In 1955, the Warren County Guidance Center was incorporated through the efforts of a group of concerned citizens. The clinic at that time resulted from the efforts and services provided by a traveling outpatient team consisting of a psychiatrist, a social worker and a psychologist who came to the area from Trenton State Hospital once each month.
As the Center developed, services expanded to include psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, public education and parent group education. Emergency services were provided via telephone using volunteers trained by the Center.
In 1970, the Warren County Guidance Center merged with Family Services of Warren County to form the Family Guidance Center of Warren County (FGC). Over the years, direct service programs were added and changed in order to meet the needs of the community. In 1990, FGC added education and support services, which included the consumer-run Better Future Self-Help Center in Washington, the Supported Employment program which assisted consumers in obtaining and retaining employment, and a substance use prevention program which is now called Prevention Connections. In 2000, FGC added the School Based Youth Services Program to provide a range of behavioral health and social and life skills development services to students attending the Warren Hills Regional School district’s middle and high school.
Today, FGC is the largest non-profit organization in Warren County. We pride ourselves on providing help to community members who have no ability to pay and would otherwise be unable to receive treatment for mental health, substance use disorders or family issues. While the behavioral health industry is currently undergoing a number of changes and challenges, including funding, consolidation and new financial reimbursement models, FGC stands ready to meet these challenges and is taking a proactive approach to moving forward into this new decade, ensuring that we can continue to provide “help for today, hope for tomorrow” to those who need and depend upon our agency.
Services are now available in the three major population centers in Warren County: Washington, Phillipsburg and Hackettstown. Services currently provided include: outpatient mental health, substance use disorders and sexual abuse treatment programs; wellness and recovery-focused partial care day treatment, supported employment and consumer self-help center programs; crisis intervention emergency services, family crisis and traumatic loss coalition programs; and family support and substance use prevention programs. Please see the Programs tab on this website for detailed information about our current programs.
