Providing Access Toward Hope and Healing (PATHH) is a group of mental health providers committed to improving the mental health system in Chicago.
Convened by Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center and led by a steering committee, the collaboration is an alliance of 29 treatment providers, both non-profit agencies and private practitioners, that offer evidence-based, trauma-informed therapy for children and families who have experienced the impact of sexual abuse.
PATHH was started to combat an inefficient system of mental health care that left children waiting for long periods of time for critically needed services with little communication or case management. Families were left to navigate care on their own, and system capacity and client engagement were unknown. While ChicagoCAC has been working in partnership with the city’s child sexual abuse treatment providers since 2001, it was clear we needed a more formal arrangement. An initial group of 10 agencies became the PATHH Collaboration by 2010, and since then the network has nearly tripled in size.
Based on a needs screening conducted by the family advocate, children are referred to a centralized wait list for mental health services that is managed by ChicagoCAC. Our team evaluates therapy slots available at all PATHH partners, including the Family Hope Center, and matches clients to a provider that best meets the family’s needs. While they are waiting, children and their families receive services from our family support specialists.
Through strong partner and funder collaboration, shared resources, coordinated mental health service delivery and advanced training for clinicians throughout Chicago, PATHH helps ensure that children have access to trauma-informed treatment in a timely manner. PATHH is committed to serving children who are most in need and may not otherwise have access to community service providers due to financial, transportation or language barriers.
Our Vision
Our vision is that all victims of sexual abuse as well as their families receive timely, appropriate, efficient and effective trauma-informed treatment in order to heal from the effects of sexual abuse.
Our Mission
Our mission is to maintain a collaborative partnership of Chicago-area agencies that will unite and work together to serve children and adolescents who have been affected by sexual abuse, as well as their families, in order to broaden and bridge access to mental health services.
PATHH White Paper
Written by Stephen Budde, PhD, LCSW and Jan Waters, MS, LCPC, this white paper recaps successes of PATHH, lessons learned and plans for the future of mental health treatment for children in Chicago. It also features recommendations for other organizations to replicate PATHH in their communities.
PATHH Partners
- Advocate Childhood Trauma Treatment Program
- Albany Park Community Center
- Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
- Association House
- Casa Central – Safe Start
- Catholic Charities
- Center for Contextual Change, Ltd.
- ChicagoCAC
- Children’s Home & Aid
- Children’s Research Triangle
- Community Counseling Centers of Chicago (C4)
- Family Focus Englewood – Safe Start Program
- Heartland Alliance – Victim Recovery Services
- Innovative Counseling Partners
- Jewish Child and Family Services (JCFS)
- Juvenile Protective Association (JPA)
- La Rabida Children’s Hospital – Chicago Child Trauma Center
- Lotus Trauma Care, LLC
- McKeever Health and Clinical Services, LLC
- Mount Sinai Hospital – Under the Rainbow Program
- Mujeres Latinas en Acción
- Pillars Community Health
- Rooted Connections Counseling
- Sarah’s Inn
- Trilogy Behavioral Healthcare
- UCAN Clinical & Counseling Services
- UIC Developmental Disabilities Family Clinic
- Youth Outreach Services (YOS)
- YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago
For more information, contact Jan Waters: (312) 492-3183 or JWaters@ChicagoCAC.org