About Us

Life of Father Mac

Administrative Team

Sponsors and Affiliations

Introduction:

Haymarket Center was founded in 1975, as a non-profit agency, to bring about a change in the public perception of alcoholism and its treatment. Since then, Haymarket Center has grown into a comprehensive alcohol and other drug treatment organization, licensed by the state of Illinois, which receives funding from private, city, state, and federal agencies.

Mission Statement:

The mission of Haymarket Center is to aid people with chemical dependency in their recovery, by providing a continuum of optimal professional care that is responsive to the identified needs of the community.

History:

Founded in 1975 by the late Monsignor Ignatius McDermott and Dr. James West, McDermott Center dba Haymarket Center is the largest not-for-profit community-based adult detoxification, residential, and outpatient substance abuse treatment facility in Chicago. Msgr. McDermott and Dr. West’s understanding of addiction as a disease that does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, ethnic origin, gender, or socioeconomic background provided the motivation for their call for treatment in lieu of criminalization.

This fundamental perspective continues to guide Haymarket Center in pioneering innovative, high quality, community-based, social setting behavioral health programs that are gender responsive, culturally appropriate, and population specific. Although primarily serving homeless, indigent, and ex-offender populations from the south and west side communities of Chicago, Haymarket extends its services to the entirety of Illinois.

Throughout its thirty years of operation, Haymarket Center has remained wholeheartedly devoted to identifying and designing new and progressive methods for furthering our founding mission: “to aid people with chemical dependency in their recovery by providing a continuum of optimal professional care that is responsive to the identified needs of the community.”

Along with this commitment, we have continually been faithful to our guiding principle of providing comprehensive substance abuse treatment and referrals to Chicago’s vastly disregarded and underserved populations regardless of their ability to afford services. Our loyalty to these two fundamental principles has led Haymarket to develop over thirty specialized programs in clinical treatment, serving over 18,000 clients per year.