An Evanston-based art therapy group that connects with its patients through music, dance and art will be able to accept more patients, according to a grant maker that disbursed $8.8 million to 44 community organizations in the greater Chicago area.
Endeavor Health, the grant maker, announced the recipients of the grants in early January. Institute for Therapy through the Arts was named a recipient of a $163,000 grant and will use the funds to increase its services and to allow its behavioral health clinic to be Medicaid-certified, which will allow the clinic to accept Medicaid patients and to serve up to 100 more patients, according to Jeffrey Wolfe, the institute’s chief operating officer.
Institute for Therapy through the Arts uses music, art and dance therapy to connect with patients on a different level than traditional talk and group therapy, which can be helpful for certain groups of people, such as dementia patients who might not remember details of daily life but do remember certain songs.
“Everyone has their own art form, or finds their way to enjoy art,” Wolfe said. “If that’s the Beach Boys, when they come into our therapy session, we’re going to utilize those songs.”
Wolfe said it’s not common for behavioral health clinics to accept Medicaid. With Endeavor’s grant, Institute for Therapy through the Arts has a year to ready its clinic for Medicaid certification.
In 2019, the institute celebrated its 40-year anniversary.
Endeavor Health System Program Director Jeff Zakem said the grants disbursed by Endeavor through the Community Investment Fund are made to strategically service communities that they serve.
“We know through talking to community members and patients that the need for behavioral health care is tremendous,” Zakem said.
“We also know that there’s a really important connection between mental health and physical health,” Zakem said. “For example: depression, anxiety and pain tend to occur together. So if you show up to your primary care physician, you talk about pain, but don’t address the anxiety or depression, you’re not really going to get better.”