About IJR

Leading the Way for 100 Years

Established in 1909, IJR was the first child mental health clinic in the nation and one of the first to train psychiatrists in child and adolescent specialties. Its rich history includes ties to Jane Addams’ Hull House, the first juvenile court in the nation, and even the Dick and Jane readers, which were developed at IJR to study the connection between reading difficulties and delinquency.

IJR blazed a trail early on by being one of the first to integrate medicine, psychiatry, psychology, and social work under the umbrella of child development, a thread that continues to this day. It was also where professionals initially recognized the importance of the larger community to the health of a child.

“Primary emphasis,” said pioneering IJR sociologist Clifford Shaw, “must be placed upon the task of revitalizing the life of the whole community so that the welfare of every child becomes the conscious and deliberate concern of all the citizens.”

Transferred to UIC in 1990, IJR today engages more than 40 faculty and 85 professional staff in a broad spectrum of research, demonstration, and training that continues this tradition of innovation.

Comprehensive Care for Children and their Families

We provide diagnostic, treatment, case management, advocacy, psychoeducation, and consultation services for the full range of psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar, obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), tic disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder, psychosis, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

We have five specialty programs focused on the major areas of child and adolescent mental illness in addition to our general clinic.

We employ a multidisciplinary systemic approach to treating psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. Emotional and behavioral disorders in youth are the result of the interplay between biological, genetic, psychological, cognitive, environmental and social systems and present a profound challenge to the youth, to their families, to schools, and to their community at large.
Successful treatment includes providing relief from symptoms of the underlying psychiatric disorder, alleviating stressors and conditions that can trigger or exacerbate problems, and enhancing the youth's functioning at home, in the school, and in the community. Comprehensive treatment may involve combining medications and psychotherapy with family therapy and school consultation.

IJR Applied Research

Through the Colbeth Clinic, IJR is involved in activities to help erase the stigma of these common diseases — along with lobbying for health care parity for these illnesses.

The Institute for Juvenile Research extends thanks to Doug and Margaret Colbeth for supporting the Colbeth Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic with their generous donation. To learn how you can join the Colbeths in their support of the clinic, click here.