Penn Foundation Recovery Center-
like no other treatment facility in the country...

Listening to families of substance abuse is important to us. We didn’t always understand how much these families needed our direct response. Let me tell
you our story.

The Recovery Center is a small part of the big Penn Foundation vision. Over three hundred staff aspire hope over hopelessness, joy over pain and purpose over stagnancy. Not just for the select few, but for the whole community, the whole family and the whole person.

We serve children, adults, families affected by behavioral health problems.
We serve those of wealth and those without. The proportions of those we serve mirror the proportions of our community. We serve our community but seek to forge creative change nationally. This is the Penn Foundation legacy since
the start.


By 1990 Penn Foundation had also established itself as a regional leader for substance abuse/addiction services -- detoxification, inpatient treatment, intensive outpatient and outpatient treatment -- all in one building. We had “arrived.” Or did we?

The Recovery Center could not rest. For every one family reached there were five still trapped by Substance Abuse. Why didn’t “they” just come to “us” and get help? All “they” had to do was come!

We were not listening to families. We failed to fully grasp the unique characteristics of substance abuse. We needed to rethink how we did things.

Through our inquiry of families we have not only found a better way to reach the suffering family, but a better way to reach the substance abuser. We are no longer afraid to go into homes, no longer frustrated by the “resistant” substance abuse, no longer frightened by the “impossible case.”

We hope you find this website a reflection of what families have taught us. We want your family to know hope, joy and purpose
once again.

You are not alone.

Todd Barlow, MS
Director of Drug and Alcohol Services
Penn Foundation Recovery Center
www.pennfoundation.org