Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center (ChicagoCAC)

1240 S. Damen Ave., Chicago IL 60608
(312) 492-3700
Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center and their partners are the front-line responders in Chicago to reports of child sexual abuse. They also respond to physical abuse, witness to violence, and other serious maltreatment. Since opening their doors in 2001, they have served more than 41,000 children. ChicagoCAC is the city’s only nonprofit organization that coordinates the efforts of child protection staff, law enforcement professionals, family advocates, medical experts, and mental health clinicians under one roof. ChicagoCAC responds to reports of child sexual abuse as part of a multi-disciplinary team of experts. Together, they investigate alleged abuse, conduct forensic interviews, provide family advocacy, reduce trauma and identify resources so that children and families may begin the healing process.
https://www.chicagocac.org/what-we-do/our-response-to-child-sexual-abuse/

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services

Child Abuse Hotline: 800-25-ABUSE
The mission of Illinois DCFS is to protect children who are reported to be abused or neglected and to increase their families’ capacity to safely care for them; provide for the well-being of children in our care; provide appropriate, permanent families as quickly as possible for those children who cannot safely return home; support early intervention and child abuse prevention activities and work in partnerships with communities to fulfill this mission. Illinois DCFS is the largest child welfare agency to earn accreditation from the Council on Accreditation for Children and Family Services. From helping more than 15,000 Illinois children find permanent, loving homes though adoption and reunifying over 21,000 children with their birth families over the last decade; to the licensing of nearly 11,000 day care facilities; answering of more than 220,000 calls to the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline and provision of services to 60,000 families annually; the department and its 2,600 staff are dedicated to providing unrivaled professional service to ensure safe, loving homes and brighter futures for every child in Illinois.
https://www2.illinois.gov/dcfs/safekids/reporting/Pages/index.aspx

Lurie Children’s Child Abuse Pediatrics

225 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611|
(312)-227-6220
The Division of Child Abuse Pediatrics and Protective Services Team (PST), identifies and treats children that are victims of abuse and neglect. The team’s goal is to ensure that all children served by the hospital are in a safe and healthy environment. They train professionals, parents and the community about the advocacy, identification and treatment of child abuse and neglect, including: common triggers of maltreatment, recognizing abuse and neglect, stressors that may lead to child abuse, and how to report abuse and neglect.
https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/specialties-conditions/child-abuse-pediatrics/

La Rabida Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC)

200 Lakewood Blvd, Park Forest, IL 60466
(708) 481-9799
The mission of La Rabida Children’s Advocacy Center (LRCAC) is to reduce trauma for a child’s well-being by providing support services to child victims and their families. The LRCAC provides services, such as forensic interviews and advocacy to child victims of sexual and physical abuse, and witnesses of crime in the investigation process.
https://larabida.org/cherry-services/child-abuse-and-trauma/

Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network (UCAN)

3605 W Fillmore St, Chicago, IL 60624
(773)-588-0180
UCAN strives to build strong youth and families through compassionate healing, education and empowerment. They serve and impact over 21,000 at-risk children, youth, and families across Illinois by creating safe and caring spaces for them to grow. UCAN’s Counseling and Youth Development Services provide outpatient therapy to people who have experienced trauma. Intervention, education, and support are provided to people who have suffered sexual abuse, for other family members impacted by the abuse, and for those who have committed sexual abuse.
https://www.ucanchicago.org/our-programs/healing-trauma/

Kidpower Chicago

4541 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60640
(847) 677-3157
Kidpower Chicago offers bullying and abuse awareness and prevention programs that can be done for large groups in a presentation format while remaining interactive and hands-on. They provide community workshops as well as programs designed for specific organizations and their populations. Their PreK-12 Bullying Prevention and Healthy Relationship Programs online workshops Take action to stop bullying and harassment with skills that include respectful boundaries for play, health, and safety; self-advocacy and positive communication skills; help-seeking skills; online safety, and digital citizenship ― to build healthy social skills, caring relationships, and a safe school community culture for people of all abilities, beliefs, and identities.
https://www.kidpower.org/programs/bullying-prevention/

