ROCKFORD – The Rev. James E. Swarthout has joined the Rosecrance marketing team to do outreach work with area clergy and their congregations.
In addition to his longtime experience as an Episcopal priest for the Diocese of Chicago, Swarthout has professional credentials in social work and addictions counseling. His service as a priest for more than 27 years includes ministry to parishes in Rockford, Crystal Lake, Algonquin, West Dundee and McHenry. “We are pleased to have Father Jim join our team,” said Rosecrance President/CEO Philip Eaton. “As a clergyman, he has the compassion and understanding of human nature that are so important in our work. In addition, he has the professional skills to help guide individuals toward appropriate services for substance abuse and mental health disorders.”
Swarthout recently was appointed to the Governor’s Mental Health Services Strategic Planning Task Force. He will co-chair the task force’s Children and Adolescent Committee, which is being asked to develop a five-year plan to improve access to and quality of mental health care for Illinois’ younger population.
Swarthout’s résumé of community service is lengthy. Among many other things, he is the founder of the St. Paul Diaper Bank Partnership and a founding member of the board of directors of the National Diaper Bank Network. He is a former member of the Youth Service Bureau Board of Directors before YSB’s merger with Pioneer Center for Human Services, and a former member of the McHenry County Mental Health Board.
In addition, he has served as an adjunct faculty member with Columbia and Webster universities, where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in counseling and leadership.