About FSC

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Since 1913, Family Service Center (FSC) has worked to support families through hardships. The connection between family aid and mental health has been at the core of our work since the Great Depression, and we have provided hundreds of thousands of counseling, crisis support, and safety assessments since. Guiding families through their most difficult moments continues to be our core mission, but our vision is to be part of a community collaborating to work with families to prevent crisis.  

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Our Story

Family Service Center (FSC) is a local, not-for-profit, community mental-health agency that began offering services in Wilmette in 1913 to help families when aid was needed due to unfortunate circumstances and difficult transitions. By the late 1940’s, the community leaders who governed FSC realized that mental health support was most often at the core of helping families thrive during challenging times. They have worked since to build an organization around a team of highly trained and experienced clinicians whose talents can be accessed by families and family members of any age when in need – while also removing financial and other barriers to receive care.

Key dates:
– 1913: Organized by the Woman’s Club of Wilmette, “Family Service” is established, and bylaws are created.
– 1949: The Village of Kenilworth requests and is added to the FSC service area with a commitment of financial support.
– 1949: The Community Church of Glenview offers financial support, and Glenview is added to the FSC service area.
– 1953: Northbrook added to the FSC service area with support from the Northbrook Community Chest.

Today FSC receives funding support from both New Trier and Northfield township, as well as the villages of Glenview and Northbrook, and through the Kenilworth Community Fund to help subsidize our ability to offer a sliding fee scale to those families who live, work, go to school, or worship in these communities. This funding covered 17.4% of FSC expenses in FY2023. Client fees (both sliding scale payments and insurance) covered another 37% of service costs. 

FSC is only able to do the critical work it does today thanks to additional private donations from individuals, foundations, businesses, and civic organizations to cover the additional 46% of costs needed to fully fund our mission. Because of this, FSC is also able to support families beyond this geographic area but prioritizes these communities when service waitlists occur. 

Our Mission, Vision & Beliefs

Our Mission: To strengthen and empower families and communities by providing accessible evidenced‐based counseling, crisis response, outreach and education.

Our VisionA community united in actively supporting emotional and mental wellbeing.

We Believe:

  • Everyone is deserving of emotional and mental wellbeing.
    • FSC seeks to improve access to services by:
      • Diminishing financial obstacles
      • Educating about when and how to access support
      • Destigmatizing mental health challenges
      • Working to broaden service delivery to align with different cultures and languages
  • Everyone is capable of change.
    • FSC encourages those who embark support to…
      • Be creative, flexible and patient; change is hard
      • Let progress be the measure of success
  • Our work has the power to improve lives and radiate wellness.
    • FSC team members…
      • Power skill with the passion of mission
      • Passionately learn, improve and seek out new proven successful methods
      • Know that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”
  • Collaboration is the bedrock of a healthy community.
    • To meet the needs of a diverse community, FSC works to collaborate with…
      • Our clients and their families
      • All segments within the FSC community
      • Other mental and physical health providers
      • Public and private community services and institutions
      • Transparency while always respecting client privacy

Our People

FSC is a reflection of the caring, compassionate, caring communities we support.  Learn more about the FSC clinicians and staff by linking below. Learn more about our Board of Directors and Advisory Council members in the next sections.

Our Board of Directors

The role of the Family Service Center Board is to provide Governance for the FSC agency. The Board operates as a single voice to establish the purpose, strategic direction, policies, goals, and budget for the organization. The Board hires and evaluates the Co-Executive Directors in their role to fulfill the goals and to manage the organization within set parameters and with the critical support of active working Board Committees. 

Meet the 2024-25 FSC Board
(left to right)
Front row: Puja Leekha, Louise Yao, Susan McClanahan, President Cathe Russe.

Back row: Terry Hianik, Rod Quainton, Meg Costigan, Treasurer Mike Skweres, Sue Ellen Bohac Galligan, Janet Koestring, Stefanie Rupp, Vice President Keryl Klemm, Christy Vavloukis,  Secretary Noelle Pontarelli, Peter Barrow.  

