Mayor Brandon Johnson Directs $65 Million to Expand Public Mental Health Clinics and Crisis Vans

CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced on Monday the allocation of $65 million in municipal budget appropriations to reopen four full-service public mental health clinics in historically underserved neighborhoods and expand the city's "Treatment Not Trauma" alternative crisis response network.

The municipal directive authorizes the immediate hiring of 120 licensed clinical social workers, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and peer recovery specialists to staff four newly refurbished city health centers in Woodlawn, Roseland, West Garfield Park, and Pilsen, providing free outpatient mental health therapy and substance use treatment regardless of insurance status.

Expanding Non-Police 911 Clinical Crisis Response The funding also expands Chicago's Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) program, deploying thirty specialized mobile response vans staffed by licensed mental health clinicians and paramedics to answer 911 emergency mental health calls without armed police presence.

"Public safety and public health are inextricably linked," Mayor Brandon Johnson said at the newly renovated South Side mental health center in Woodlawn. "When someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, they need a compassionate, trained clinician, not a jail cell or an emergency room waiting room. By reopening our public clinics and expanding our clinical mobile response fleet, we are delivering on our promise to treat trauma at its root and rebuild Chicago's public healthcare safety net."

Clinical Staffing and Free Public Healthcare Delivery Under the municipal framework:

• Free Outpatient Services: Clinics will offer trauma-informed individual therapy, youth counseling, group therapy, and psychiatric medication management at zero cost to patients.
• 24/7 Mobile Crisis Telemetry: The CARE mobile vans will operate around the clock across all 22 Chicago police districts, coordinated through the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC).
• Substance Use Treatment Integration: All four centers will provide walk-in access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder and free naloxone distribution.

Community mental health advocates, aldermen, and public health unions celebrated the expansion, noting that community clinics prevent tragic 911 crisis escalations while diverting non-violent individuals away from the Cook County jail system.