The Chicago School enrolls more than 6,000 students across the country and makes a major impact in each of its local communities: Washington, D.C.; Dallas; Chicago; and Southern California. In this article, President Michele Nealon, Psy.D., describes how The Chicago School is making a difference in its home city.
The Chicago School has a long-standing commitment to impact throughout the Chicago area.
The Chicago School was founded in 1979 in Chicago by a group of innovative psychologists and educators committed to providing hands-on training to students in urban, real-world settings. Through our practical approach to education, we equip our 1,200 Chicago-based students with the skills to work with individuals from diverse backgrounds in clinics, nonprofits, government agencies, and in private practice.
And our graduates play a major role in addressing persistent gaps in community-based care, as across Illinois, The Chicago School awards the second most doctoral degrees in the field of Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology (20% of all such degrees awarded in Illinois in 2021-2022).
Our Chicago students learn how to make this impact before they even graduate through long-standing partnerships with key local leaders including Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago, and the Cook County Sheriff’s Department.
In addition, our Chicago-based Naomi Ruth Cohen Institute for Mental Health Education works to reduce the stigma associated with mental health challenges, providing education, resources, and support to those in need. During just this year alone, the institute has facilitated more than 50 educational events for more than 1,500 total participants, helping us to extend our impact throughout the region.
We will continue to grow our investment in the Chicago community in the future, with the development of our proposed Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine. Through this new college, we will extend our mission of bringing integrated care to more communities through a Chicago-centered osteopathic medicine program, and through partnerships with local health care leaders such as Loretto Hospital and RUSH University Medical Center.
We are proud to be members of the broader Chicago change-making community and look forward to decades more impact in the years ahead.