Advocate for mental health services celebrates reopening of Chicago clinic
By Laura Pohl, Contributing Writer
Latesha Newson (’07, ’15) has helped to make a difference in improving access to mental health services for Chicago residents.
The Governors State University (GovState) alum and faculty member served on a working group charged with making recommendations to expand mental health services in Chicago. The group led listening sessions across Chicago and ultimately recommended reopening three mental health centers on the City’s South and West sides.
In January, the most recent of those clinics reopened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson joined Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) Commissioner Olusimbo ‘Simbo’ Ige, elected officials, and community leaders to celebrate the opening of the Roseland Health Hub at 200 E. 115th St. It will offer no-cost mental health and sexual health services to Chicago residents regardless of insurance or immigration status.
“This marks a turning point for mental health care in Chicago,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson at the ceremony.“The dismantling of our city’s mental health infrastructure forced emergency rooms and jails to become de facto treatment centers, failing both patients and communities.”
For Newson, a lecturer in the Department of Social Work, the Roseland facility will be a promise fulfilled. “I grew up in the Englewood and Auburn Gresham communities and saw what happened when the mental health clinics closed,” she said.
In 2020, Newson began working to promote a Treatment Not Trauma policy that sought to reopen mental health facilities and have mental health professionals respond to some emergency situations instead of police. The policy passed in 2023.
Newson and the working group will serve as consultants throughout the expansion process as other clinics reopen. Making a difference for the residents of Chicago reminds Newson why she prepared to become a social work professional at GovState, earning both a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a master's degree in Social Work.
“This is a win for the people and the communities of Chicago, and it feels amazing to be a part of this tremendous work for the city where I grew up,” Newson said, who’s also president of the board of the National Association of Social Workers Illinois chapter (NASW-IL). “Governors State University cultivated this gift of advocacy within me, which is embedded within the mission of our social work program."