About IJR: Our History
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.