2025 Articles

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline March 2025 Information on the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts Received Nearly $3 Million Mental Health Grant Award March 2025 The Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts received a competitive grant award from the Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services. AOIC will use the funds to operationalize a replicable and effective structure to increase the utilization of statutorily-created civil outpatient pathways to mental health care, also referred to as Assisted Outpatient Treatment, in Cook and McLean Counties.

The Combined Guardianship and Mental Health Docket, or Calendar 20, Segregates Some of the Trees From the Forest By Ann Krasuski July 2025 The author of the companion article has not identified a problem that a combined docket solves. No doubt, the Mental Health Code (Code) and adult guardianship under the Probate Act address and strive to solve issues people face. Yet, as the author discusses, there are still shortcomings. But after several pages discussing gaps in mental health care and problems families face, she has not identified how establishing a combined docket solves any shortcomings or how it benefits respondents.

A Different Perspective to the Proposal for a Pilot Project To Establish a Single Docket for Mental Health and Guardianship Proceedings By Michelle Luburic July 2025 Recently, the County and Probate Divisions of the Cook County court system announced an exciting initiative seeking to enhance the lives of individuals living with mental illness and the friends and family who support them by merging the case management of respondents involved in both mental health and guardianship proceedings.

Editor’s Note By Sandra Blake July 2025 A note from the Mental Health Matters Editor, Sandra Blake, regarding the proposed Pilot Project.

Editor’s Note By Sandra M. Blake May 2025 Happy Mental Health Awareness Month to all mental health law practitioners! The theme for the 2025 Mental Health Awareness Month is “Turn Awareness into Action.” The editor shares inspirational quotes in recognition of the celebration.

Editor’s Note By Sandra M. Blake January 2025 An introduction to the issue from the editor.

In the News May 2025 Earlier this year, WGN-TV News reported that marijuana use could trigger a mental health disorder.

LAWPAC Needs You! January 2025 The Illinois Lawyers’ Political Action Committee (LAWPAC) needs your help to fulfill its mission to support the legislative goals of the ISBA and Illinois’ legal community.

Mental/Emotional Health and Community Wellness By Robert E. Wells, Jr. May 2025 The topic of Community Wellness is often examined using multiple dimensions. One model involves eight dimensions: emotional, financial, social, spiritual, occupational, physical, intellectual, and environmental. In this article, the author breaks the model into 12 dimensions.

Proposal for a Pilot Project to Enhance Case Management in Respondents Involving Both Mental Health Proceedings and Guardianship Proceedings By Judge Maureen Ward Kirby, Judge Daniel Malone, & Judge Susan Kennedy Sullivan January 2025 Because of the size of our Cook County Court system, in certain circumstances, there is a more burdensome, costly, and inefficient legal process where a resident is a respondent in two separate legal arenas: a resident is or will be ordered to outpatient treatment for his/her/their mental health treatment and where the same Cook County resident is or will benefit from some level of guardianship.

Response to the Proposal for a Pilot Project to Establish a Single Docket for Mental Health and Guardianship Proceedings By Ann Krasuski January 2025 The pilot project proposal seeks to create “a single court call wherein an assigned judge hears a case involving a resident with legal issues in both the County Division (Mental Health) and the Probate Division (Guardianship). The dually‐assigned judge would be … prepared to hear the matters under both areas of law.” There would be three “pathways” to this combined docket, according to the proposal.

1 comment (Most recent January 31, 2025)

While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence—A Conversation with the Author By Susan Goldberg March 2025 A discussion with author Meg Kissinger, whose memoir chronicles the mental illness in her family, and her work reporting on the “broken” mental health system.