Creating a mosaic of mental health support 

For as long as she can remember, Oak Park resident Carey Carlock has felt a profound, unwavering pull toward a life of service. 

Though not always certain of the direction her future would lead, Carlock believed her greatest fulfillment would come from holding space for others during moments of trials and tribulations.  

“I’ve always been drawn to listening, supporting and being in the helping field,” she said. “It just felt like a natural fit for me ever since I was a young person.” 

Heeding her intuition, Carlock embarked on studies in counseling and psychology, receiving her graduate degree from Boston College in the early 1990s. Shortly after, she returned to Chicago to establish her career in the mental health profession.  

Carlock’s career began in youth mental health treatment programs, including partial hospitalization programs and intensive outpatient programs, where she discovered a passion for supporting direct care and group therapy.  

Eventually, her journey led her to hospital administration — specifically, landing the top position as chief executive officer of Forest Park’s Riveredge Hospital, the largest psychiatric hospital in Illinois and a facility which is 90% publicly funded. 

In her 13 years at the helm of Riveredge, Carlock was credited with significantly reframing the reputation of the behavioral healthcare facility. 

“At Riveredge, we were really trying to provide trauma-informed care for those who might not have all the protective factors that other people do — those with high acuity and lots of other psychosocial stressors,” she said. “I loved that work and was really proud of the recovery of that hospital.” 

As CEO, Carlock was a steadfast advocate of championing efforts to destigmatize mental illness while providing top-quality care for some of the area’s most vulnerable populations.  

“It was the privilege and responsibility of my career in a lot of ways to lead such high acuity, such intensity,” she said. “The hospital had its own recovery that I was part of leading, and that was really mission-aligned.” 

While Carlock was gratified by her work at Riveredge, two factors led to a new chapter in her career: persistent requests from neighbors and friends for mental health recommendations, and unexpected obstacles she faced when trying to find a therapist for her own son. 

“While out and about in Oak Park, people knew I was active with the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Board and in the mental health space,” she said. “At Little League games, book clubs or out getting coffee, people would often approach me and ask for recommendations for child psychiatrists. I didn’t really have a lot of resources in my own community; that tugged on me and I didn’t find that acceptable.” 

At the same time, Carlock’s son was experiencing mental health challenges. While Carlock says she had privileges of a job in mental healthcare leadership and access to quality insurance, she ran into the problem of therapists not returning her phone calls.  

“I couldn’t find a therapist in my own community for my own son — that was unacceptable to me,” she said.  

From there, it was mission pivot for Carlock. In June 2021, she left Riveredge and decided to open her own practice.  

“It was almost incumbent upon me to say, ‘I know how to do this. I need to do this in my own community, for my own community,’” she said. “It felt like a mission to provide integrated, high-quality care without a long waitlist in my own community so I could say ‘yes’ to moms who were looking for services.” 

Carlock’s answer was Mosaic Counseling & Wellness, a behavioral health private practice promising to deliver high-quality, community-based services with care that is intentional and holistic for each individual. 

Essential for Carlock to have Mosaic’s home base be in Oak Park, in the summer of 2021, she purchased a vacant building in Oak Park’s Arts District on Harrison Street. While renovating the space, she opened Mosaic’s first small office in Elmhurst in the fall of 2021, with the Oak Park site officially opening in August 2022.  

Carlock landed on the name Mosaic, explaining that when things come apart in life, there is splendor in helping guide someone’s mental health to a better state.  

“Things that are in pieces at times come back together to make something beautiful,” she said. “By the time you reach out, you need someone to answer the phone and call you back — that’s part of the installation of hope.” 

With therapy for children through seniors, Carlock says it was important for Mosaic to have therapists who not only reflected the variety of needs of locals but focused on community connection and advocacy. 

“It’s such a deeply personal relationship of what you’re trying to look for in a therapist — what you’re trying to get out of that therapeutic relationship and how you take that into the rest of your life,” she said. “The goodness of fit is so important.” 

Besides talk therapy, Mosaic features art therapy, dance therapy, therapy in Spanish and clinicians from a variety of backgrounds — something Carlock says ensures care remains culturally-sensitive and responsive.  

“The intention is to try to have a diverse team, not only in how people are trained and how they treat people [but] so we can meet people where they’re at,” she said. “I say that with a lot of humility because that’s a big statement.” 

If people reach out to Mosaic and the practice ends up not being the right fit due to niche clinical need or insurance factors, Carlock says they will keep communication open and refer individuals within contact networks to find that ideal therapist.  

“Even if Mosaic isn’t the right door, we will help you get to the right place,” she said. 

Five years in, Mosaic has now expanded to seven suburban locations — three in Oak Park (Arts District, Downtown and new this spring, the Hemingway District); Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale and Orland Park. Mosaic employs nearly 100 therapists, two psychiatrists and four psychiatric nurse practitioners. 

“Growing very quickly wasn’t the strategic plan, but we have an integrated, high-quality client experience which I think propelled our growth,” Carlock said. “I am very proud, grateful and humbled by the growth.” 

Carlock adds that in recent years, it has been “remarkable” to see society shifting toward more publicly addressing the importance of mental health care — and not just in times of crisis. While she says therapy may carry a stigma, she emphasizes taking the first step of reaching out for care is brave. 

“There is no health without mental health,” she said. “We don’t have to suffer and white-knuckle it; we can give ourselves coping skills, support and credit for being brave enough to allow ourselves to get help. Therapy is not just heavy and sad — it can also be inspiring, hopeful and even fun.” 

Carey is grateful people throughout Oak Park are seemingly proud in helping change the narrative around mental health. 

“Oak Park is really pretty special in the reduction of stigma,” she said. “Honestly, people are proud to have a therapist. I don’t always see the same mental wellness-forward attitude in all the communities we serve.” 

She appreciates that teens have greatly helped change the narrative as well. 

“Many of my kids’ friends say, ‘I want a therapist,’ or ‘Why would I suffer without support?’” she said. “It’s prevention. It’s wellness. I feel really inspired by what is so different now with young people than when I was growing up.”  

Outside of Mosaic, Carlock remains active at the state level. Last year, she testified in favor of Illinois House Bill 1085, a landmark behavioral health care and mental health parity law. The bill, which passed the Illinois General Assembly and was signed into law in December, aims to strengthen mental health and substance use disorder care by requiring state-regulated private insurers to offer better reimbursement rates for behavioral health services. Effective next January, it mandates 60-day credentialing for providers, aiming to expand network access for roughly 2.5 million Illinoisans. 

Fundamentally, Carlock says therapy is serious work, but at Mosaic, is something she aims to showcase as essential — and possible — for healing.  

“It’s incredible work and is such a privilege and responsibility,” she said. “It’s what I was intended to do, and I’m glad I listened to that voice about my community needing this. I believe in therapy because it works.” 

For more information about Mosaic Counseling & Wellness, including new client inquiries, visit mosaiccare.com.