Mission Statement
The Bridge mission is to change lives, by offering help, hope and opportunity to the most vulnerable in our community. We offer a comprehensive range of evidence-based rehabilitative services, including mental health and substance abuse treatment, housing, vocational training and job placement, healthcare, education and creative arts therapies.
Bridge services are tailored to each individual we serve to support their recovery and independent living goals. Thousands of men and women have benefited from Bridge services, helping them lead more productive, independent and satisfying lives.
Our Approach
The Bridge is committed to being a Trauma-Informed Community that embraces the idea that trauma impacts everyone. Our goal is to create a physically and emotionally safe, welcoming environment that empowers people to pursue their own paths towards coping, healing and recovery.
We aspire to create a skilled, compassionate workforce that rejects labels, fights stigma and engages each person in a collaborative effort to realize his or her unique potential.
Through family and community partnerships, we will share our learned experiences to foster change, acceptance and hope.
Our History: A Community of Peers
The Bridge was founded in 1954 by former long-term residents of a psychiatric hospital. Returning to the community and finding that there were no programs to support them, Bridge founders created a self-help collective to offer social support to adults, like themselves, with serious mental illness.
Today, The Bridge has developed into a $65 million agency providing housing and behavioral health services to over 4,000 New Yorkers each year. We run more than 40 programs in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, each designed to meet the individual needs of the men and women we serve.