The Center for Human Services is a not-for-profit social service organization governed by a Board of Directors composed of residents of McLean County. The Board sets policy and direction and employs a Chief Executive Officer to administer the affairs of the organization. The Center employs qualified staff with diverse, yet complementary backgrounds. The staff includes professionals trained in psychiatry, psychology, social work, and nursing. The Center for Human Services began in 1927 as the Bloomington/Normal Child Guidance Clinic. Under the charter, it could not serve anyone over 16 years of age. The Clinic employed one full-time social worker and a number of part-time staff both local and from Peoria and Champaign. The Clinic was open only on weekends in the early years. A growing realization that parents and other adults needed help too, led to the reorganization as the McLean County Mental Health Center in 1955. The late 1950s saw the beginnings of the community mental health approach and the Center became involved in local care for clients released from area hospitals. The staff grew with the increased number and range of clients and a full-time Executive Director was added. In the late 1960s, the state mental health offices added back-up support to the community efforts and a Medical Director was added to the full-time staff of approximately half a dozen people. The Mental Health Center continued on this level until the mid-1970s. The Crisis Component was added in the early 1970s. The Center experienced a rapid growth period when the state’s Department of Mental Health gave responsibility and funding to the communities in the mid-1970s. In 1976, YSA merged with the Center and in 1978, the day treatment facility was added. The staff had grown to 27. In early 1980, the name was changed to the McLean County Center for Human Services, both in response to surveys outlining the negative reaction to the old name and to better reflect the increasing scope of the Center’s services to the community. As of today, the Center currently employs approximately 80 full and part-time staff, with our main office at 108 W. Market St. Bloomington, IL, along with buildings devoted to our Recovery and Residential programs.
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