Cook County Health (CCH) awarded Adler University a $494,464 grant that would help the private nonprofit graduate institution’s students provide much-needed mental health services and programming to Chicago’s underserved communities.
The grant from CCH’s Stronger Together: Building a More Equitable Behavioral Health System in Cook County Initiative will support Adler Community Health Services (ACHS), the University’s clinical training center. ACHS delivers comprehensive, trauma-informed services in primarily underserved, high-need neighborhoods in Chicago. ACHS offers community partners a full suite of in-person and telehealth trauma-informed services, including individual, couple, and family therapy; psychotherapy groups; psychological assessment/testing; community/staff psychoeducation, and prevention programming; program design and evaluation; consultation services; community traumatic event debriefing and support, and individual mental health crisis intervention.
The grant will support the maintenance of vital, trauma-informed, culturally responsive youth and family continuum of prevention, treatment, and recovery services in schools and the community. ACHS will utilize the funds to continue providing free services to youth and families within these local organizations: After School Matters (ASM), Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts), and Aunt Martha’s.
“With 1 in 4 Chicago youth having witnessed or experienced trauma, according to data compiled for the Healthy Chicago 2025 report, these adverse childhood events often equate to health behaviors and mental health conditions,” said Kevin Osten-Garner, Psy.D., executive director and chief psychologist of Adler Community Health Services. “The ACHS therapeutic models help address these conditions in youth who participate in our partner programs. This grant will allow ACHS to continue to fill gaps in access to behavioral health/substance use care and reduce the number of youth experiencing moderate to severe anxiety and depression, mental health emergencies, and suicide in the greater Chicago community.”
The Stronger Together Initiative aims to address behavioral health inequities across the region’s system of care through increased systems alignment, enhanced system quality, and the expansion of access to early intervention and prevention, treatment, support, recovery, and crisis assessment and care.
Fifty-three organizations were selected, with applicants that serve communities that score the highest on the Social-Vulnerability Index receiving priority.
This initiative, led by the Office of Behavioral Health at CCH, is supported by funds from the U.S. Department of Treasury under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and allocated to CCH by the Cook County Government.
“This initiative highlights how government and other sectors of our community can work together to benefit the greater good,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said. “This is a historic opportunity to make meaningful change in Cook County for generations.”
“I am grateful to President Preckwinkle and the Cook County Board of Commissioners for entrusting us as stewards of these funds to help address the broad behavioral health needs we see across Cook County,” said Dr. Erik Mikaitis, Cook County Health interim CEO. “The community-focused institutions awarded today will make a significant impact in expanding access to comprehensive, culturally appropriate behavioral health prevention, treatment, and recovery services. As a leader and convener in this space, Cook County Health knows we are truly stronger together.”
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About Cook County Health
One of the largest public health systems in the nation, Cook County Health (CCH) serves as the safety-net for health care in Chicago and suburban Cook County. CCH is comprised of two hospitals, a robust network of more than a dozen community health centers, the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center, the Cook County Department of Public Health, Correctional Health Services, which provides health care to individuals at the Cook County Jail and the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, and CountyCare, a Medicaid managed care health plan. Through the health system and the health plan, CCH cares for more than 500,000 individuals each year, and its physicians are experts in their fields, committed to providing their patients with comprehensive, compassionate and cutting-edge care. Today, CCH is transforming the provision of health care in Cook County by promoting community-based primary and preventive care, growing an innovative, collaborative health plan, and enhancing the patient experience.
About Cook County Government
Cook County is the second largest county in the United States representing 5.2 million residents in Illinois. The President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cook County and oversees the Offices Under the President and presides as president of the Forest Preserves of Cook County.
