It’s been a little over a year since the Grundy Eunoia Wellness Center opened in Mazon, and they have been kept busy.
The new mental health facility has seen 1,768 cases through 2025.
It opened officially on Jan. 2, 2025, and Clinical Director Adam Kotowski said the community has been incredibly welcoming. The organization focuses on youth ages 0 to 18, but it will see anyone, including adults.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to serve the community in a much-needed area,” Kotowski said.
The Grundy Eunoia Wellness Center was founded through an initiative by the Community Foundation of Grundy County, which provided funding to fill the gap in behavioral health service providers in Grundy County.
Kotowski and Stacey Johnson, a nurse practitioner, work out of the 10,000-square-foot former bank at 606 Depot St.
“This is serving a population that needs it,” Kotowski said. “When you’re talking about teenagers and youth in grade school, there are not a lot of organizations that will focus on youth. It’s a big impact to have this available for the community.”
Kotowski said Eunoia sees whoever needs them, whether they can pay or not. It’s a nonprofit that sees clients from all walks of life.
Many of the patients are children, and Kotowski said parents should be at the forefront of their children’s health. That includes mental health.
“Our job is to be a support system to the parents,” Kotowski said. “If they notice the kids are behaving differently, shutting down or acting differently than they have in the past, it would be a good opportunity to talk about something.”
He said those opportunities are a chance to bring the child in and get it off their mind and heart.
“I’ve been doing this for 23 years,” Kotowski said. “You start to realize that some kids don’t feel comfortable discussing everything with their parents, but that doesn’t mean they won’t want to discuss it in the future. We can provide a non-judgmental, welcoming opportunity to discuss what they’re experiencing.”
He said it’s important to get kids away from the stigma around therapy.
“[Therapy] is a team effort,” Kotowski said. “Individuals make up a community, and it’s the strength of the community together that makes us powerful. It’s that team effort, collaboration, that I feel we provide.”
Kotowski said he became a therapist because, as someone who grew up with ADHD and dyslexia, he felt people didn’t take the time to understand him. He wants to be to others what he never had himself.
He said he looks at everyone’s life like a novel: Everyone’s got their own story, and if you gain their trust and respect, they’ll open themselves up and take that guidance. He wants to listen and understand.