New Bridge Foundation - Berkeley, California

Marcel Blanco Valdes

Best place ever for recovery. New Bridges provides all the clients with the right tools( mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness etc). New Bridges and clients work for a common goal : Sobriety and Recovery. I was a client who is grateful for being a New Bridges"s client

Wendy Wernigg

I was looking specifically for a place that had alternatives to a 12-step program. I was assured that there were many other options and that "12-step was only 10%" of what was offered. My first night there I was required to go to a 12-step meeting. At no time was there another option offered. I did not know at the time but have learned since that there are Dharma Recovery meetings online almost every hour and could have been offered instead.

Aimee Harting

I went here in 2016, and although I had a few relapses after, it definitely stuck with me. Amazing place, I remember a guy named Jon he really stuck out to me. He really tried to keep checking in with me after I stopped showing up for the after care groups. This place definitely doesn’t teach Scientology like some reviews said, and was suboxone/Methadone friendly when I was there. Great program

Michael Loyola

New Bridge saved my daughters life. It is an awesome program with caring counselors. It also helps the family learn so much about supporting your loved one thru recovery. I can only say great things about New Bridge. Its the best place to be by far. My daughter loved New Bridge. I am forever grateful to New Bridge.

Sandi S

My son went through six months in house treatment then after care and is now in a satellite. He has been involved with Newbridge for 14 months. It has truly changed his life. I cannot express how grateful and impressed I am with the Newbridge program. Woijtek, The director and a fabulous counselor put his heart and soul into my sons recovery. Having been through two other rehabs, Newbridge, by far, is exceptional!

Jonny Bacon

New Bridge Foundation saved my life. I don't like sounding like most, but there's no other words. My experience was amazing. I was finally ready to be helped. New bridge came thru my counselor let's call him Dan he came thru with flying colors. We dug in on issues that were not comfortable but needed to be addressed. If you really want to create a foundation to stay sober New Bridge was able to give the foundation to rebuild a new life. I've been clean since I left, no other treatment had ever given me that freedom. Trust this if nothing else, New Bridge helped me, a burned out addict for 20+ years. I was finally ready and New Bridge came thru. I will never forget what they did for me. Thank you! I love all of you. DK, JB, BC, JK, K, K, J, and nurses you saved my life. I will never forget any of you.

Ben Garrett

This place is amazing and almost certainly saved my life. Unlike one review that I read, the staff is NOT fake. They are genuine, caring people who listened to me when I was struggling, talked me through my problems, and gave me the tools to stay clean to this day. I can almost guarantee that the people posting negative reviews here are those who left the program in order to go and continue to use, and they used the staff being ‘fake’ or some other label in order to justify their actions. Also, I cannot at all understand where the individual saying that they do not assist with mental health issues is coming from; the classes were not at all like he described, and they provide ample time for you to have one-on-one sessions with a counselor. I also cannot understand why one individual said they do not support suboxone; I knew many people who were on it there, and there was never an issue in regards to them taking it as part of their treatment. I can guarantee you that if you go through their program, stay until the end of your treatment, and actually partake in the program that they have set up for you, then you will leave understanding how truly wonderful a place New Bridge is.

Lauren Carbonell

Helios- Location is tough- lots of college students and Cal games around so it's loud and not much nature. It's tough to find a place outside where people aren't smoking...Yes, most people in recovery smoke cigarettes, but there isn't much outdoor space, and one tiny smoke free patio.
LGB "friendly" but maybe not T or Q+ friendly unless you're fairly heteronormative binary. Super nice people and I think they're trying, which is more than many places can claim. For example, staff wrote "THEY/THEM" next to my name on the white board. Unfortunately, like most health care facilities, the staff is simply unprepared/undertrained for what an inclusive environment looks and acts like. The night I arrived, I was misgendered about 6 times, which I'm used to out in the real world, but there wasn't really a safe space held for someone like me.
I decided to leave the following day when Mrs. Doubtfire was chosen as the movie to watch to replace one of the recovery meetings. Don't get me wrong, I love Robin Williams, it was just a slap-in-the-face ironic coincidence that made me laugh all the way to the room to pack up my bags.

I hope that there is a recovery center one day which is already past the 101 level of Trans-non-binary inclusivity and can provide a meaningfully safe space for folks who are the "others" on the outside, especially since queer/trans folks continue to lead in the stats for the most at risk population in terms of addiction, homelessness, poverty, incarcerated, etc.
Side note- new(ish) director Emily spoke with my referral therapist at Kaiser telling them that I left because I missed my family- not for the actual reasons that I gave her and her colleagues in my exit interview. Maybe to save the reputation of being LGBT friendly?

Just to recap- this place is friendly and has kind staff and clients in general. Helios has an LGBT specific meeting in the program once per week, but they have a heck of a lot of work to do before I would dream of categorizing it as LGBT friendly. I would more appropriately describe it as, "does not actively appear to hate queers."