Blog

Not Just Sadness...

When you work in the mental health field, people talk about the stigma against mental illness and its treatment frequently. As with most things, I think that those with a disposition against mental illnesses and their treatment simply haven't taken the time to truly learn about and understand mental illness. During this first week of October, which is deemed Mental Illness Awareness Week by congress in 1990 to honor the work of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), I'd like to take a moment to get back to the brass tacks of mental illness [...]

October 05, 2016 By Bernadette May, LCSW Read more...

Jodi Gregory

Get to know Jodi Gregory, one of our crisis workers who does a fantastic job for our SASS program. [...]

September 28, 2016 By Jodi Gregory Read more...

Suicide Prevention

In this blog post Catherine Matson writes about the main characteristics of suicide and also about the most prevalent warning signs. [...]

September 09, 2016 By Catherine Matson Read more...

Mental Health Juvenile Justice

In this blog post Crystal Spearman, the MHJJ Liason, provides some insight into how this fantastic program works. [...]

August 19, 2016 By Crystal Spearman Read more...

Joshua Rohrsen

In this blog post our family support worker Joshua shares his experience working at Family Service Association Of Greater Elgin [...]

August 18, 2016 By Joshua Rohrsen Read more...

Crisis Services

What is a crisis? A crisis situation can apply to many different things: a natural disaster, a hostage situation, an accident that requires going to an ER, a runaway youth, a divorce, or even [...]

August 5, 2016 By Tameron Keeffe Read more...

Back To School

Hard to think about, but summer is already coming to a close. This means back to school for most of the youth that we serve. The thoughts of going back to school can create anxiety and stress in youth [...]

July 15, 2016 By Bernadette May, LCSW Read more...

Psychiatry

Psychiatry is a somewhat mystifying part of mental health services to people. I want to take a moment to clarify some common misconceptions about psychiatrists and psychiatric services. In the mental health community, we talk about [...]

July 14, 2016 By Bernadette May, LCSW Read more...

Christian Gutierrez

Get to know our staff members! This time, Christian Gutierrez answers some questions about her professional life and about some of the things that she enjoys about her work here at FSA. [...]

July 9, 2016 By Christian Gutierrez Read more...

SASS: The people behind it all

You come to trust that if there is an emergency you can rely on your local fire department, police department, and hospitals to be there when you need them. The Screening Assessment and Support Services (SASS) program is who you reach out to [...]

June 19, 2016 By Janeth Barba Read more...

Roxana Mendez

Get to know our staff members! This time, Roxana Mendez answers some questions about her professional life and about some of the things that she enjoys about her work here at FSA. [...]

June 9, 2016 By Roxana Mendez Read more...

State Of Illinois Budget Crisis

The State of Illinois legislators ended the Spring session on May 31st in Springfield with no budget for fiscal year 2017 that begins July 1, 2016 and STILL no budget for the current fiscal year 2016 that started July 1, 2015! [...]

June 3, 2016 By Lisa LaForge Read more...

Mental Health Awareness Month

May is designated as, “Mental Health Awareness Month”. This is the month that we all need to work at taking away the stigma that is attached to persons that suffer from a mental illness. [...]

April 28, 2016 By Lisa LaForge Read more...

Family Support Services: The Fun Program

For some clients and families the process of going through therapy and making changes in their lives falls under the category of “easier said, than done”. Therapists often focus on problems and [...]

April 22, 2016 By Earl Evangelista, QMHP Read more...

Katelyn Mucci-Segura

Get to know our staff members! This time, Katelyn Mucci-Segura answers some questions about her professional life and about some of the things that she enjoys about her work here at FSA. [...]

March 18, 2016 Katelyn Mucci-Segura Read more...

A Look At Fundraising

Fundraising is an important tool for not-for-profit agencies especially during these difficult times with no state budget. Family Service Association of Greater Elgin Area (FSA) is a private, 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit agency that provides a full array of mental health services to children and their families. FSA is proud to [...]

March 17, 2016 Marla Van Durme Read more...

Addicted To Interns

It is a joke within Family Service Association that I am addicted to interns and do not know how to identify that I have had enough. As with most jokes, there is at least some truth to it. I love, love, love working with interns! They come in so full of life, excited, with fresh ideas and ready to save the world! I am reminded of [...]

March 4, 2016 By Bernadette May, LCSW Read more...

Chase Away The Winter Blues 2016

I don’t know about you but, I am tired of the cold and snow already. About this time of year, I start to hope and pray that there will be some cosmic occurrence that will happen to warm up Chicago and take my winter blues away! Short of that, knowing that this will probably not ever happen, FSA wants to once again, “Chase Away the Winter Blues” with a celebration at the Grand Victoria Casino on February 18th from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM. [...]

February 9, 2016 By Lisa LaForge Read more...

Let’s Talk About Therapy

Family Service Association of Greater Elgin (FSA) is going to explore something new…blogging. Today we are going to highlight one of our most well-known programs and talk about what might make it unique. Our Outpatient Therapy program is a mental health service to youth and families. Most people are familiar with the basic tenants of outpatient therapy. Once a week you go to an office, meet with a therapist who [...]

February 4, 2016 By Bernadette May, LCSW Read more...