Kim Peterson, director for community health at the Kane County Health Department, gave the Public Health Committee a detailed update on Nov. 19 on the department's behavioral health work, saying the county has launched a suite of online and in-person services intended to widen access and build local capacity.

"It is a free and confidential website to help individuals manage their well-being with behavioral health topics, self assessments, evidence based guides and tools, wellness tips and articles, and Kane County resources," Peterson said, describing the Behavioral Health 360 site and its QR-code pamphlet. She said the site averaged about 11 minutes per session and recently saw a spike in users after promotional efforts.

Peterson reported first-year program numbers (Oct. 2024 to Oct. 2025): 676 clients served through the county's referral work, with 78% of referrals completed (meaning the client connected with services). She said the most common needs were counseling/therapy, psychiatry/medication management and medical services; the neuropsychological evaluation project was the top single request during the funded period.

The county used American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to pay for two providers to deliver neuropsychological evaluations, Peterson said, noting that such evaluations can cost "anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 out of pocket" and often do not accept Medicaid. She said 91% of the neuropsych evaluations were for patients on Medicaid or other public insurance and that the program prioritized families vetted by income and household size.

Courtney Duran, clinical manager for behavioral health (identified by Peterson as leading the project), explained the training and education pieces. "We do the blended version of this just to save people time," Duran said of the mental health first aid curriculum, which she described as two hours of self-paced prework followed by four to five hours of in-person instruction.

Committee members praised the outreach and asked about sustainability and scope. Tarver, who said he had attended the mental health first aid training, recommended it broadly to colleagues and asked whether the county expected client counts to grow; Peterson said she expects roughly 200 clients per quarter after the neuropsychology spike subsides and that demand typically rises in winter months.

Members asked about eligibility and geography. Peterson said the neuropsych evaluations funded by ARPA were limited to Kane County residents and that the county continues to field calls from neighboring counties; the department has a waiting list and is pursuing additional funding opportunities.

Board members also asked whether the county had considered a residential crisis-stabilization model like a newly opened DuPage County center. Peterson and other staff said a stabilization/respite center would meet an unmet need but warned that durable, large-scale facilities require far greater ongoing funding than current county allocations.

Peterson encouraged the board to help distribute brochures and partner information to reach seniors and other groups she said are underrepresented in current use figures. "If you're talking to people, we have these brochures that you guys can give out to different groups you go to or your constituents," she said.

The committee did not take formal action on the presentation. Peterson said staff will circulate the presentation and additional data to members, and the department plans to scale up training and outreach in 2026.