WEST PEORIA, Ill. – Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker wants to see more facilities like Trillium Place’s Young Minds Center across the state.
Pritzker stopped by the facility on Thursday during a visit to central Illinois. At the Young Minds Center, Pritzker took part in a listening session on mental health concerns, and spoke to family members of children using the services at the Young Minds Center.
Young Minds Center is a facility focused on mental and behavioral health for adolescents, aged 4-17. It provides assessments, inpatient and outpatient services, counseling, and psychiatry services at the former Heddington Oaks location. Officials at the center say some services are available now, with a full opening in the near future.
Pritzker says tackling mental health issues is something that’s “personal” to him.
“Our kids need us to care about this. Our kids’ friends need us to care about this. We all need to listen, and we got to get beyond the stigma that people feel about talking about or addressing mental health or substance abuse in our state,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker says having places like the Young Minds Center spread across the state will reduce the need for children to get services hours away in Chicago and Saint Louis. He also wants to see an increased workforce for mental health care in the state.
One of the families taking advantage of the services provided are the Manbecks of Peoria. Chad and Jenna have five children, three of which are adopted.
Chad says they began noticing issues and challenges with their adopted 10-year-old daughter when she was eight years old. He says it’s believed trauma suffered as an infant began to come forth later on in his life.
Chad says it was as “bad” as you could imagine, with verbal and physical abuse, mood swings, and learning disabilities.
“All challenges that relate back to mental illness that she doesn’t understand and neither do we,” Chad Manbeck said. “And so that manifests itself into everything’s fine one day, and then the next day, the smallest thing can create a traumatic environment in that home.”
Chad says there was “complete confusion” in the journey to get his daughter the help she needed, not knowing where the first steps were. He says some of that included whether treatment can be affordable and where to find the needed help.
Chad says it’s “massively” important to have a place to get a starting point for all those needs locally in West Peoria, and not have to rely on an emergency room. He says his daughter is currently using outpatient care and takes doctor visits to the Young Minds Center, and is comforted by knowing it can provide further assistance if needed.
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