Area residents who have had to travel to the Ecker Center for Mental Health in Elgin will now be able to seek their counseling in a new Sycamore office.

The Ecker Center will open its doors at 1101 DeKalb Ave. to the people of Sycamore and the surrounding area today.

Center President Jack Crook said, “Our aim as a community mental health organization is to help people grow, evaluate and change to improve their lives.”

Kathy Woodman, the center’s public relations consultant, said, “The Ecker center recently expanded services to a wide area.” She said clients from the DeKalb area already sought the Ecker Center’s services so the center expanded their office to Sycamore. Other divisions are located in Charles and Hanover as well as Elgin.

Woodman said a number for emergency services is provided through Ecker, but the crisis center, Pschiatric Emergency Program, is located in Elgin. She said all the center’s services can be reached through the emergency program.

At the Sycamore office, Crook will be the sole counselor until more clients utilize the center’s expansion, Woodman said. The center has limited hours and takes clients by appointment only, she said.

The center was founded in 1955, is associated with eight psychiatrists and physicians and employs 80 staff members, Woodman said.

Adults, adolescents and children can receive individual counseling, Woodman said. Services provided by the center include counseling for adolescent behavior disorders, divorce and separation, she said.

Psychiatrists and psychotherapists also will be available for counseling people with depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, phobias and stress disorders.

Depression and suicide overlap because depression often leads to suicide, John McIntosh, associate psychology professor at Indiana University, South Bend, said in a previous interview.

“Suicide peaks in the spring throughout the United States and Europe,” he said.

A possible explanation is that during the winter, people are closed inside with others with whom they can interact and socialize, which keeps depression levels minimal, McIntosh said.