SGA Youth & Family Services

3152 W. 47th St. Chicago, IL 60632-2513
(312) 663-0305
The heart of SGA beats to the rhythm of community revitalization. When families are given opportunities to improve their lives through our programs, they have the power to bring positive change to their communities. Their student support services include Anti-violence and Anti-Bullying Services and Substance Abuse Prevention.
https://www.sga-youth.org/assets/uploads/Brighton_Park.pdf

Youth Outreach Services (YOS)

2411 W Congress Pkway., Chicago IL 60612
(773)-777-7112
Youth Outreach Service is a non-profit organization focused on helping at-risk youth in the Chicago area to reach their potential. For over 60 years, their focus has been on caring for teens that face challenges at home, in school and in the community. YOS’s Prevention services help youth and families develop the skills and opportunities they need to make good choices and pursue positive activities. YOS believes that addressing a potential threat before it becomes a problem is the best way to impact positive change. Their bully prevention workshops for middle and high schoolers educate and discuss types of bullying, how to address them, how to prevent them. Plus, they creatively engage with students through activities, videos, and exercises about the negative impacts such behaviors have on youths’ emotional health. Staff also cater dialogues for school faculty and parents around this topic, as well as the policies and practices in place to reduce bullying incidents in schools and community.
https://www.yos.org/services/prevention

Rainbows for All Children

614 Dempster Street, Suite C, Evanston, IL 60202
(847) 952-1770
Rainbows for All Children is uniquely equipped to help children through different emotions and stages of development. Rainbows has specially designed curriculum for pre-school, K through 8 and high school aged kids. Since its inception, Rainbows has provided peer support groups to more than three million kids from schools, faith-based organizations and community centers in the United States and 16 countries worldwide. With its trained facilitators and uniquely designed programs, Rainbows has become part of the largest international organization to help children grieve and grow in response to loss. Rainbows for All Children provides programs for children with incarcerated parents and other experiences of loss. Rainbows’ facilitators are specifically trained to support children of all different age groups. Facilitators act as companions to share experiences and help children make sense of loss and as compassionate role models for peer groups. By validating children’s emotions and encouraging peer relationships based on respect, facilitators help children to reconcile these adverse circumstances and to look forward to a fulfilling future.
https://rainbows.org/services/incarceration

The Women’s Treatment Center

140 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 850-0050
The Women’s Treatment Center has been providing vital support through its PACT program to Chicago-area children whose mothers are incarcerated at the Decatur and Logan Correctional Centers. This innovative program – the only one of its kind in Illinois helps reduce the impact of maternal incarceration. Children come from across Cook County, but primarily Chicago, to participate in PACT activities. Children range in age from less than 1 year through 18 years of age. The program’s main goals are to 1) stabilize families and the home environment by sustaining the connection between at-risk youth and their incarcerated mother and by providing case management/support services to caregivers, and 2) improve the cognitive and social abilities of youth at risk because of parental incarceration and other factors through support services.
http://www.womenstreatmentcenter.org/index.imw?cat=39&dbx=34

Youth Outreach Services (YOS)

YOS’s Juvenile Justice services provide alternatives to detention, services to youth awaiting court, and support for youth reentering the community. The Restoring Individuals through Supportive Environments (R.I.S.E.) program is a diversion program at YOS’s Austin office, for youth ages 14-18 years, which provides intensive mentoring and opportunities for skill-building for justice-involved youth through a 4-month curriculum focused on civic engagement and restorative justice. This program is designed to reduce violence involvement and improve outcomes for justice-involved young males with multiple arrests.
https://www.yos.org/services/juvenile-justice

Between Friends

P.O. Box 608548, Chicago, IL, 60660 
Business Line: (773)-274-5232 24 Hour Help Line: (800)-603-4357 
Between Friends provides a safe and supportive environment for individuals and families in crisis. Their counselors empower clients to make their own decisions and choices, rather than making choices for them. Between Friends helps adult, teen, and child survivors of domestic violence to recognize that their experience is shared. They organize group outings for individuals and families impacted by domestic violence to offer some respite and self-care opportunities. They also provide counseling services and teen dating violence prevention programs with 6^th-12^th grades to examine issues including empathy, consent, boundaries, and conflict resolution in all kinds of relationships, as well as how to make positive differences in their communities.
https://www.betweenfriendschicago.org/our-programs/

