New Hope Foundation began as a State run program on the grounds of the Psychiatric Hospital in Marlboro New Jersey. The organization was incorporated as a non-profit and began treating substance use disorders on an inpatient basis in 1976. Work with gamblers began in the 1980’s under the tutelage of Sheila Wexler, New Hope’s Deputy Director and her husband Arnie, the past Director of the New Jersey Council. Sheila and Arnie recognized the common co-morbidity of gambling and substance use disorders and structured programming to help those with a gambling disorder to include those with substance use disorders at risk for a gambling co-morbidity.
Most recently New Hope changed its name, dropping the “Foundation” and adding “Integrated Behavioral Health Care.” This reflects the attention to the whole person that our treatment teams take when developing care plans. This whole person approach is clearly outlined by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) criteria which intend to guide comprehensive care for the Medical, Psycho-behavioral, and Contextual concerns important to an individual’s move into recovery. This of course includes the regular assessment of and sensitivity to a person’s stage of change. This important assessment guides counseling approaches to foster engagement that range from Motivational Interviewing to more active strategies to improve psychiatric and psychological problems interfering with an individual’s recovery and life pursuits. New Hope is the only program of its kind in NJ where counseling practices and supervision are overseen by a licensed psychologist.
Today New Hope treats both adults and adolescents in withdrawal management, short term intensive and 4 outpatient settings and operates halfway houses serving adult men and women to include women with dependent children. Gambling problems and risk for developing problems are, of course, always screened for and included in treatment and continuing care plans when called for.