Doryce McCarthy

Distinguished Alumni Award Honoree

Doryce McCarthy
President
OMNI

Doryce McCarthy’s interest in helping adolescents and her academic start at Harper College launched an impressive social work career spanning 38 years at OMNI, based in Buffalo Grove. Working at OMNI and with the people there “is something I care deeply about,” she said.

After starting her career as a counselor with OMNI in 1985, she now holds the title of president, overseeing 85 team members, a budget of $9 million and services in more than 20 communities in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

“Harper did teach me how to learn, enjoy ‘where you are at,’ and use every experience as a step to the next one,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy has taken that lesson to heart, using her experiences to handle increasingly responsible roles including youth and family counselor, substance abuse program director, program operations specialist, and quality assurance manager, among others.

She earned her Master’s in Social Work from Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois Chicago in 1984 and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW).

“I always wanted to help adolescents,” she said. “Even as a teenager, I found adolescent development fascinating. I saw the field of social work as a means to not only provide therapeutic intervention but also work with systems that impact individuals.”

McCarthy is passionate about empowering youth and providing high-quality behavioral health support. She has spent nearly four decades dedicated to the OMNI mission of providing life-changing and lifesaving counseling, case management, and prevention services to youth and families. Under her leadership, OMNI has made a great impact on the communities it serves, providing more than 9,500 hours of mental health counseling during 2022, and collaborating with area schools on education in substance abuse prevention and sexual health and healthy relationships.

Among her greatest rewards is collaborating with a team of individuals who work together to overcome barriers, develop new systems, identify new areas of impact and then move them forward.

“The change in this field is constant,” McCarthy said. “What’s most exciting is that there’s always a new challenge and a new solution.”