Jewell Psychological Services in Glen Carbon to provide services to county

by Randy Pierce • Jewell Psychological Services, 2220 State Route 159 in Glen Carbon, has been contracted to provide professional support through November 30 of this year for the Madison County Probation and Court Services Department at a cost of $71,482.

According to legislation approved unanimously at the most recent meeting of the Madison County Board, this expense will be covered by the county’s detention home funds and from its probation and court services budget.

The resolution passage advanced to the full board for final approval by its finance and judiciary committees was necessary because of state regulations, from the administrative office of the Illinois court system, requiring the provision of mental health services in certain situations.

It was pointed out at a meeting of the judiciary committee that one of the mental health professionals engaged in the applicable sort of work for the county conducted a total of 49 counseling sessions during the most recent month of November.

JPS has, for over 20 years, been certified to perform evaluations of programs and their psychological components for numerous government agencies and court systems throughout southern Illinois.

In its role per the terms of the contract with Madison County, JPS staff will act in a consultant capacity as it has previously for the provision of similar services and concerning the unlawful usage of opioids in a similar setting.

State law allows for the awarding of this contract to Jewell without the need for a competitive bidding process due to the nature of what is being provided. Bids are more generally mandated when it comes to the purchase of tangible products or materials rather than such services which may not be as easy to quantify.