Cook County Health’s Office of Behavioral Health: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going (Together)
Efforts to identify and provide care
January 28, 2025 Noon CT
Webinar
Open to All
A confirmation of your registration is sent immediately upon registering for the program. If you do not receive a confirmation via email, contact the IOMC office immediately at contactus@iomc.org.
As an independent non-profit, IOMC kindly requests a small donation to continue to support its mission and programmatic efforts. Your support has been wonderful! Please continue to support IOMC to promote social change and advance health equity. With your help, we are able to offer robust programs that address critical issues.
This program is part of the 'Advancing Health Equity by Reducing Healthcare Disparities series.
CCH’s Office of Behavioral Health was recently created in part to improve the behavioral health ecosystem throughout Cook County, with particular emphasis on disinvested communities, which have been disproportionately impacted by the current behavioral health crisis. This IOMC session will detail recent activities of the Office of Behavioral Health and outline upcoming opportunities to take part in efforts to improve the behavioral health landscape for all Cook County residents.
By attending this webinar, you will be able to:
- Appreciate the scope of the behavioral health crisis nationally and locally.
- Share the findings of the 2024 Cook County Behavioral Health Summit, 2024 countywide Community Needs Assessment, and 2024 Cook County Behavioral Health Workforce Assessment.
- Describe the steps being taken by CCH’s Office of Behavioral Health to convene and coordinate partner organizations as well as to enhance our collective advocacy.
Call to Action
To better understand the current behavioral health crisis, both nationally and locally, and to learn about upcoming opportunities to take part in efforts to improve the behavioral health landscape for all Cook County residents.
Speaker(s)
Speaker: Thomas Nutter, MD, Chief Behavioral Health Officer, Cook County Health
Moderator: Thomas W. Allen, MD, Executive Medical Director of Behavioral Health, Health Care
Service Corporation
Bios
Dr. Thomas W. Allen, MD, Fellow, IOMC, serves as a Director on the Board of Governors of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. He is currently leading the Behavioral Health Workgroup as its Chair with the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. Dr. Allen also serves on the Program Committee and Membership Committee.
Dr. Thomas W. Allen currently serves as the Executive Medical Director of Behavioral Health at Health Care Service Corporation. In this role, he acts as the chief psychiatrist for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicaid program in Illinois. His career in psychiatry has spanned both community mental health and private practice before transitioning into managed care.
His interests include mental health and substance use disorder prevention and treatment and equitable access to care.
Dr. Allen earned his medical degree from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where he also completed his residency in psychiatry. He further specialized with a fellowship in hospice and palliative medicine at Northwestern. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and anthropology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Dr. Allen’s contributions to his field have been recognized with several awards, including the Mensch Award from Evanston Northwestern Healthcare’s Department of Psychiatry in 2005, and the Outstanding Teacher Award from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2008.
Dr. Thomas Nutter, MD, Chief Behavioral Health Officer, Cook County Health
In this role, Dr. Nutter provides leadership and clinical expertise in expanding CCH’s behavioral health programs and supporting community-based services. He is responsible for growing access to care for patients with mental health conditions (including substance use disorders) as well as for justice-involved patients.
Dr. Nutter is a board-certified psychiatrist with broad clinical interests and more than 20 years post-residency clinical experience that includes private-sector, public-sector, and academic settings. Prior to joining Cook County Health, he served as Chief of Mental Health at the Edward Hines Jr. Veteran Affairs Hospital, one the VA’s highest-performing 1A systems of mental health care.
Dr. Nutter is a graduate of Valparaiso University and the University of Illinois College of Medicine-Rockford. He completed psychiatry residency at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University.
Suggested Reading
Countywide Behavioral Health Community Needs Assessment
Cook County Health Workforce Assessment Report.
Visit our Programs page for other upcoming events and programs.
Interested in Sponsoring this program? Contact Courtney Avery Davis, MPH or Deborah Hodges, MA-IDS at sponsorship@iomc.org.
###
