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History of the Jackie Nitschke Center, Inc.
In March of 1971, a group of volunteers met to discuss starting a halfway house for alcoholics. In June of 1973, they opened the facility at 1149 E. Mason Street and called it Samaritan House. The facility was designed for males who had completed treatment, and needed a structured living environment to remain sober. In 1977 Belva House, the first female halfway house was opened at 437 S. Monroe. Since the census in both facilities tended to be low, the two combined in 1981 when the current facility at 630 Cherry Street was rented.
The name for the facility was Samaritan House. The current facility was purchased in March of 1989 and fully paid off in August of 1998.
In January of 1995, Brown County closed its residential treatment facility at the Mental Health Center and contracted with Samaritan House to provide the care. As of January 1, 1995 the mission switched from being a halfway house to providing residential treatment. This meant becoming the primary inpatient treatment provided for Brown County.
In February of 1997, the facility name was changed to Jackie Nitschke Center in honor of Jackie Nitschke, wife of Packer great Ray Nitschke. Jackie was the first prominent female citizen of the community to publicly announce her own addiction to alcohol. She spoke honestly and articulately about the struggles she faced. She shared her stories of treatment and of rebuilding her life. And in the process, she taught our community that the disease of addiction crosses all income levels and families. Jackie showed us that with proper treatment, you can remain sober for the rest of your life - just as she did.
Also, in 1997, the center started its outpatient treatment program mainly to help provide a continuum of care for the people coming out of the residential treatment program. Since that time, the program has expanded to include people who start treatment at the outpatient level of care. Outpatient is largely designed to provide continued support for the client while living and working back in the community.
Jackie Nitschke Center has gone from treating approximately 70 clients per year as a halfway house to over 250 per year in residential and outpatient treatment. The number of people seeking help through the Center continued to grow each year to the point where additional space was needed.
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