Access to behavioral health services in central Illinois is getting a little easier. The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria and Methodist Medical Center teamed up to move the school’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine into an outpatient center at Methodist’s Atrium building. That’s as the college’s program continues to grow with 16 resident physicians expected to be with UICOMP by 2014. The Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Department will have eight resident physicians in the program by the end of the summer. The 44-hundred square foot space within Methodist includes educational and outpatient clinical space to meet the needs of patients. A statement from the U of I College of medicine says the goal of the expansion and move is to fill the mental health care needs of patients in Peoria and across the region.