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Mrs. Ford's Vision Brought To Life Through BFI

The Betty Ford Institute has been fortunate to have benefited from the vision and wisdom of First Lady Betty Ford. Over several decades, her pioneering spirit and honest dialogue has contributed to hope and healing.

In 1975, Mrs. Ford took her first step into history by going public with her breast cancer, thereby saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of women by emphasizing early detection.

Seven years later, in 1982, Mrs. Ford took her next step into history by sharing the truth about her alcoholism and other drug dependence with the nation, and by co-founding the Betty Ford Center with Leonard Firestone.

Mrs. Ford’s third step into history took place in 2006 when she established the Betty Ford Institute (BFI). The mission of the BFI is to conduct and support collaborative programs of research, prevention, education and advocacy to reduce the devastating impact of addictive disease on individuals, families, organizations and communities.

Author William L. White, America’s most distinguished addiction historian and a member of the BFI Executive Council, describes the important work of Betty Ford Institute, “No other institution in America dealing with alcohol and other drug problems combines such an integrated focus on personal, family and community resilience/recovery, nor places such an emphasis on the resilience and recovery needs of families, women and children.”

It is Mrs. Ford’s courage, vision and pioneering fortitude that has made it possible for the Betty Ford Institute to forge ahead with programs of hope and healing; and for this, we are eternally grateful.

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