Founded in 1981, Eva’s Village was the first peer-driven recovery center in New Jersey. The facility believes that active drug and alcohol addiction can be overcome through spiritual awareness and community integration, and offers a safe and welcoming environment for recovery, as well as fellowship and peer-to-peer support. Both residential and outpatient services are offered, as well as onsite child-care for mothers with dependent children.
ABOUT EVA’S VILLAGE
Eva’s Village was founded in 1982 as a small soup kitchen, and is now a faith-based, nondenominational, anti-poverty 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, based in the center of the city of Paterson, northeastern New Jersey. The organization pledges to provide food and housing for the hungry and homeless, as well as residential and outpatient substance use treatment for men, women, and mothers with children.
Eva’s Village also operates a medical and dental clinic that provides free services to uninsured and underinsured residents of Paterson.
TREATMENT & ASSESSMENT
Residential treatment is offered in gender-separate programs, each of which is based on the 12-Steps and split into three phases. The programs include comprehensive assessment, group and individual counseling, intensive education about addiction, family support, and on-site 12-step meetings. The mothers with children program also includes parenting classes, childcare, and afterschool programs to keep children occupied while their mothers are in treatment. And on all programs, clients participate in workforce development training, which includes guidance on resume writing, job searching, and job applications, plus mock job fairs twice a month.
STAFF CREDENTIALS
The team includes master’s and PhD level counselors and social workers. Eva’s Village also relies on volunteers, in particular to run the workforce development program. The five individuals polled by Best-rehabs.com to date on the staff’s level of training and experience gave it an average rating of 3.6 out of five stars.
ACCOMMODATIONS & AMENITIES
The various residential programs accommodate a maximum of 103 men, 36 women, and 24 mothers with up to 55 children. The organization also provides shelter, transitional housing, and a community kitchen for individuals in need. The five individuals polled by Best-rehabs.com to date on the center’s cleanliness and exercise/leisure offerings gave them average ratings of 4.6 stars and three stars, respectively.
WHAT ALUMNI SAY
Of the nine reviews submitted to Best-rehabs.com to date, seven were positive, one was mixed, and one was negative. “The meals provided for the children fails to be healthy choices. There is no real parenting program and most of the time they are cleaning,” negative reviewer Diana wrote of the mommy and me program, adding concerns about a lack of child safety provisions such as safety guards. And in otherwise positive reviews, one reviewer wrote that there were “not enough counselors for the amount of clients,” and another added: “Most of the staff has dealt with their own addictions and won’t do in their recovery what they ask us to do.”
The positive reviewers, which were predominant, tended to give general praise, noting that they had learned a lot and often achieved sobriety at the facility, and praising staff. “It was an amazing experience where I learned a lot about myself and how to cope with lifes difficulties in a positive manner,” one anonymous reviewer wrote in a representative review.
WHAT FRIENDS & FAMILY SAY
Both of the loved ones polled by Best-rehabs.com to date gave positive feedback, each giving the center four stars for its family participation and four or five stars for its treatment for co-occurring disorders. The reviewers disagreed about the quality of the center’s holistic offerings, giving them a two-star and a four-star rating. “I know of many people who have done very well in this program,” one anonymous reviewer wrote, and the other praised the “effective, caring professional staff.”
FINANCING
According to a 2016 financial statement, Eva’s Village is funded in large part by government grants, contributions, donations, and fundraising. The organization also receives some income via rent and food stamps, however, it’s not clear whether there’s any charge for the organization’s substance abuse services. The five individuals polled by Best-rehabs.com to date on the center’s affordability gave it an average rating of 3.6 out of five stars.