Not Pictured: (Lester Crockett, Fritz Freidinger, Peter Huften,  & Jim Neaylon)

Our Advisory Council

FSC’s Advisory Council is a group of community leaders who believe in a community united in actively supporting emotional and mental wellbeing. They are ambassadors of FSC.  The Council does not have any governing role, but do take an active role in sharing FSC’s work, goals and accomplishments. They provide advice and support in their areas of expertise.

Meet the FSC Advisory Council
(left to right)
[Back Row] Marcy Lichtman LCSW, Anita Hartshorne, Keryl Klemm (FSC Board President), Mark Walther, Sue Ellen Bohac Galligan (FSC Board Member), Co-Chair Chuck Balling, Monica Garvey, Dane Delli PhD,  Co-Chair Brian Wegley EdD, Andrew Haak

 [Front Row] Marsha Tolchin, Nancy Firfer, Joyce Knauff, Bill Attea, Jill Brickman, Brandy Isaac, Cathe Russe (FSC Board VP)  

[Not Pictured] Sam Ach, Nancy Canafax, Cathy Cunningham, Mark Damisch, Allison Ewing LCSW, Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, Sister Paulanne, Neil J. Hochstadt PhD, Kasia Kaufman, Paul C. Kredow PsyD,  Becky McLennan, Peggy O’Brien, Melanie Peterson, Myron Resnick, David Shapiro, Heidi Voorhees

Our Numbers

  • 4,904 therapy sessions delivered 
  • 313 individuals and their families supported by those therapy sessions 
  • 30 health and safety assessments conducted for students identifies as at-risk for self-harm or suicide
  • 41 educational programs & outreach  events interacting with thousands of community members
  • 2,300+ community members who receive regular emails containing tips and strategies selected to promote mental wellness by FSC clinicians (with open rates averaging over 50%) 

Unless noted otherwise, these numbers reflect the services delivered calendar year 2023.

 

Our Partners

FSC recognizes the value in collaborating on a system level in order to maximize the impact of prevention and intervention efforts and therefore dedicates resources to be part of numerous community efforts. A few examples include the Crisis Network of the North Shore, New Trier Township Coalition for a Substance Free Community, and numerous governmental agencies and school districts.  #TogetherWeFly!

Our Funders

FSC would not be able to do the critical work we do without our many funding partners. We are so grateful for the difference each of these governmental bodies, foundations, businesses, civic organizations and individuals make to families that are supported in big and small ways by FSC. 

Our Heart of Family Award

Each year, FSC recognizes an individual, group and/or organization that champions Mental Health & Wellness in our Community. An annual tradition for many years, FSC now celebrates these transformational heros at our Chrysalis Luncheon. 

FSC extends our heartfelt congratulations to the The Papanicholas Family | The Nicholas Family of Companies, our 2025 Heart of the Family Award Honoree, for work that exemplifies FSC’s vision of working together to actively support emotional and mental wellbeing. 

Our Clinical Internship Opportunities

FSC provides graduatelevel clinical mental health internship positions for the academic year. The positions are open to students in their second year of graduate education in counseling, clinical mental health counseling, or related field who are enrolled in practicum/internship the following fall.  Please submit a resume or CV, a list of all completed graduate courses, and a letter of interest to info@familyservicecenter.com

FSC is no longer accepting applications for the 2024/25 academic year.  Check back for 2025/26 application information. Submit inquiries to info@familyservicecenter.com.

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Our Job Opportunities

Family Service Center (FSC) is a growing not-for-profit community-based mental health agency located in Northfield, Illinois. We provide affordable, accessible (on-site and telehealth), and high-quality counseling to children, adolescents, adults, and families in the surrounding community who are seeking help for a wide range of emotional, behavioral, and relational difficulties. We also serve our community through crisis response support, health and safety assessments, outreach, education, and consultation. We are developing additional skill-building and digital educational programs to support our vision of a community united in actively supporting emotional and mental wellbeing. We make our counseling and mental health services available and accessible to local families and believe that limited financial resources should not be a barrier to accessing support.

FSC is looking to hire the following positions: