In October, a Geneva woman will begin her third year on the Board of Directors for the Ecker Center for Mental Health and her second year as the board’s secretary.
Dr. Vicki Alden, founder of St. Charles-based NOVO: Renewing Joy in Life, was invited to join an Ecker Center committee three years ago. She accepted at the time because she is committed to serving the mental health field.
“When mental health issues arise, people often do not know where to turn when they need help, either for themselves or for a loved one,” Alden said. “Ecker does such important work and I feel it’s so crucial that more people become aware of its many services.”
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About two years ago, Alden was appointed to the Ecker board and a year ago, she became the board secretary.
Founded in 1955, the Ecker Center for Mental Health provides outpatient mental health services, mostly on behalf of adults with mental illness and their families. Services range from early intervention to recovery and include crisis, psychiatric, case management, rehabilitation, residential and psychotherapy assistance.
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“It’s so important that we take mental illness out of the shadows and help people really understand that most people have a mental health issue at some point in their lifetime,” said Alden. “Chronic mental illness so negatively impacts the person and their support systems, and that’s who Ecker helps.”
Alden holds a Master of Social work degree from Loyola University Chicago and her Ph.D. from the Institute for Clinical Social Work.
With more than 30 years of experience in the social service and mental health field, she has provided services in a variety of settings, including an inpatient mental health center, two community mental health centers and three medical center outpatient clinics.
Over the last decade, her focus has been her private practice for adults at NOVO: Renewing Joy in Life. Her specialties include grief and loss, as well as life transitions.
The Ecker Center for Mental Health has offices in Elgin, St. Charles and Streamwood and is online at http://www.eckercenter.org/.
