A press release from the McHenry County 708 Mental Health Board:

Horizons Behavioral Health Brings Psychiatric Residency Program to McHenry County

“When there is shortage of psychiatric services, everybody suffers – patients, families, providers (and their families too). Every patient that we discharge from the hospital without an appointment in a reasonable period of time increases the risk of adverse outcome both for the patient and for the clinician. All of us have had significant difficulties in recruiting psychiatrists. I believe that if we create a sense of familiarity for graduating residents, it would be easier to recruit them.” Dr. Chandra Vedak,  Medical Director of Horizons Behavioral Health believes.

According to Dr. Tom Insel, M.D., Director at National Institute of Mental Health, a disturbing trend continues to develop in the supply of psychiatrists and overall quality of mental healthcare nationwide. This crisis is due to a multitude of factors, including an aging psychiatrist population, a small percentage of medical school graduates choosing psychiatry residency programs-4%, and mental healthcare models that operate “like a bus station”, stressing patient volume over value of care.
(See “Where are We Going”, NIMH, June 2011).

Unfortunately, the psychiatric shortage hits home as McHenry County is not exempt from this reality.

Therefore, in order to enhance an already fragile system of psychiatric care in McHenry County and build upon the current foundation for future needs, Horizons Behavioral Health, Dr. Vedak, and the McHenry County Mental Health Board have provided a proactive response by creating a Psychiatric Residency Program for 4th Year Residents preparing to graduate from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.

By creating an experience and environment which promotes McHenry County as an attractive community to practice psychiatry, Horizons Behavioral Health hopes to showcase its longstanding relationship with the McHenry County community while recruiting psychiatrists to continue serving well into the future.

Under stringent clinical supervision, the Residency Program is available to provide psychiatric evaluation and management services for McHenry County residents, aged 16 and over.

For More Information or to make an appointmentreferral, please contact

Cindy McKee
Horizons Behavioral Health
500 Coventry Lane, Suite 205
Crystal Lake, IL 60014
Phone 815.455.7100

Other area psychiatric service providers supported by the Mental Health Board include Pioneer Center for Human Services, Rosecrance Health Network, Mathers Clinic, Centegra Health System, Thresholds, and Family Alliance, Inc.