A service to others for over 100 years
The Rosecrance story tells how a remarkable, caring organization grew from an orphanage in North-Central Illinois more than 100 years ago, to serving behavioral health clients and communities across the upper Midwest.
Along with affiliate organizations and through partnerships, we are able to help more people in more places, treating over 50,000 individuals and families at more than 60 locations in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
Our residential and outpatient treatment options provide support to our clients and communities seeking lasting recovery from mental health, substance use, and co-occurring disorders.
Founded on a dream and hope
Founders Dr. James and Fannie Rosecrance dreamed of providing a home for orphans. In 1916, their home in New Milford, Illinois, became the Rosecrance Memorial Home for Children. It remained open for 55 years until the Rosecrance Board of Directors bought farmland in Rockford for a new campus.
During the past century, Rosecrance has offered an unmatched legacy to the lives we have touched. For the next 100 years, we will continue to serve others, carrying on our mission of hope.
Growing as needs change
Shifting support for changing adolescent needs
Observing shifts in the foster care system in the late 1960s and 1970s, Rosecrance began serving children with behavior disorders. In 1982, the mission was formally changed to offer adolescent addiction treatment. Initially licensed for 20 inpatient beds, Rosecrance was the first chemical dependency treatment center for adolescents in Northern Illinois.
Caring for adults
In 1992, Rosecrance began caring for adults with substance use disorders through management of Alcare—later renamed Evergreen Recovery Center—in downtown Rockford. Three years later, Rosecrance expanded adult treatment services by opening a new treatment center on Harrison Avenue in Rockford.
Expanding care for teens
In August 2004, Rosecrance opened the Rosecrance Griffin Williamson Campus, a beautiful, luxury residential site with 50 acres of therapeutic treatment space. It opened as one of the largest teen residential treatment spaces in the Midwest and now offers a behavioral health program for teens.
As leaders in our field, we recognized the need for longer-term support for teens and created our teen recovery home program which was among the first of its kind. Teens receive sober living support today at Marlowe House in Rockford.
Establishing partnerships
Mergers to better support communities
Rosecrance focused on strategic growth during the 2000s, prioritizing mental health and expanding addiction treatment services for teens and adults.
Historically, the common goals of Rosecrance and the Janet Wattles Center, founded in 1947 and one of the largest community mental health providers in northern Illinois, were to offer the highest-quality, evidence-based treatment to individuals and families. In 2011, we merged, working together to provide comprehensive services for a growing number of teens and adults with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.
Rosecrance has continued to grow across the Midwest, opening locations throughout Illinois, and expanding to Iowa and Wisconsin to serve more children, teens, young adults, adults, and families.
Integrating with affiliations
In the mid-2010s, Rosecrance merged with two organizations in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois: Community Elements and Prairie Center, which expanded substance use treatment services and created an integrated mental healthcare system in this area.
In January 2019, Rosecrance affiliated with Jackson Recovery Centers, one of the largest not-for-profit addiction treatment programs in Iowa, providing a full continuum of care to more than 4,000 children, adolescents, and adults each year. Established in 1976 by Dr. W.L. Jackson and his wife, Marienne, Jackson Recovery Centers became Rosecrance Jackson Centers in September 2019.
Rosecrance acquired Connections Counseling in Madison, Wisconsin, in late 2020. Established in 2003, Connections Counseling is Dane County’s largest behavioral health outpatient center. The two organizations had worked together since 2003 to operate the area’s first transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy clinic.
Becoming a behavioral health network
Meeting people where they’re at
Backed by decades of experience and commitment, Rosecrance is a recognized leader and trusted resource for mental health, substance use, and co-occurring treatment.
Our mission is the same today as it was in 1916—to change and even save lives by giving our clients reasons for hope and road maps for happier, more fulfilling futures.
We continue to grow and expand our in-person and virtual locations and services to meet the changing needs of the communities we serve in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. In 2023, we introduced Rosecrance Therapies, a holistic, connected treatment approach that provides clients with a behavioral health experience that is highly personalized, convenient, and accessible, with several locations in the city of Chicago and practices in Rockford, Illinois, and Madison, Wisconsin.
Our comprehensive continuum of care, unmatched by most other programs, is
designed to serve all your needs, comfort levels, and lifestyles.
We are Rosecrance Behavioral Health—a legacy of lasting hope.