Connections for Abused Women and their Children (CAWC)

932 W. Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607
(312)-226-7984 ext. 359
CAWC provides individual and group counseling to survivors and children. Domestic violence survivors are at a high risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, or stress-related mental health conditions. Learning to cope with residual emotional pain and fears is essential to healing. Counseling can help survivors move forward in their quest to heal from the abuse. Individual counseling provides a safe and confidential environment for survivors. Group counseling allows survivors to connect with others in a similar situation.
https://www.cawc.org/domestic-violence-services/#children

Illinois Department of Human Services

Domestic Violence Helpline: 1-877-TO END DV
The Bureau of Domestic & Sexual Violence Intervention supports comprehensive, community-based services to reduce the incidence of domestic and sexual violence and to ensure that survivors have access to safety, medical care, crisis support, legal advocacy and counseling services for themselves and their significant others. The Bureau also supports services to reduce and prevent domestic violence through education to abusers and assistance to the court system.
https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=30275

Sarah’s Inn

1547 Circle Ave, Forest Park, IL 60130
(708) 386-4225
Sarah’s Inn was founded in 1980 by a group of concerned women in River Forest and Oak Park, to address a lack of services for victims of domestic violence and their families. The agency has since grown to become one of the largest and most comprehensive domestic violence agencies serving Chicago and 22 surrounding West Cook County suburban communities. Sarah’s Inn provides comprehensive services for families affected by domestic violence so that they get the support they need to find safety, rebuild their lives, and heal. The Together Strong Project prevents relationship violence by teaching youth about the impact their choices can have on society, giving them the tools to lead healthy lives, and empowering them to make a difference in their community. They work with adolescents, educators and parents through school based violence prevention education programming, providing critical information on building healthy relationships and how to get help, if necessary. They provide critical information for adults and students on how to prevent relationship violence, how to protect themselves against potential harassment, and how to seek help if they are a victim of violence or abuse. 2,110 high school youth have received this education.
https://sarahsinn.org/what-we-do/

Buddy’s Place

1023 Burlington Ave, Western Springs, IL 60558
(708) 745-5277
Buddy’s Place is Pillars’ bereavement/grief program, which offers family-based support groups to grieving children and teens ages 4-18 and their families who are grieving the death of an adult or child. Buddy’s Place is committed to providing a safe, accepting, and supportive environment where each family can come and express their grief and connect with others in a group setting. There is no charge to attend the programs offered by Buddy’s Place.
https://pillarscommunityhealth.org/services/behavioral-health-and-support-services/buddys-place-grief-support/ 

Child Grief Services

122 S Michigan Ave # 1300, Chicago, IL 60603
(312) 922-7474
The Child Grief Services program (formerly known as the Barr-Harris Children’s Grief Center) offers specialized services for children, adolescents and their families who have experienced significant loss such as the loss of a parent, caregiver, sibling, or multiple losses through death, divorce, violence or other types of separation. The goal is to help in the aftermath of this type of trauma in order to mitigate the potentially harmful short and long-term effects of loss through services. The Institute’s Child Grief Services program is distinct in its deep understanding of the unique grieving process in children and the need to provide both immediate relief and therapy when needed.
https://chicagoanalysis.org/therapy/child-grief-services/

Center for Grief Recovery and Therapeutic Services

1263 W. Loyola, Chicago IL 60625
773-274-4600
The Center for Grief Recovery and Therapeutic Services was founded in 1985 and is a 501(c)(3) non-profit housing eight independent practitioners who are dedicated to empowering individuals to heal themselves and enrich their lives. Over the decades, they have done as much as possible to increase understanding of the issues involved in bereavement and loss, working to sensitize both the lay and professional communities, while offering direct services to bereaved individuals. Their services provide individual, family, couples, and group experiences. Their therapists create a safe environment to express your deepest hurts and frustrations and offer tools and patient, reliable guidance every step of the way towards feeling much better. Support to individuals enduring the loss of a parent must be couched in an intensely empathic understanding of developmental and attachment issues.  Whether the loss is sudden or anticipated, grieving the death of a parent is often complex and traumatic on multiple levels.  There may be unfinished business, ambivalent feelings, regrets, and developmental challenges in learning to live without a parent.  The specific nature of the loss must be grounded in recollecting the interpersonal meanings built into the relationship as well as facing the challenges to adjust to the new world without a parent.
https://griefcounselor.org/resources/death-of-a-parent/

