About Us

Our History

Since 1990, the Thelma McMillen Recovery Center has been dedicated to helping South Bay residents successfully overcome the pattern of substance use, abuse and addiction. Moe Gelbart, PhD, the center's Executive Director since its inception, believes in the importance of "treating the whole person, not just the addiction," and has personally seen the program make lasting changes in the lives of more than 4,000 clients.

In 2003, the center received a gift of $5.3 million from Karl McMillen to expand its well-established services and house the program in a free-standing, state-of-the-art outpatient facility, now known as the Thelma McMillen Recovery Center – named after Karl’s devoted late wife of 48 years.

From personal tragedy, Karl McMillen and his wife Thelma became dedicated to helping others, especially teens fighting addiction. The McMillens had two sons, Mark and Chris. Their oldest son, Mark, died from a drug overdose in 1986. Their youngest son, Chris, also struggled with long-term addiction problems. Chris was on his way to beating his addiction but died from cancer in 2010. Karl then dedicated his life to assisting families caught up in the devastating and hard-to-treat disease of addiction.

Karl, along with his wife Carol, decided to support the expansion of a vitally important service to the South Bay community when they donated to Torrance Memorial and the Thelma McMillen Recovery Center was created in 2003. In 2008, they decided they wanted to support additional organizations dedicated to helping people affected by substance abuse and created the McMillen Family Foundation.

Karl passed away on May 6, 2025, but his work and vision live on through the Foundation, which to date has donated more than $50 million to their grantees. Karl and Carol's philanthropy continues and is far-reaching, touching many lives and organizations in Southern California.

The Thelma McMillen Recovery Center and its staff of professionals remain committed to their two-fold mission: providing the most effective care with compassion and respect for the individual needs of every client, and being a trusted resource for all things related to substance use, abuse and addiction treatment.