Will County Health Department Expands Behavioral Health Services At Branch Offices

The Will County Health Department (WCHD) is in the process of expanding mental health services at both its Northern Branch Office in Bolingbrook and Eastern Branch Office in Monee.

Adult, child and adolescent outpatient behavioral health services have expanded at both branch locations. Additional services from the Will County Health Department’s Behavioral Health Division are also being included in the expansion.

The Mobile Crisis Response (MCR) program will be operating out of both branch locations. The MCR program responds to psychiatric crisis in the community 24 hours a day, seven days a week and offers screening and assessments to children, adolescents and adults prior to any admission to a hospital for psychiatric care.
“Ever since the pandemic there has been an uptick in the need for mental health services,” said Diane Scruggs, director of the behavioral health division at the Will County Health Department. “The lesson learned from the pandemic is the importance of having in-person contact. Our clients and therapists both have voiced the value in this approach. By expanding services in the branch offices, we’re increasing the geographical accessibility of our program to our clients.”

What’s Available in Monee (Eastern Branch)?

The Eastern Branch Office in Monee (5601 W Monee-Manhattan Rd.) is offering outpatient mental health services for adults, children and adolescents. The MCR team will also be working out of the Eastern Branch Office.

Additional Offerings in Bolingbrook (Northern Branch)

The Northern Branch Office in Bolingbrook (323 Quadrangle Drive) currently offers outpatient mental health services for adults, children and adolescent. In addition to the MCR program operating out of the branch office, the expansion of services in Bolingbrook will include psychiatric assessments, and the 590 Crisis Care program.

The 590 Crisis Care team helps link individuals to social services that will address their needs while reducing the number of unneeded hospitalizations.

“Our office space size in Bolingbrook has essentially been doubled,” said Scruggs. “That will allow us to see new clients who are geographically closer to Bolingbrook as well as those clients currently being seen at the Joliet location when the Bolingbrook location is closer to their home. We have also added a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner to Bolingbrook for adults and children.”

What’s Available in Joliet (Main Office)?

The Behavioral Health Division’s main office in Joliet (501 Ella Ave.) continues to offer outpatient mental health services for adults, children and adolescents, psychiatric assessments, and substance use treatment and recovery services. The behavioral health division’s MCR and 590 Crisis Care programs both operate out of the main office as well.

Substance Use Treatment and Recovery Services from the WCHD are designed to assist all persons struggling with a substance use disorder through a variety of treatment and recovery services.

What Else is Covered in the Expansion?

The behavioral health division has also added intake staff and streamlined the intake process which is aimed at reducing the time between an initial client call and the time to being assigned to a therapist for an appointment. This change also allows Spanish speaking clients to be linked to an interpreter at the time of their initial call.

“Our goal in this process has been to make the behavioral health services of the Will County Health Department more accessible to our residents,” said Scruggs. “We are also one of the few providers that accepts Medicaid and we never turn away a client based on their ability to pay.”