SamaraCare hosts ‘Imagine Stronger’ breakfast benefit for mental health fund

Noted Chicago mental health advocate Anjanette Young to speak

Nonprofit mental health provider SamaraCare will host the annual “Imagine Stronger” breakfast benefit at Elements on Water Street in downtown Naperville on Friday, May 8, from 7 to 9 a.m.

This inspiring event raises essential funds to ensure under-resourced women and children in local communities have affordable access to mental health counseling, autism, and psychiatric services when they need them most.

More than half of all counseling clients seen at SamaraCare in 2025 were women. SamaraCare served 3,832 clients last year, including 1,607 who received reduced-cost care.

Each year, SamaraCare provides more than $525,000 in fee reductions for individuals facing financial hardship, while absorbing an additional $300,000 in insurance shortfalls.

Anjanette L. Young will be the event’s featured speaker. Young is a licensed clinical social worker who brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her advocacy. She understands firsthand how trauma can impact individuals, families, and communities.

In 2019, Young gained national notoriety when she was the victim of a wrong-address raid by 12 male Chicago police officers while she was in the midst of changing for bed. Despite her protests, they held her naked at gunpoint for 45 minutes while they ransacked her apartment. She will share her powerful story of the trauma and pain of the raid, her recovery and pursuit of justice, and her journey from social worker to activist advocating for meaningful policy change and support for mental health services.

To further support others navigating trauma, Young founded the I AM HER Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing financial assistance and support to Black women and girls seeking therapy. Through this work, she is helping reduce barriers to mental health care while creating spaces for healing, empowerment, and restoration.

Young is also the author of “Past the Pain,” where she shares her personal journey of surviving trauma and finding purpose beyond it. In the book, she recounts what happened the night her home was raided, the aftermath, and — most importantly — how others can draw on these lessons to move forward in their own lives.

Through the support of her church, her community, and a renewed connection to her family’s civil rights legacy, she discovered that her future would not be defined by trauma but strengthened by resilience and faith. Copies of “Past the Pain” will be available for purchase at the breakfast, and Young will be signing books after the event.

“SamaraCare’s mission of supporting women and children who need access to psychological counseling and therapy services deeply aligns with the work and values of both my advocacy and the I AM HER Foundation,” Young said. “Creating spaces where women can find strength, healing, and support is incredibly important to me.”

“Events like this breakfast benefit are vital because they address a serious gap in care: nearly half of women who need mental health services can’t access them, most often due to cost,” said SamaraCare CEO Dr. Michael Bradburn. “That means far too many women and children face financial barriers to essential care. This event helps us offer reduced-cost services and create healthier, stronger families, while giving our community a meaningful opportunity to create lasting impact.”

Tickets are $100 per person. Tickets for the breakfast are available at samaracarecounseling.org/imagine.

If you’re unable to attend, you can still make a meaningful impact by becoming an event sponsor, placing an ad in the program book, or making a donation in support of this important work.

Founded in 1971, SamaraCare is a nonprofit outpatient mental health provider serving six counties in Northeast Illinois. The organization, which has locations in Evanston, Lisle, Naperville, Wheaton and Winnetka, supports individuals, couples, and families from diverse financial backgrounds across the lifespan.

Through its Mental Health Access Program, SamaraCare works to expand affordable access to care by offering reduced-cost counseling, autism, and psychiatric services to qualifying clients. For more information on SamaraCare, visit samaracarecounseling.org.