ENGAGE – IL Collaboration 

The ENGAGE – IL initiative enables Thresholds and The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to synergies and leverage our ten-year existing partnership.  More than a decade ago Thresholds four clinic locations in Chicago partnered with UIC College of Nursing Integrated Healthcare Clinics to provide continuity among medical professionals, clients, psychiatrists, and case workers. Services include primary care, mental health, and specialty services like nutritional counseling, specialist referrals, and podiatry.

  • All IHC clinicians collaborate extensively with the Thresholds’ clinical rehabilitation staff to assure a fully integrated transdisciplinary care model.
  • Thresholds’s clients, case managers, and clinic staff maintain an open flow of communication that allows them to make the best possible decisions for a client’s health to ensure proper follow-up, medication coordination, and care.
  • This integrated healthcare partnership helps prevent unnecessary hospitalizations and emergency room visits.

Throughout the next three years, select clinicians and interprofessional teams at Thresholds Chicago will complete the Interprofessional (IP) Geriatric Certification Program pilot webinar and online training.  They will evaluate their experiences via surveys and focus groups.  Some clinicians will receive iPad minis to test the Geriatric Clinicians’ Toolkit app.

 

Thresholds’ Services and Expertise

Established in 1959, Thresholds provides healthcare, housing, and hope for thousands of persons with mental illnesses in Illinois each year. Through care, employment, advocacy, and housing, Thresholds assists and inspires people with mental illnesses to reclaim their lives.

  • Thresholds serves approximately 2,600 persons in psychosocial recovery centers (PSRs) and residential sites.
  • They offer 30 innovative programs at more than 90 locations throughout Chicago, the adjacent suburbs, and McHenry and Kankakee Counties. Services include
    • Assertive outreach
    • Case management
    • Housing
    • Employment
    • Education
    • Psychiatry
    • Primary care
    • Substance abuse treatment
    • Research
  • In 2014, Thresholds served more than 7,100 adults and youth, with 75% of services delivered out in the community, representing more than 400,000 hours of care.

 

Threshold’s Cornerstone of Recovery

Thresholds has long recognized that the proper coordination of behavioral and physical healthcare is a cornerstone of helping their members recover.

  • Persons with serious mental illness (SMI) have increased mortality rates compared to the general population, partly due to excess deaths from the same comorbidities that affect the general population.
  • In persons with SMI, these comorbidities often go undiagnosed and untreated.
  • As people with SMI experience higher levels of psychiatric symptoms, they are much more likely to have physical illnesses and become less able to manage their own health or access healthcare.

Learn More About Thresholds.