News
NEW LENOX, IL — Trinity Services, Inc. is celebrating two moves that are part of one transition in its administration.
At the end of 2017, Art Dykstra, who has served as CEO of Trinity Services for the past 30 years, stepped down to lead the Cherry Hill Consulting Group as its Executive Director. In his place, Thane Dykstra, Ph.D., previous Chief Operating Officer of Trinity Services, was appointed to the position of CEO by Trinity’s Board of Directors.
Art joined Trinity as its CEO in 1987, after a 20-year career with the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. When he joined Trinity, the organization consisted of one school and one day program, and employed just 33 staff members.
Today, Trinity has a large residential program, many adult learning programs, a behavioral health network and countless other services, and it employs more than 1,000 people. Art led the organization through all of its growth, allowing it to help more people.
Art’s passion for serving others has always been part of his life, and over the years, he has shared it with the world not only through his work at Trinity but through teaching classes at colleges and universities, speaking at conferences around the nation, leading various associations in the disabilities field, and authoring books, journal articles and a blog.
Art plans to continue writing and also provide consultation to organizations and other leaders in the nonprofit and business worlds in areas related to organizational culture, person-directed services, leadership and quality improvement at the Trinity Consulting Group. He also plans to garden, fish and enjoy time with his family.
Thane has been part of Trinity Services since 1995, when he accepted a position as director of Trinity’s behavioral health network. As the network’s director, Thane led a significant expansion of its services, including the establishment of roughly two dozen homes and apartment buildings in which people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness or who have a dual diagnosis of a mental illness and a developmental disability can receive 24-hour or intermittent support, depending on their needs.
Thane also led efforts establishing three psychosocial rehabilitation programs for the people Trinity serves; the Trinity Counseling Centers, which provide individual, family and group counseling services, available to the public; The Roxy, a social club where people Trinity Services supports can enjoy time together; the Illinois Crisis Prevention Network, a collaborative effort between Trinity and The Hope Institute for Children & Families that provides support and consultation services to people who have significant behavioral and medical challenges throughout Illinois; and more.
Thane has served on steering committees for the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Division of Mental Health and Division of Developmental Disabilities, as well as the Department of Children and Family Services. He is also a past president of the Illinois Association for Behavior Analysis.
Thane has contributed to professional publications and presented at national conferences on contextual-behavioral therapies such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Functional Analytic Psychotherapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. He is especially focused on applying these models to work with people who exhibit challenging behavior.
In 2016, Thane became Trinity’s Chief Operating Officer, supervising Trinity’s specialized residential services and its expanding assistive technology program, and continuing to oversee Trinity’s work with the Illinois Crisis Prevention Network.
Thane worked side-by-side with Art in 2017 to ensure a smooth transition into his role as CEO.
Of his new role, Thane said he looks forward to being able to preserve the many services and supports that Trinity offers, as well as the values that are central to its culture. He plans to further Trinity’s mission of helping people with disabilities and mental illness flourish and live full and abundant lives.
Thane has a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno, and completed a pre-doctoral internship at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. While at Brown, he served as an assistant project coordinator at the university's Center for Alcohol and Addictions Studies.
“I would like to welcome Thane to his new position, a role I am confident he will carry out with just as much dedication and thoughtful vision as Art did,” said Ray McShane, chairperson of Trinity Services’ Board of Directors.
Art can be reached at adykstra@trinityconsulting.org. Thane can be reached at tdykstra@trinity-services.org or (815) 485-6197.
Trinity Services, Inc. is a 68-year-old, nonsectarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children and adults with developmental disabilities and mental illness flourish and live full and abundant lives. Trinity serves more than 3,500 people in more than 30 communities in northeast, central and southwest Illinois.