About Milwaukee Rehab
Our Story
Milwaukee Rehab started with a problem our founders kept witnessing: young people in the city were ready for help, but the nearest programs equipped to treat them were hours away or out of state. Families were forced to uproot their lives or wait — and for a young adult in crisis, waiting can be the difference between recovery and tragedy.
So they opened a center on N Teutonia Ave to fill that gap locally. From the beginning, the focus was young adults: the developmental realities, the peer dynamics, and the family relationships that shape recovery in your teens, twenties, and thirties.
Twenty years and more than 17,300 patients later, that purpose still drives us. Milwaukee Rehab grew into a full continuum of care — detox through outpatient — without losing the founding belief that quality treatment should be available right here, close to the families who need it.
Our Mission
Our mission is to treat every young person who walks through our doors with dignity, no matter what brought them here. Addiction strips people of their sense of worth; recovery has to give it back. At Milwaukee Rehab we lead with respect — for the patient and for the family standing beside them — because we believe people recover faster when they are treated as capable of recovery. Dignity is not a nicety here; it is the foundation of how we deliver care.
Treatment Philosophy
Three principles shape our care. First, creative expression: art, music, and writing therapy give young adults a way to process pain that talking alone often cannot reach — especially powerful for those who have not yet found the words. Second, motivational enhancement: rather than imposing change, we work to strengthen each person's own reasons for recovery, because the motivation that lasts comes from within.
Third, cultural humility. Milwaukee is a richly diverse city, and recovery is personal — shaped by heritage, family, and community. We meet each patient within their own context rather than forcing a single mold, treating the whole person and the people who surround them.
Our Team
Dr. Karla Mendez, MD, FASAM
Medical Director
Board-certified in addiction medicine, Dr. Mendez oversees detox protocols and medication-assisted treatment. She has spent her career focused on adolescent and young-adult substance use, the population at the heart of our center.
Dr. Hannah Bauer, PsyD
Clinical Director
Dr. Bauer directs our therapy programming and dual diagnosis care, integrating CBT, DBT, and EMDR so the psychological roots of addiction are treated alongside the substance use itself.
Tyrone Jackson, LPC, CSAC
Director of Young Adult Programs
A licensed counselor and Milwaukee native, Tyrone leads the peer groups and programming designed specifically for young adults, drawing on the developmental and social realities they face.
Devon Pierce, ATR-BC
Creative Arts Therapy Director
A board-certified art therapist, Devon leads the art, music, and writing therapy that defines our approach, helping young patients express and process what words alone cannot reach.
Testimonials
"I was nineteen and convinced rehab was for people way worse off than me. Milwaukee Rehab never talked down to me. They treated me like an adult with a future worth fighting for, and the peer group meant I wasn't the only young person in the room. That changed everything."
— Cody R., Alumni (2024)
"As parents we felt completely lost. Milwaukee Rehab brought us into our son's recovery instead of shutting us out, and they did it without an ounce of judgment. The dignity they showed him helped him believe he could actually change. He has, and we're whole again."
— Angela & Marcus T., Parents of Alumnus