JourneyCare Parent and Children’s Support Group (Remember U)

Immanuel Lutheran School, 300 S. Pathway Ct, Crystal Lake, IL
224-770-CARE
JourneyCare understands that it can be helpful to talk about the loss of a loved one and the adjustments that follow after your loss. While there are no simple answers, their experienced, licensed counselors can help discover healthy ways of dealing with grief and provide support after the death of a loved one. Camp Courage is JourneyCare’s annual grief support camp that helps children and teens cope with the death of a loved one while having summer fun. Entirely supported by charitable donations, the program helps campers aged 6-18 years old deal with their loss while they enjoy art, music, sports and other activities with friends.
http://www.sharingourjourney.org/latest/category/grief-support

Rainbow Hospice: Good Mourning Program

444 N. Northwest Highway, Suite 145, Park Ridge IL 60068
847-653-3140
The Good Mourning Program for Children, Teens and Families is the longest-running bereavement support program for children and their families in the Chicagoland area. For more than 30 years, Good Mourning has served thousands of children through advocacy, support services and special events. The Good Mourning team of caring and compassionate licensed professionals and peer counselors is committed to fostering and supporting the resilience of children and the strength of families. The team of experienced professionals will help map out the most effective plan of care for you and the children involved.
https://rainbowhospice.org/grief-loss/support-for-children-and-families/good-mourning/

Tommy’s Kids and Teens for Teens

630-856-6993
Rosemarie.cohen@amitahealth.org
Helping children who have experienced the death of someone they love is one of the most difficult tasks a parent or other relative may ever face. Tommy’s Kids and Teens is available to assist with that difficult task and to help children and teens learn healthy ways of coping. Tommy’s Kids and Teens is a 6-week grief support group for children ages 4 to 16 who have experienced a significant loss due to death. Children meet in age appropriate groups to participate in art, talk and expressive activities.

Willow House 

2231 Lakeside Drive ​Bannockburn, IL 60015
(847)-236-9300
Willow House peer support groups bring together children, teen, young adult and adult family members who share the profound experience of the death of a loved one. These groups provide a place in which the challenges and feelings of the grieving experience can be expressed, where loved ones are remembered and honored, and where stories can be shared in a safe and non-judgmental place. The peer groups are located in Libertyville, Arlington Heights, Chicago, and Bannockburn.
https://willowhouse.org/support-group/

Association House

1116 N Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL 60651 
(773)-772-7170 
Association House provides an array of culturally competent and evidence-based behavioral healthcare, prevention, treatment and educational programs delivered by a team of qualified professionals. Services are designed for people facing various challenges at different points in life, whether they are children living with emotional or mental health issues, youth and adults dealing with substance use issues, or families in need of support. They provide mental health services to those in need, which can address unique problems with different solutions, from counseling to therapeutic case management, to 24-hour supervised residential living, to rehabilitation. Their mental health services include: Pre-Admission Screening, 24-hour Supervised Residential (placement by referral only), Community Support & Case Management, Psycho-Social Rehabilitation, ACT – Assertive Community Treatment, CST – Community Support Team, Integrated Health, and Child, Adolescent & Family Counseling. They are one of only six organizations selected by the State of Illinois to provide preventive children’s mental health services and are a certified Mental Health First Aid training provider.  
https://www.associationhouse.org/home/services/behavioral-health/ 

Children’s Home and Aid

125 South Wacker Drive, 14th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606 
(312)-424-0200 
Children’s Home & Aid is a leading child and family service agency in Illinois. They help children recover their health, their hope, and their faith in the people around them. They link children to a network of opportunity and care, to extended family, teachers, mentors, and the resources of their neighborhood and community. Their behavioral health services program provide school based, office based and community-based services to children and youth ages 4-21 who have Medicaid or Managed Medicaid and their families on the west and south sides of Chicago. 
https://www.childrenshomeandaid.org/counseling-programs-services/community-based-behavioral-health/

