Will County Mental Health Board Touts Crisis Program in Quarterly Report

Will County Board Executive Committee Meeting | June 11, 2026

Article Summary: The Will County Community Mental Health Board’s quarterly report to the Executive Committee on Thursday, June 11, 2026, highlighted a new countywide counseling and crisis-referral program and a roughly $5 million grant cycle serving tens of thousands of residents.

Mental Health Board Key Points:

• Executive Director Teena Mackey reported the 708 Board’s grant programs served about 19,000 residents in their first grant year, plus about 7,000 through the county Health Department.
• The board is funding Connect Will County, a counseling and crisis-referral program facilitated by the Joliet Fire Department.
• Joliet’s related Community Cares program saw mental-health emergency calls fall from about 26% to as low as 4% in some months.
• About $300,000 — roughly 6% — of the prior cycle’s roughly $5 million in grants went unspent and may be rolled into a new award.

WILL COUNTY — The Will County Community Mental Health Board, known as the 708 Board, delivered its quarterly report to the Will County Board Executive Committee on Thursday, June 11, 2026, spotlighting a new countywide program designed to connect residents in crisis directly with care.

Executive Director Teena Mackey told the committee the board’s competitive grant programs served roughly 19,000 residents in their first grant year, a figure that does not include about 7,000 served by the Will County Health Department’s behavioral health division, for a combined total near 26,000. The board, whose president is County Board member Elnalyn Costa, completed its 2025 cycle and notified 2026 grantees in April, Mackey said.

Much of the report focused on Connect Will County, a counseling and crisis-referral effort the board is funding out of its subrecipient dollars and that the Joliet Fire Department has agreed to facilitate initially. Mackey said the program grew out of the fire department’s Community Cares model, under which a social worker conducts a brief assessment, helps secure an appointment, and follows up — including a phone call or a door knock if a resident misses care. She said Joliet’s emergency calls for mental-health issues fell from about 26% a year and a half ago to as low as 4% in some months, as residents increasingly called a therapist or warm-handoff service rather than 911. Lockport, Plainfield, Troy Township and Beecher fire departments have expressed interest in joining, she said.

Mackey said the board’s grants operate on a reimbursement basis, which allows the office to verify that funds are spent as proposed, supplemented by aggressive site visits and quality-assurance calls. Roughly $300,000 — about 6% — of the prior cycle’s roughly $5 million in awards went unspent, she said, and the board is likely to roll those funds into a new 2026 grantee whose paperwork was not complete at award time. Emergency funding requests are capped at $30,000 each.

Members praised the report’s detail. Member Vince Logan suggested grant recipients present briefly at full County Board meetings, and member Judy Ogalla asked the board to color-code new versus returning grantees on its recipient map. Member Jacqueline Traynere asked whether the board’s meetings, held at the Health Department, could be recorded and posted online.