History of Center For Family Services

On July 1, 2000, Family Counselling Services, Reality House, and Together, Inc. joined forces to establish Center For Family Services, Inc. The merger allowed the Center to help people create a vision for a better life, gave them hope for the future, and through the integration of services, the strength they need to overcome obstacles.

Family Counselling Service began as The Church Mission of Help in 1920 under the Auspices of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Episcopal Church. It provided casework services to troubled young women. After incorporating in 1952, the agency changed its name to Family Counselling Service.

While the agency’s goal remained the same, the populations served changed several times over 90 years, and included pregnant teens, migrant workers, individuals in need of home health care, and anyone in need of counseling. Prior to the merger, Family Counselling Service offered programs for abused/neglected children and their families, senior citizens and their caregivers, victims of sexual violence, and any community member in need of counseling or family-life education. Those programs continued after the merger.

Reality House began in 1973 as a private, non-profit agency called Reality House Teenage Consultation Center. Over the years, the agency expanded to provide adult and family treatment and community prevention services.  Reality House focused on assisting adults, adolescents, and families to overcome substance abuse through prevention, intervention, treatment, evaluation and referral services. Prior to the merger, Reality House offered programs benefiting the deaf and hard-of-hearing, victims of sexual violence, teens and families infected with and affected by HIV, and individuals addicted to drugs or alcohol. As Reality House merged into CFS, those programs continued, and substance abuse and mental health counseling services became more fully integrated.

Together, Inc. began in 1970 as a crisis hotline in response to the community’s need for counseling, advocacy, information, and referral services. As a non-academic department of Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) student volunteers staffed the hotline. The organization grew rapidly due to the hotline’s success and soon became a self-sufficient nonprofit corporation. Over its 30 years as an independent agency, Together created three additional divisions and developed numerous other programs. As Together merged into CFS, those programs included three statewide hotlines and four local hotlines, intensive outpatient services for substance abuse, an intensive after-school program, community-based outreach services for high-risk youth, and emergency shelter for runaway and homeless youth.