Bridge Youth & Family Services

Since 1965 The Bridge Youth and Family Services has been helping troubled kids and kids in trouble. Over the past 54 years The Bridge has evolved from an after-school “safe place” for youth, to a comprehensive mental health agency. Today, The Bridge offers an array of services and programs meeting the mental health needs of youth and families in our community.

Over the years best practices and methods of helping youth have evolved and changed and the challenges children face today are different, although no less severe. However, for over 50 years our mission has never changed: we seek to both prevent adverse childhood experience, and intervene to mitigate the effects of the trauma that may have already occurred - regardless of their ability to pay for services.

The Bridge Youth and Family Services are categorized into three areas:
1) Counseling
The Bridge offers individual counseling to youth and when needed, family or parent counseling. Counseling can be in English or Spanish and with children ages 0-17 from Palatine Township which includes all of Palatine, Inverness, Hoffman Estates, Rolling Meadows, Barrington and South Barrington, Arlington Heights and Schaumburg. Our therapists, through individual counseling and groups, utilize many techniques and concepts, including Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Adolescents (Miller, Rathus, & Linehan) and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. Techniques such as “Mindfulness” and “SOS” focus on the youth’s individual behavior and experiences—their thoughts and their control of their thoughts. These are both proven methods of intervention that teach acceptance, tolerance, and the experience of self as separate from one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. Clients learn they can be upset and have intense urges but can maintain control over what they do or say. Other techniques like “Make a Link”, teach youth concrete steps for effective communication and assertiveness. Enhancing communication skills is essential when helping traumatized youth build relationships.

2) Crisis Intervention
The Bridge Crisis Intervention Program is the only agency specializing in immediate crisis intervention in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago. Services are available 24 hours per day, 365 days a year. This program serves children between the ages 11-17 who reside within the six township service area - Maine, Barrington, Hanover, Elk Grove, Palatine and Schaumburg Townships. A crisis situation can involve a youth involved in a domestic violence situation, who has suicidal or homicidal ideations, is ungovernable, locked-out, homeless, or being abused or neglected. The Bridge employs master’s level mental health clinicians who are trained to serve youth in crisis. Our counselors deescalate the crisis and develop a stabilization plan. Our services include assessment, placement, reunification if appropriate, and treatment planning and case management. Having the capacity to respond to an immediate crisis and deescalate the situation without more formal police involvement or more escalating forms of interventions.

3) Prevention
The Bridge Youth Advocacy/Mentoring program is a prevention program that effectively increases participant’s communication and problem solving skills, sense of belonging, and self-worth. This long-time, well-established mentoring program pairs volunteers over the age of 21 with youth between the ages of 7 and 15 in need of a positive adult role model. Volunteers are asked to spend two hours per week with a child over the course of one year. Mentors and their matches are also encouraged to attend monthly group activities many of which are service projects geared toward teaching youth about giving back to their community.

The Bridge provides programs help children and adolescents overcome challenges and trauma to lead happier, more successful lives. Almost all clients that access services have experienced childhood trauma or adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) including an overwhelming majority that have witnessed violence, been victims of abuse or have been permanently separated from one or both parents due to divorce. A recent study indicated 93% of our clients have had at least one "ACE", with the average being three, from a list of nine types of trauma. Services are designed to prevent development of maladaptive behavior in response to trauma, and to alter harmful habits that have already developed. All programs are offered without regard to ability to pay for them.

Programs are offered under three major headings: counseling, crisis intervention and prevention and all utilized best practices for trauma-informed care. Outpatient mental health counseling services are available to children and adolescents age 0-17 and their families residing in Palatine Township. Crisis Intervention Services for homeless, runaway, locked out and at-risk adolescents are provided to the six northwest suburban Cook County townships of Palatine, Barrington, Schaumburg, Hanover, Elk Grove and Maine. Mentoring services are available to youth 7-15 living in Palatine Townships. The program array is consistently evolving as needs of youth and the community change. By maintaining the array we are able to offer services to a wide spectrum of youth and offer an array of services that can be matched to the needs of individual youth and their families. Bridge services are provided by master’s level clinicians with a variety of backgrounds and experience in order to adequately serve the varied needs of our clients. The Bridge conducts regular evaluations to assess that we are maintaining best practices in trauma-informed care.

The Bridge utilizes partnerships and collaborations to reach clients in need. Recent partnerships include supporting Palatine CCSD15 with implementation of the “Signs of Suicide” program. Bridge staff were on-site of offer immediate assessments and referrals to services including our own. Another partnership is providing an evidence-based trauma group curriculum called SPARCS available during the school day at 4 local schools. This collaboration allows youth to participate without cost and overcomes any transportation barriers the family may have. Group services and partnerships are developed based on identified need and vary to meet gaps in service. Other group services include social skill development, leadership development, healthy relationships and overcoming alcohol and drug use.

Increasing access to quality mental health care by overcoming barriers, providing more services, and demonstrating improvement in functioning is integral to the mission of The Bridge. The staff of The Bridge engages in a year round process of liaison visits, promoting our services to referral sources most likely to have contact with youth needing them. Visits educate on community needs addressed via our services, inform them of contacts at The Bridge, and make salient our services so that they are referenced when needed. These visits include school personnel, police departments, and other community resources. Referral trends are studied to aid in selection of the communities and organizations to target for additional time and attention to improve utilization rates in underserved communities. The Bridge Youth and Family Services are committed to serving those who have been marginalized by either racial or social equity.

Language and transportation continue to be two of the greatest barriers to accessing services in our community. For this reason, several services provided by the agency are conducted on-site at schools, police stations and other youth serving organizations so that clients do not have to travel to receive services. In Palatine Community Consolidated School District 15, 1 out of 4 students primary home language is Spanish. For this reason we have expanded our capacity to provide services to clients in Spanish by employing two full-time Spanish speaking and bicultural Master's level clinicians. In our Prevention Program, due primarily to requests from D211 and D15 schools for substance abuse and trauma groups, our hours in this area are up 45% over one year ago, an increase of over 700 hours.

These efforts continue to make our programs more accessible to low-income families and minority groups that are most impacted by barriers to care. Helping to identify clients who are uninsured and connect them with community partners that can facilitate their access to insurance is also a component of our intake process.