Mental Health & Family Wellness 

Approaches to Creating Partnerships to Promote Wellness

GHC offers comprehensive support to our families by creating strong partnerships that help increase the community resources available to address the needs of children and families served. Our network of partners offers resources that include immigration services, medical/dental providers, access to in-house and outsourced mental health services, nurses and lactation specialists; nutritionists contracted in-house, workforce development opportunities as well as local WIC offices, public aid offices, public libraries, park districts, community churches, and CPS schools. GHC’s Early Childhood Mental Health program also addresses access barriers for early childhood education and mental health care for hundreds of working families in need of services. We purposefully work in neighborhoods demonstrating the greatest need to contribute to building a stronger, more equitable city. Research has demonstrated that children whose parents have experienced mental health problems were around twice as likely to present with mental health concerns in adulthood. When supporting our children with mental health challenges, we utilize an intergenerational approach in our mental health model. Our design employs a holistic approach that is integrated into our HS/EHS services, which allows our clinicians to collaborate with families to establish a strong, family-centered environment that focuses on the needs of the whole household. Our clinicians work with parents and caregivers to provide trauma-informed services rooted in social-emotional learning delivered through a racial equity lens. Through our early childhood services, staff provides critical resources such as; individual family therapy, psychoeducational workshops, crisis management, child observations for preventative screening, and targeted support. Additionally, we provide staff consultation and professional development that provides the tools necessary for early childhood educators to work with a population of diverse needs. Early intervention is vital for our children and their parents to overcome obstacles, increase resilience, and improve long-term outcomes, as staff can detect and address learning disabilities and behavioral problems.

GHC Approaches to Mental Health Delivery Services

GHC understands, recognizes, and validates that it serves a community of individuals who deserve access to support and services that aim to provide care for both physical health as well as mental and emotional as a result of this GHC aims to directly provide those support through its mental health services and various delivery methods. GHC Mental Health department delivers comprehensive services that speak to the child and family, providing parents direct access to mental health sessions with licensed mental health clinicians. GHC approaches its work toward mental health support through a multi-generational approach and trauma-informed lens 

Trauma-Informed Care 

Trauma-informed care (TIC) recognizes trauma's role in the lives of families and staff. When behaviors and interactions raise concerns, TIC considers the possibility that these behaviors may actually be strategies developed to cope with trauma. TIC asks, “What happened to you?” instead of, “What’s wrong with you?”

Healing and Resilience

Healing-  is a process that repairs disruptions in our health and well-being. It leads to recovering our capabilities and functions. Along the way, we can grow in ways that build new strengths. Healing from a traumatic event does not mean we forget the event or erase its effects. Instead, the event and its effects can, over time, be remembered, understood, and felt in new ways. Remembering, understanding, and feeling in new ways can reduce the distress that has been caused. This process can uncover and expand personal strengths that we might never have recognized otherwise.

 Resilience is the ability to "bounce back" from challenging events or experiences and "keep rolling." This ability builds on specific personal strengths, such as flexible thinking and being able to look at the same situation from different perspectives. It also builds on certain life conditions, such as a close and caring relationship with at least one trustworthy adult who consistently offers unconditional acceptance and encouragement.