Lurie Children’s Adolescent Behavioral Health Program

1440 N. Dayton St., Chicago, Illinois 60642
(800)-543-7362
Established in 2013, behavioral health services in The Potocsnak Family Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine meet the diverse needs of child and adolescent patients by providing diagnostic assessment and psychotherapy in select subspecialty services and programs. Behavioral health services include Comprehensive Diagnostic Assessment, Individual and Family Psychotherapy, and Group Psychotherapy. All Adolescent Medicine Behavioral Health Providers are offering diagnostic assessments and therapeutic services via telemedicine.
https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/specialties-conditions/adolescent-behavioral-health-program/

National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) Chicago

1801 W Warner Ave Suite 202, Chicago, IL 60613 
(312) 563-0445 
NAMI Chicago provides the services needed to support wellness in the community, from lending a listening ear to a concerned family member, to working with individuals long-term connecting to resources for legal and housing assistance. Callers dial 833-NAMI-CHI to connect to a live clinician or peer for referrals, guidance and expertise. Sometimes a phone call isn’t enough, and they meet individuals in person to provide advocacy and peer support through mental health challenges. NAMI Chicago also provides tips and resources for 9^th-12^th graders like how to decrease mental health stigma, support those with mental health struggles, and learn more about mental health conditions. 
https://www.namichicagoyouth.org/grades-9-12 

Neopolitan Lighthouse

Chicago, IL 60624
(773) 638-0227; 24-Hour Crisis Hotline: (773)-722-0005
Neopolitan Lighthouse is a not-for-profit domestic violence agency that provides comprehensive support services to victims of abuse and their children on the west side of Chicago. Some of these vital services include a 24 hour crisis line, shelter, counseling, advocacy, case management, employment assistance, and legal advocacy. Neopolitan serves 700-750 clients every year. Children who witness violence may become traumatized and suffer from a variety of psychological symptoms. To address the overt and covert symptoms of trauma, Neopolitan Lighthouse contracts a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) to provide mental health services for children at the shelter facility. The Social Worker also consults with parents to address the parents’ concerns and assist them in providing support for their children.
http://neopolitanlighthouse.org/programs/childrens-project/

Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network (UCAN)

UCAN’s Counseling and Youth Development Services provide outpatient therapy to people who have experienced trauma. Working with youth, adults and families in a variety of settings, UCAN’s culturally diverse counselors and youth development specialists help clients address such complex issues as abuse, neglect, behavioral problems, separation and loss.
https://www.ucanchicago.org/our-programs/healing-trauma/

Northwestern Medicine Warren Wright Adolescent Center

446 E Ontario Ave, Sixth Floor, Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60611
(312)-926-8200; Intake: (312)-926-8200
The Warren Wright Adolescent Center is dedicated to better understanding cognition in health and psychiatric illness in adolescents and young adults. Their goal is to map the range of healthy development to better understand psychiatric disturbance in adolescents during crucial development years (13 to 22 years of age). They provide treatment for adolescents with mental health conditions and substance abuse.
https://www.nm.org/locations/warren-wright-adolescent-center

Alternative, Inc.

241 E. 57th St., Chicago IL 60637
(773)-506-7474
Alternatives offers school based and center-based outpatient substance abuse counseling for adolescents and young adults. Therapists use the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA), an evidence-based model providing three to six months of individual and family counseling. Counseling addresses substance abuse through analysis of substance use, development of communication and problem-solving skills, encouragement of pro-social behaviors, and improvement of the caregiver-youth relationship. Substance Abuse Counseling is offered to 11-18 year olds within school based health centers at Roosevelt, Uplift, and Senn; through our Uptown Youth Center; and to 18-24 year old youth both at our Uptown Youth Center and at our South Side office.
https://www.alternativesyouth.org/programs/behavioral-health/substance-abuse-treatment/

