SAMARITAN INTERFAITH COUNSELING CENTER INC DBA SAMARACARE

The overall goals are to 1) provide access to mental health counseling for those individuals and families that have financial limitations to afford care and 2) to raise the quality of our client's lives and help them to reach balance, wellness and increased self-sufficiency by enhancing their ability to cope with life stressors.

Eligibility for fee subsidy assistance occurs when a client cannot afford SamaraCare’s standard fees due to an existing financial hardship or change in their financial circumstances. The fee per visit is determined largely by the applicant’s household income and size, based on the Federal Poverty Guidelines. Other extenuating circumstances are also considered.

The MHAP does not cover the entire cost of mental health services. Clients will be responsible for paying a portion of their bill based on their ability to pay. Generally, 70% of the MHAP clients we serve are low/moderate income households with income less than 80% of Median Family Income. Women constitute nearly 70% of our client base at any given time.

The fee subsidy is an indirect payment to individuals, in the form of a discount below the standard fee, resulting in a savings for those the subsidy is designed to help. While counseling fees can be discounted for eligible MHAP clients, the cost of providing mental health services to MHAP clients is not. Therefore, the money we raise is used to cover the cost of therapist salaries, as well as associated overhead expenses, such as facility usage, telehealth platform, billing and insurance, and other costs incurred in delivering direct services to MHAP clients.

The program has historically been funded through revenue from full fee paying clients that are not MHAP recipients and through individual, congregational, and corporate donations as well as public/private and local government grants. SamaraCare continues to seek new and additional sources of funding from individuals who have an interest in supporting mental health, as well as congregations, corporations and private/public foundations. This has ensured the vitality and sustainability of the program over its long history.

From an operational standpoint, SamaraCare is able to meet the increasing and specific mental health needs of the community through the quality of its professional staff, many of whom have post graduate degrees at the masters and doctoral levels and are licensed clinical psychologists, social workers, counselors and marriage and family therapists. Several are also ordained clergy. We provide the option of spiritually-counseling to individuals seeking this approach. We respect all faith perspectives or no faith, and help our client's engage their faith as they see fit as part of their overall recovery process. Other counseling firms may not be equipped to incorporate the role of spirituality into the healing process. Research clearly demonstrates that spirituality can be an invaluable factor in the process of instilling and facilitating positive coping, psychological well-being, and resilience in religious clients

During FY22, SamaraCare delivered a record 28,665 clinical hours of service to 2,860 clients. We also expended $544,167 in reduced cost care to 644 clients throughout the Chicago metro area.

2022 outcome measurements are as follows:
1) 85% of clients completing 10 or more counseling sessions increased their Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) score.
2) 87% of clients agreed their personal/professional relationships had improved as a result of treatment.
3) 91% of clients agreed they were satisfied with their accomplishments from therapy.
4) 93% of clients agreed their therapist helped them to improve their coping skills to better handle problems, conflict and stress.
5) 95% of clients agreed that their therapist’s interventions and interactions were helpful.