JOLIET – On Dec. 1, Stepping Stones Treatment Center in Joliet will step in a new direction, leadership-wise.

Executive Director Pete McLenighan will step down after 33 years. Clinical Director Paul Lauridsen, who came to Stepping Stones in 1989, will step up as executive director of the nonprofit treatment center, which celebrated 45 years in 2016.

McLenighan has no immediate plans for his future except to enjoy retirement. Lauridsen plans to build on Stepping Stones' integrative manner of providing treatment for substance use disorder.

It's treatment that's sorely needed.

Last year Stepping Stones treated 701 people, McLenighan said. Two hundred are on a waiting list, with 120 of them waiting for residential treatment, he added. Furthermore, Stepping Stones continues to follow up with its clients. The era of "28 days and done" is gone.

"Our ultimate goal is abstinence and even that is being modified," McLenighan said. "If someone is being maintained on a medication – typically through a doctor's supervision – and is functioning well and living a stable life, productive life, that's ultimately what we're trying to help people achieve."

McLenighan's career began in 1976 at Silver Cross Hospital, then located in Joliet. The hospital had just opened a crisis intervention and medical detox unit. McLenighan worked there from 1976 to 1979, first as an orderly, then a nurse's aid and finally as a counselor.

"It was very progressive at the time," McLenighan said. "Just prior to that, public intoxication was typically treated as a criminal offense and people were taken to jail. But there was a nationwide movement to encourage hospitals to create a center where people could go if they were publicly inebriated and be treated, so Silver Cross opened that unit."

Before McLenighan became Stepping Stones' executive director in 1983, he worked for South Suburban Counselors for four years as director of its detoxification program, McLenighan said.

By contrast, Lauridsen had previously worked with people with developmental disabilities and mental illness at Texas' state institution. He then spent five years at the San Antonio Association for the Blind.

From there, Lauridsen moved to Austin and worked in construction. Lauridsen said he and his wife moved back to the Joliet area when they had their first child.

"I saw the halfway house was looking for a clinical director and I interviewed with Pete," Lauridsen said.

In McLenighan's and Lauridsen's early days, typical clients were alcoholics in their 30s and older. Eventually they saw addictions to other drugs – marijuana, cocaine and opioids – as well as use of multiple drugs.

But at Stepping Stones, clients were viewed as they really were, people who had "a lot of potential and a lot of things going for them," Lauridsen said.

"It was exciting to see how significant an impact you could have on people, really helping them turn their lives around and make some significant changes," Lauridsen said. "That was enlightening to me at the time."

In addition to treating its clients, Stepping Stones has educated the community about the facts of addiction.

"It's not a moral failure," McLenighan said, "but a multifaceted disease largely caused by a genetic predisposition and environmentally influenced."

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An abbreviated history of Stepping Stones Inc.

• 1971 – The Joliet Halfway House Inc. was incorporated and the home at 609 Second Ave. in Joliet was purchased. The purpose was to provide a men’s halfway house for recovering alcoholics.

• 1977 – Sheltering Arms Inc. was incorporated to provide a halfway house for recovering alcoholic women.

• 1978 – Sheltering Arms purchased the property at 501/503 N. Broadway St. in Joliet.

• 1979 – The Joliet Halfway House began developing a short-term residential rehabilitation program for both men and women. This was located at 501 N. Broadway St. and the adjacent home at 205 Bridge St. in Joliet.

• 1980 – Sheltering Arms began to accept residents into treatment.

• 1981 – The Tri-County Rehabilitation Center, under the Joliet Halfway House, began to accept people into its short-term residential rehabilitation program. Initially, men were housed at 609 Second Ave. and women were housed at 501 N. Broadway St.

• 1982 – An intensive outpatient program was added for men and women at 501 N. Broadway St. All programs had been redesigned to effectively treat a population that was “poly-drug” dependent rather than “alcoholic."

• 1983 – Licensure was obtained for 205 Bridge St. and short-term residential rehabilitation clients began to reside at the location.

• 1991 – The property at 1621 Theodore St. in Joliet was purchased in April. The Joliet Halfway House Inc. and Sheltering Arms Inc. were consolidated to form Stepping Stones Inc. in September.

• 1992 – All services were relocated in late fall to the Treatment Center at 1621 Theodore St. Selected programs were accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities in June, prior to re-location.

• 1997 – The properties at 501 N. Broadway St. and 205 Bridge St. were licensed as recovery homes for men and women, respectively. These were among the first licensed recovery homes in Illinois.

• 2007 – The conference center at 1620 Plainfield Road in Crest Hill was purchased and renovations began.

• 2008 – The conference center was open for various meeting functions and received licensure approval in September. Outpatient and intensive outpatient services began to be provided at this location in addition to 1621 Theodore St.

Source: Stepping Stones