Association House

1116 N Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL 60651 
(773) 772-7170 
Association House provides an array of culturally competent and evidence-based behavioral healthcare, prevention, treatment and educational programs delivered by a team of qualified professionals. Services are designed for people facing various challenges at different points in life, whether they are children living with emotional or mental health issues, youth and adults dealing with substance use issues, or families in need of support. They provide substance use prevention and treatment, whether that requires community intervention, outpatient treatment, or DUI evaluation, risk education, and counseling. Our Substance Use Counseling services include: Level I & II Outpatient Treatment, DUI Risk Education, DUI Evaluations, DUI RE-Evaluations, Early Intervention, and Toxicology Screening. 
https://www.associationhouse.org/home/services/behavioral-health/ 

Connections for Abused Women and their Children (CAWC)

https://www.cawc.org/haymarket/

Gateway Foundation

55 E. Jackson Boulevard, Suite 1500, Chicago, IL 60604
(877)-381-6538
Gateway is a recognized leader in evidence-based treatment proven to get results. Their experts in Addiction Medicine—including highly educated clinical and medical professionals and expert psychiatrists and nurses—deliver care that never stops. Expertise and compassionate leadership enable Gateway teams to meet diverse needs with a personalized treatment curriculum that recognizes the humanity and individuality of each patient. They offer a 100% online Adolescent Program that helps teenagers get their lives back on track if they’ve found themselves dealing with drug or alcohol addiction. Growing up in the digital age is increasingly challenging, and it’s their goal to help young people find a path they can thrive on. They also offer the Bridge Program, another virtually held service designed specifically for adolescent men beginning their journey to a substance-free life.
https://www.gatewayfoundation.org/programs-and-services/programs/teenage-rehabilitation-programs/

Hazelden Betty Ford

867 N Dearborn St, Chicago, IL 60610
(855)-888-0262
The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is the nation’s largest nonprofit treatment provider, with a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center. With 17 sites in California, Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, New York, Florida, Massachusetts, Colorado and Washington, the Foundation offers prevention and recovery solutions nationwide and across the entire continuum of care for youth and adults. Drug abuse assessments, inpatient addiction treatment, outpatient rehab, and specialized drug abuse treatment services are provided for adolescents and young adults diagnosed with addiction.
https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/treatment/models/specialized-programs/teens-young-adults

Lurie Children’s Substance Use and Prevention Program (SUPP)

2301 Enterprise Drive, Westchester, Illinois 60154
(800)-543-7362
The Substance Use and Prevention Program (SUPP) provides comprehensive and holistic care for patients and families. As a specialty program within The Potocsnak Family Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, SUPP utilizes multidisciplinary team to address the complex needs of those experiencing substance use disorders. They provide every adolescent that comes through our program with current and evidence-based care for addiction treatment and prevention. SUPP provides assessment, Level 0.5 early intervention and Level 1 outpatient services for youth who meet criteria for any substance use disorder (marijuana, alcohol, tobacco/vaping, and other drugs). The team also provides medications for addiction treatment for youth struggling with opioid and nicotine use disorders. They accept new patients up to 21 years of age.
https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/specialties-conditions/substance-use-prevention-program/

Rosecrance

1601 N. University Drive, Rockford IL 61107-5317
(866) 330-8729
Rosecrance is a private, not-for-profit organization offering comprehensive, nationally accredited, evidence-based addiction treatment and mental health treatment for children, teens, young adults and adults with more than 60 convenient locations across Chicago, northern Illinois and central Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. They remain committed to helping youth address substance use and mental health disorders. Their comprehensive substance abuse and mental health services help accelerate progress and create a recovery roadmap that goes beyond initial treatment in recovery, because that’s the key to long-term success in recovery. At Rosecrance, each client is cared for by a team of licensed specialists who have committed their careers to supporting the unique needs of adolescents. Together, the team designs an individualized treatment plan that draws on the expertise of counselors, physicians, psychiatrists, dieticians, nurses, chaplains, physical fitness instructors, teachers, and social workers. Treatment options include residential recovery treatment centers for teenagers, combined treatment for dual-diagnosis teens, and intensive outpatient services.

