About Mercy Home – Walsh Girls Campus
Mercy Home For Boys & Girls is a charity in Chicago, Illinois, that provides mental health services and treatment for concurrent addiction to young people aged 11 to 24, with a specific focus on young women who have experienced hardships like poverty, trauma, or insecure living situations. They started in 1887 and are community focused.
Cash and self-pay options are accepted, with sliding scale fees and payment assistance available to support those eligible.
A Residential Support Program For Young Women
The facility’s residential program is designed specifically to support young women aged 11-24 who are committed to changing their lives for the better, in the face of trauma, and challenging life experiences, including substance abuse. Harm reduction and motivational interviewing courses are also available.
Care is provided 24/7, with residents provided with regular and nutritious meals to fuel their recovery journey, along with clothes, and of course shelter within a stable and predictable environment.
Holistic Support at The Walgreen Family Mansion
You’ll find the facility tucked away in a quiet South Side Chicago neighborhood, providing a calm and relaxing atmosphere that’s ideal for healing and growth. It features the historic Walgreen family mansion where residents stay during their time here. Other amenities include a fitness center, a library for study and reading time, a computer lab, and a chapel to allow for spiritual reflection.
Residents can also wander about the grounds, which feature beautiful, quiet gardens, that are ideal for any green-fingered folks, and provide the perfect backdrop for other outdoor activities. For those more creative residents, the Craft Cottage is the place to go for art projects.
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Other Forms of Payment
Self-pay involves paying for treatment out of your own pocket. You can use savings or credit, get a personal loan, or receive help from family and friends to fund your treatment. If you don't have insurance or your insurance plan doesn't cover a specific program, self-pay can help ensure you still get the care you need.
Sliding scale payments are based on a client's income and family size. The goal is to make treatment affordable to everyone. By taking these factors into account, addiction recovery care providers help ensure that your treatment does not become a financial burden to you or your family, eliminating one barrier to care.
Addiction Treatments
Levels of Care
Inpatient
Treatments
Many of those suffering from addiction also suffer from mental or emotional illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, or anxiety disorders. Rehab and other substance abuse facilities treating those with a dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorder administer psychiatric treatment to address the person's mental health issue in addition to drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
Mental health rehabs focus on helping individuals recover from mental illnesses like bipolar disorder, clinical depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and more. Mental health professionals at these facilities are trained to understand and treat mental health issues, both in individual and group settings.
Clinical Services
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a therapy modality that focuses on the relationship between one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It is used to establish and allow for healthy responses to thoughts and feelings (instead of unhealthy responses, like using drugs or alcohol). CBT has been proven effective for recovering addicts of all kinds, and is used to strengthen a patient's own self-awareness and ability to self-regulate. CBT allows individuals to monitor their own emotional state, become more adept at communicating with others, and manage stress without needing to engage in substance abuse.
Whether a marriage or other committed relationship, an intimate partnership is one of the most important aspects of a person's life. Drug and alcohol addiction affects both members of a couple in deep and meaningful ways, as does rehab and recovery. Couples therapy and other couples-focused treatment programs are significant parts of exploring triggers of addiction, as well as learning how to build healthy patterns to support ongoing sobriety.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a modified form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a treatment designed to help people understand and ultimately affect the relationship between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. DBT is often used for individuals who struggle with self-harm behaviors, such as self-mutilation (cutting) and suicidal thoughts, urges, or attempts. It has been proven clinically effective for those who struggle with out-of-control emotions and mental health illnesses like Borderline Personality Disorder.
Experiential therapy is a form of therapy in which clients are encouraged to surface and work through subconscious issues by engaging in real-time experiences. Experiential therapy departs from traditional talk therapy by involving the body, and having clients engage in activities, movements, and physical and emotional expression. This can involve role-play or using props (which can include other people). Experiential therapy can help people process trauma, memories, and emotion quickly, deeply, and in a lasting fashion, leading to substantial and impactful healing.
Research clearly demonstrates that recovery is far more successful and sustainable when loved ones like family members participate in rehab and substance abuse treatment. Genetic factors may be at play when it comes to drug and alcohol addiction, as well as mental health issues. Family dynamics often play a critical role in addiction triggers, and if properly educated, family members can be a strong source of support when it comes to rehabilitation.
Group therapy is any therapeutic work that happens in a group (not one-on-one). There are a number of different group therapy modalities, including support groups, experiential therapy, psycho-education, and more. Group therapy involves treatment as well as processing interaction between group members.
In individual therapy, a patient meets one-on-one with a trained psychologist or counselor. Therapy is a pivotal part of effective substance abuse treatment, as it often covers root causes of addiction, including challenges faced by the patient in their social, family, and work/school life.
Trauma therapy addresses traumatic incidents from a client's past that are likely affecting their present-day experience. Trauma is often one of the primary triggers and potential causes of addiction, and can stem from child sexual abuse, domestic violence, having a parent with a mental illness, losing one or both parents at a young age, teenage or adult sexual assault, or any number of other factors. The purpose of trauma therapy is to allow a patient to process trauma and move through and past it, with the help of trained and compassionate mental health professionals.
Staff

Joe Wronka, MBA
COO

Cheryl Murphy, MBA
CFO & VP of Finance, Human Resources and Facilities

Alban Fisher, PhD
VP of Residential Programs

Steve Snyder, MBA
CIO & VP of Information Technology
Contact Information
11600 South Longwood Drive
Chicago, IL 60643