Hazelden Foundation

The Hazelden Foundation

The Hazelden Foundation was an American nonprofit organization based in Center City, Minnesota which operates alcohol and drug treatment facilities in Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois, Florida, Washington, and New York. After the merger it continues to offer assessment and primary residential addiction treatment for adults and youth, including extended care and intermediate care, as well as outpatient treatment, aftercare services and a family program.

Hazelden Foundation history

Hazelden began in 1949 as a simple farmhouse retreat called the Old Lodge and served only male alcoholics. The farmhouse was purchased from a woman named Hazel, and given the nickname "Hazel's Den".

The original program designed by Lynne Carroll was based on Alcoholics Anonymous principles, especially the Twelve Steps. In the first 18 months, 156 men were helped. In 1953, the Fellowship Club was established as a halfway house to provide additional help for patients after attending the Center City program. The Dellwood site was later moved to the Center City campus. Dan Anderson was vice president of Hazelden from 1961 and president between 1971 and 1986. Mark G. Mishek was named Hazelden President and CEO in August 2008, succeeding Ellen Breyer. Mishek came to Hazelden from Allina Hospitals & Clinics, where he had been President of United Hospital of St. Paul. In 1999, the Hazelden Graduate School of Addiction Studies opened in Center City, Minnesota.

Betty Ford Center history

The center was co-founded by former First Lady Betty Ford, Leonard Firestone and Dr. James West in 1982. West also served as the Betty Ford Center's first medical director from 1982 to 1989. He left that position to become the Betty Ford Center's director of outpatient services. Ford's decision to undertake such a project followed on the heels of her own battle with alcohol dependence and diazepam addiction after the Fords left the White House, and her release from the Long Beach Naval Hospital. In 2015, after merging with the Hazelden Foundation, the Betty Ford Center opened an outpatient addiction treatment clinic in West Los Angeles.