Clinical
Clinical staff serve as
change agents for youth who have experienced trauma and need emotional and behavioral support.
Behavioral Health Services use trauma-informed approaches and practices to help reduce emotional distress, improve relationships, and enhance well-being.
Tri-County Child & Adolescent Services
Emotional and mental health support services for kids in Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford counties.
Any youth between the ages of 3-20 years old in Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford counties with emotional and behavioral challenges and is Medicaid eligible can receive therapy services. Our therapists work closely with the youth to reduce emotional stress and improve interpersonal relationships at home, school, and in the community. Goals are addressed and managed through assessment and diagnosis, individual, group, and family therapy, and case management.
Referrals for Tri-County Child and Adolescent Services can be made by the parent or guardian of a youth, or therapists, physicians, and school personnel connected to the youth. To find out more to make a referral, please email [email protected] or call 309-687-7923.
“[Children’s Home] was my light when my life was so dark.”
— former client
School-Based Therapy
Providing Tri-County students with therapy to help address social, emotional, and mental health needs.
Through a collaboration between Children’s Home and local school districts, including Peoria Public Schools, Washington, District 51, & Pekin Public Schools, full-time counselors are placed in various schools within the district to help provide students with therapy services.
Individuals are referred to the program by staff members, teachers, parents/caregivers, or the school counselor. Once the client is identified and deemed appropriate for services, attempts are made to engage their parent or guardian for in-home family counseling services, case management, and community referrals. To find out more or to make a referral, please contact Kristi Zeller at [email protected] or call 309-687-7942.
Family-Based Intervention (FBI)
Helping to keep families involved with DCFS together through in-home counseling contracts.
Family Based Intervention (FBI) provides individual and family therapy to children as young as two-years-old up through adults with trauma or mental health concerns who have an open case with Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and resides in Peoria, Tazewell, or Woodford counties. The counseling services address individual concerns and family dynamics, crisis intervention, parent education, advocacy, and community outreach. The goals of the program are to keep families together who are still intact and to reunify families whose children are youth in care. For more information, please contact Faye Kesselmayer, LCSW at [email protected] or call 309-687-7413.
Intensive Placement Services (IPS)
Providing respite and support to kids in the foster care system.
IPS provides short-term placement, stabilization, and services to minors who are at-risk of being removed from a foster home, including traditional foster care, relative foster care, or specialized foster care in Peoria County. Services are based on the ARC model and can include therapy, family support, crisis intervention, tutoring, recreation, school advocacy, and psychosocial education.
Our IPS staff help mediate family tension and provide techniques for stabilization. For more information, please contact Faye Kesselmayer, LCSW at [email protected] or call 309-687-7413.
Family Support Programs (FSP)
Children’s Home serves as the coordinator for services for youth needing intensive emotional support.
FSP is a state-funded program that provides access to intensive mental health services and support to youth with a severe emotional disturbance. The goal of the FSP is to support eligible youth and their families by strengthening family stability, improving clinical outcomes, and promoting community-based services.
Every youth enrolled in FSP is assigned to a coordinator who provides case management, access to mental health services, additional community support, and residential treatment when it is determined to be medically necessary.
For more information or to apply to FSP, please visit the HFS website or contact Rachel Nieslawski at [email protected] or call 309-687-7964.
Mobile Crisis Response (MCR)
24/7 crisis intervention for youth in psychiatric distress.
Mobile Crisis Response (MCR) is a 24/7 community-based program that provides an emergency assessment to children experiencing a psychiatric crisis. Youth who have no insurance coverage or who have Medicaid are assessed during a crisis to determine if community services can be utilized to avoid hospitalization.
Children’s Home provides this life-saving service to Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties. If psychiatric hospitalization is deemed necessary, MCR facilitates a connection to the appropriate in-patient unit. All children screened and served in the program are referred through the CARES line at 1-800-345-9049 and routed to a 24-hour on-call system.
After every screening, the youth and families are provided case management services, and eligible youth are offered a referral to Children’s Home Tri-County Child & Adolescent Counseling Services.
Community Crisis Line
To enhance crisis support, Children’s Home provides 24/7 crisis line for the community. Residents of our service area — Fulton, Peoria, Tazwell, Woodford, Marshall, Putnam, and Stark Counties — can access round-the-clock assistance from our mobile crisis team for youth mental health crises.
To reach out, call our Community Crisis Line at 309-687-8600. Please leave a message, and a crisis staff member will return your call as soon as possible. For more information about MCR, please contact Ashleigh Carter, QMHP, at [email protected], or call 309-687-7959
Caregiver Connections
Professional development for early childhood caregivers.
Caregiver Connection Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Consultants provide reflective consultation, trainings, and referrals for early childhood educators and caregivers to support infants and children in their social-emotional development.
In the event that additional support is needed for the child, families are assisted with community connections to appropriate behavioral health providers.
For more information or to make a referral, please visit the Caregiver Connections website at www.caregiverconnections.org, or contact Dianna Taylor Meneses, LCPC at [email protected] or call 309-285-0131
Pathways to Success
A family focused, strengths-based care coordination and wrap-around service for youth with complex behavioral health needs.
Children’s Home is the Care Coordination and Support Organization (CCSO) for Pathways to Success in Central Illinois, serving as a centralized leader with a dedicated and trained team of coordinators that offer support to clients and families. Pathways is a program for Medicaid-enrolled youth under the age of 21 in Illinois who have complex behavioral health needs and could benefit from additional support. Care coordinators collaborate closely with community services to help build supports in the home, school, and community. The goal of the Pathways program is to improve family functioning, reduce caregiver stress, provide stability for at-risk youth in the home, improve school attendance, and reduce hospitalization.
For more information, please contact Dianna Taylor Meneses, LCPC at [email protected] or call 309-285-0131.
Interested in learning more about clinical programming?
Contact our Director of Behavioral Health!
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