Pilot Program Brings Mental Health Care Inside McHenry County Jail
Communities in Illinois face a growing challenge: local jails often hold people with mental health needs, but do not have the resources to care for them. Without timely intervention, individuals can linger for weeks, or even months; their conditions worsening while waiting for what’s next.
For too long, this has been the unjust reality for people caught in a system that wasn’t designed to meet their needs.
In McHenry County, Thresholds is working to change that. Thresholds has partnered with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office and the Illinois Department of Human Services to launch a pilot mental health program directly inside the county jail. The initiative provides individualized mental health services including therapy, medication management and education, and symptom management for individuals awaiting transfer, reducing reliance on overburdened facilities and fulfilling a much-needed mental health gap in the correctional system.
The pilot program is staffed by a full-time team lead, a clinical therapist, and a part-time psychiatric advanced practice nurse. Early results are encouraging, with many participants already seeing positive outcomes resulting in reduced symptoms and restoration of fitness in custody.
Thresholds focuses specifically on detainees who are deemed unfit to stand trial. The team provides therapy and stabilization until they are either found fit or placed in a state inpatient unit. In this work, the team has built strong partnerships with the McHenry County Corrections Team and Wellpath, the jail’s contracted medical and mental health provider, ensuring that care is coordinated and effective for each individual.
“Many of those we serve find themselves in jail not because they’re dangerous, but because the system has nowhere else for them to go,” said BreeAnn Kaczmarczyk, Thresholds Team Leader for the McHenry Correctional Facility Jail Team. “With the right support, even small interactions can prevent crises from escalating and give people a chance to get back on track.”
Participants have access to consistent therapy sessions and medication monitoring by a prescriber. Staff work closely with each individual to address mental health needs, provide coping strategies, and help plan the next steps to stability. Staff also support participants as they move through the legal process.
“This program is about more than the care inside the jail,” says Anneliese Thurston, Thresholds’ Area Director of Clinical Operations in McHenry. “It’s about creating stability for people when they’re at their most vulnerable and showing that even in a system that wasn’t designed for them, they can still get the help they deserve.”
By providing care directly within the jail, the program also challenges the stigma around mental health and speaks to how collaboration amongst agencies builds a stronger, more supportive community for all.