Youth Outreach Services (YOS)

YOS believes that addressing a potential threat before it becomes a problem is the best way to impact positive change. Their substance abuse prevention workshop offers an evidenced-based curriculum designed to reduce the onset of the first experience with alcohol and other drugs, and to change youths’ perceptions about using substances. The curriculum is typically delivered in a school or community-based setting. Booster courses are offered to students in subsequent grades to follow up on learned lessons from their original curriculum.
https://www.yos.org/services/prevention

Broader Urban Involvement & Leadership Development (Build)

5100 W Harrison St, Chicago, IL 60644
(773) 227-2880
BUILD (Broader Urban Involvement & Leadership Development) is one of Chicago’s leading gang intervention, violence prevention, and youth development organizations. Their mission is to engage at-risk youth in schools and on the streets to help them realize their potential and contribute to our communities. They focus on hard-to-serve youth in some of Chicago’s most challenging neighborhoods. They change lives by providing safe and constructive alternatives to youth who are involved with gangs, the justice system, or risky behaviors.
https://www.buildchicago.org/saving-lives-intervention/

Chicago Youth Center

218 South Wabash Avenue, Suite 510, Chicago, IL 60604
(312) 913-1700
Chicago Youth Centers (CYC) has been a trusted partner in Chicago’s most divested neighborhoods, ensuring that kids have a safe place they can go to explore, to discover, to process, and ultimately to envision a bright future that they can create for themselves. Today, CYC is a network of neighborhood- and school-based Centers and the 11th largest provider of Head Start programs across the city. In early learning classrooms, afterschool programs, and summer day camps, youth ages 18 months to 18 years find joy in learning, grow socially and emotionally, and build skills for the jobs of tomorrow.

Keeping children safe is their top priority. While they provide a safe haven for children, they also teach youth and their families to effectively navigate the trauma and challenges they face to break the generational cycles of poverty and violence. Their youth workers have completed trauma training and their Centers partner with area health providers if a referral is needed. Violence prevention is intentionally woven throughout their programs. While children are learning about STEAM and the Four C’s, they also work on projects that confront issues in their neighborhoods, including gun violence, peer pressure, and gang activity.
https://www.chicagoyouthcenters.org/violence-prevention

Enlace Chicago

2756 S.Harding Avenue, Chicago, IL 60623
(773) 943-7570
Enlace Chicago is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of Little Village residents by fostering a safe and healthy environment and by championing opportunities for educational advancement and economic development. Enlace takes a comprehensive, multi-systemic and trauma-informed approach to building safety and promoting peace in Little Village. They provide street outreach, street-based counselors, school-based counselors, and safe passage services in addition to advocacy and organizing initiatives.
https://www.enlacechicago.org/violenceprevention

Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network (UCAN)

UCAN’s Violence Intervention and Prevention Services empower young people to create life-changing opportunities that ensure safer futures. UCAN is the lead agency in The Peace Hub, a collaborative of more than 30 youth-serving Chicago nonprofit organizations whose goals are to increase engagement of Chicago’s youth ages 12-24 in programs and services, enhance communication and partnership among local service providers, and to leverage underutilized services to address violence in Chicago.
https://www.ucanchicago.org/our-programs/preventing-violence/

Universal Family Connection, Inc.

W 103^rd St, Chicago IL 60643
(773)-881-1711
Universal Family Connection, Inc. offers restorative practices training in the communities of Washington Heights and Roseland to familiarize and instill restorative justice focused principles in young people and to teach leadership skills through violence prevention activities that engage their peers and neighbors. Its goal is for 100% of participating youth to increase knowledge of restorative justice practices and engage their peers and community in violence prevention events.
http://universalfamilyconnection.com/ufc-peace-ambassadors/

YMCA of Metro Chicago

1030 W. Van Buren Street, Chicago IL 60607

(312) 932-1200
The Y’s Youth Safety and Violence Prevention program (YSVP) is a comprehensive, trauma-informed approach to violence prevention that looks at past exposure to trauma as a main driver of future dangerous behaviors. Everything they do is designed to help the region’s most vulnerable youth become leaders in their own communities. The YSVP has 5 programs that incorporates mentors, families, peers, partners, and youth to reduce the cycle of harm by working to reduce adverse childhood experiences, build community protective factors, and strengthen human resiliency. There are programs at multiple YMCA locations throughout Chicago and the Chicagoland area.
https://www.ymcachicago.org/programs/youth-safety-and-violence-prevention