Thresholds, Illinois' oldest and largest psychiatric rehabilitation center, is expanding its nationally-recognized program for parents with serious mental illness and their children, called the Thresholds Mothers' Project. The Thresholds Mothers' Project extended its physical space at 1110 W. Belmont Ave., allowing for future program growth.
The Thresholds Mothers' Project will specifically expand, in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS), its program for pregnant and parenting teenagers (ages 16-21) with mental illness. The unique program provides comprehensive and individualized programming for both mothers and their children, including therapeutic nurseries, intensive case management, education, employment assistance, and specialized housing.
The Thresholds Mothers' Project also expects to replicate its lauded Parenting Assessment Team state-wide. The assessment service joins the resources and expertise of DCFS and the Thresholds Mothers' Project to perform comprehensive assessments of the parenting capabilities of mentally ill alleged perpetrators of abuse or neglect. The program provides DCFS workers and judges with rapid access to thorough, non-adversarial evaluations by professionals for use in cases where difficult decisions must be made. Thresholds will target Cook County, Southern/Central Illinois and Northern Illinois as sites for three
additional teams.
The first in the nation when it was founded in 1976, the Thresholds Mothers' Project helps women with mental illness become better mothers, build stronger families, and gain the skills to live independently. Nationally known as a model program, mental health advocate Tipper Gore recognized the Thresholds Mothers' Project as an organization that "sets an example for the nation to follow." The Thresholds Mothers' Project is a program of the Chicago-based Thresholds, one of the nation's largest providers of non-profit mental healthcare services, which annually serves more than 5,000 people with serious mental illness. |
