Thresholds Outpatient and Intensive Outpatient Services are person-centered, trauma-informed, and evidence-based.
Our model is to bring a comprehensive suite of services to wherever our clients are.
Thresholds provides mental health crisis response in Chicago through two programs – our Living Room and our Mobile Crisis Response Team.
The Thresholds Workforce Development Department offers workshops, conferences and other training opportunities.
Thresholds offers groundbreaking programs for adolescents, young adults, families, young mothers, and their children.
Thresholds offers services designed to integrate mental health, substance use, and primary care treatment.
Our mission is to provide data to support decision-making meant to improve quality of care, optimize health outcomes, and lower costs.
The Centers provide a wide range of mental health and substance use treatment services to their immediate surrounding communities in Ravenswood and McHenry County.
The only program of its kind in Illinois, offering services for persons with mental illnesses who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
Thresholds’ Peer Success program is operated by consumers – those who have a lived experience of mental illness.
Thresholds is the largest provider of supported housing in Illinois and provides comprehensive services for persons experiencing homelessness.
Thresholds provides clients with the support and services needed to achieve independence to class members of the Williams Consent Decree.
Thresholds offers services to members of the armed forces who are experiencing PTSD, trauma, substance use disorders, and much more.
Thresholds’ Employment Specialists place clients in jobs of their choice to create real economic independence.
The Thresholds Creative Arts Therapy team, made up of a diverse range of trained art therapists, provides our clients tools for wellness.
The Thresholds Evaluation Department provides data to support decision-making meant to improve quality of care, optimize health outcomes, and lower the costs of behavioral healthcare within Thresholds and throughout the behavioral healthcare system.
The Evaluation Department is responsible for reporting on quality indicators and outcomes, identifying areas for improvement, collaborating on change plans, implementing test cycles, and measuring their impact in order to bring sustainable change to scale. The department ensures that Thresholds’ senior leaders have the information necessary to effectively respond to rapidly changing healthcare contexts and promotes a culture of learning and evaluation while increasing the data literacy of Thresholds’ behavioral healthcare workforce.
The Evaluation Department supports evaluation activities for every program at Thresholds, which includes both adult and youth and young adult services. Our evaluation activities help support various programs across the organization, including Thresholds Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, the Living Room, New Freedom Centers, IPS Employment Services, and specific clinical programs such as the Young Adult Program and Youth Transitional Living, Veterans Project, Homeless Outreach Program, and Substance Use Treatment. Additionally, we conduct an annual Member Experience Survey to ensure our services are meeting the needs of the members we serve.
Evaluation staff are experienced in process, impact, and outcome evaluation methods, data collection, database construction and management, data visualization within dashboards and reports, supporting grant writing, determining goals and objectives, and utilizing data from multiple sources.
Samantha Mestan is a licensed social worker and Vice President of Evaluation at Thresholds. Samantha oversees the development and implementation of all program evaluation work within the organization, which encompasses a wide range of services provided to adults and youth and young adults. Additionally, she is in charge of all evaluation activities related to Thresholds Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, including being named the Lead Evaluator on 2 of our 4 CCBHCs. Samantha is responsible for supporting information-based decision making and improving organizational performance throughout the life cycle of receiving services, from the very first contact with a member through discharge of services. She partners with clinical and operational leaders across the agency to implement program evaluation practices to better understand, improve, sustain, and grow innovative multidisciplinary programs for people with serious mental health needs, complex trauma histories, and current or former system involvement. Samantha has experience in research methods, monitoring and evaluation, and quality improvement. Prior to working for Thresholds, Samantha has worked with both state and local organizations to develop programs and provide research and evaluation expertise pertaining to access to healthcare, healthcare disparities, and health policies. Samantha is a former AmeriCorps member and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work and Master of Social Work both from the University of Iowa.
Haley Roell is a social worker and Evaluation Specialist at Thresholds where she assists in the reporting and evaluation of various programs including IPS, the Living Room, and Daybreak, a city-wide arrest deflection program. While evaluating these specialty programs, Haley also works directly with programs on the annual Member Experience Survey to better understand Thresholds members’ experience of care and make recommendations to improve service delivery. Haley has experience with foster care policy in Michigan, and before joining Thresholds she worked directly with a Michigan State Senator to assist constituents with financial support in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Haley’s background in program evaluation, policy, research methods, and community engagement spur her interest in understanding how to best advocate and support individuals with SMI. Haley holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Master of Social Work both from the University of Michigan.
Ally West is an Evaluation Specialist at Thresholds where she supports programs by completing reports, tracking outcomes, and evaluating the effectiveness of services being offered. Ally collaborates with staff across the agency, working closely with New Freedom Centers, the Thresholds High School, and grant-funded projects. Before joining the Evaluation Department, Ally coordinated the NIDILRR-funded C.O.R.E. program at Thresholds, a supported employment program for young adults experiencing SMI. Ally applies her experience working directly with members to her current work in evaluation, hoping to connect the subjective implementation of social services to the objective use of data in assessing the effectiveness of staff’s day-to-day work. She has specific interests in peer services, the member experience, and understanding gaps that exist within social services and how we can close them. Ally holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from DePaul University.
