Family Services will host an opening celebration of the new Child & Family Wellness Program at Mile Square’s Englewood clinic. The program is the first of its kind in the Englewood neighborhood to offer integrated primary care and mental health services  — including mental health screenings, counseling and support services, medication management, referrals and care coordination — for children and families.

A panel discussion on mental health in Chicago’s high risk neighborhoods will feature community, social service and mental health experts. An open house and tour of the facility will follow.

WHO:

Speakers include Dr. Bechara Choucair, commissioner, Chicago Department of Public Health; Henry Taylor, executive director, Mile Square Health Center; Heather Higgins Alderman, president, Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation; Ricardo Estrada, president and CEO, Metropolitan Family Services; Dr. LaMorris Perry, pediatrician, Mile Square Health Center; and Dr. Bennett Leventhal, Irving B. Harris professor of child and adolescent psychiatry emeritus, University of Chicago.

WHERE:

Mile Square Health Center Englewood
641 W. 63rd St., Chicago

WHEN:

Thursday, May 22
10 a.m.

DETAILS:

UI Health Mile Square Health Center Englewood and Metropolitan Family Services have partnered to provide integrated primary care and mental health services to children and their families in the greater Englewood area through the new Child & Family Wellness Program.

The program is supported by a $2 million, five-year grant from the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation to Metropolitan Family Services. The grant is part of ILCHF’s Healthy Minds, Healthy Children, Healthy Chicago (H3) initiative to bring blended primary and mental health services to children and their families.

The new program brings together primary care staff from Mile Square Health Center and psychiatrists, social workers and psychologists from Metropolitan Family Services at the Mile Square Health Center in Englewood.

“This integrated model of care will eliminate the need for families to schedule appointments with mental health specialists at other locations. They can get treated right here in their own neighborhood,” said Henry Taylor, executive director of Mile Square Health Center.

In addition to the Englewood location, the Mile Square Health Center network includes 11 other federally qualified health centers in the South Shore, Back of the Yards, and Cicero areas, as well as four school-based health centers associated with the UIC School of Public Health and three UIC College of Nursing clinics.

More about Mile Square Health Center

Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation is focused on improving the health of all children in Illinois. Since its inception in 2008, a total of more than $53 million in grants have been invested in more than 280 programs to improve Illinois children’s health.

Metropolitan Family Services is a human services agency focusing on education, economic stability, emotional wellness and empowerment. It operates seven major community centers serving approximately 63,000 individuals in Chicago and throughout Cook and DuPage counties.