Illinois Valley Times

The Grundy County Health Department plans to expand on telecommunication services it provides clients with mental health or substance abuse issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As most clients remain at home, health department staff work from home and reach out to clients by phone.

“We’ve been doing everything on the telephone in person,” Darcy Jasien, director of behavioral health for the Grundy County Health Department, told WCSJNews.com. “Except for our behavioral nurse who needs to see the clients in person, give them the medications and to check on their physical well-being. But that’s even limited now to the things she just absolutely needs to do.”

Jasien said they haven’t seen spikes of intakes of people seeking help with substance abuse or mental health issues in the past few months.

“We anticipate more coming, but it just seems like people have been more focused on their immediate needs more so than on their behavioral needs,” she told WCSJ.

Telehealth services are coming, but the county needs to pick which platform to use.

“That would mean the clients are sent a link through email to a telehealth platform so it would be like a video chat,” Jasien told WCSJ. “The client and therapist can see each other as well as talk to each other.”

With the stay-at-home order in place, health department officials might start calling clients for phone therapy and to make well-being checks.

Health department clients have begun to show concern about how the pandemic affects their issues.

“At first it seemed like it didn’t affect them too much,” Jasien told WCSJ. “But now that we’re seeing them settle in, and this is looking like obviously it’s going to take a little longer, they’re feeling a little nervous and they’re talking to their therapist about it and working through those issues.”

People needing support should call the Crisis Line of Will and Grundy Counties at 815-942-6611.

Jasien said visits to a hospital emergency room should be used only in case of an emergency where a person feels they may kill themselves or someone else.