About
About Project Free
Project Free is the substance use treatment program operated by Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton, a 501(c)(3) non-profit social service agency founded in 1913. Located at 10 Southard Street in downtown Trenton, New Jersey, Project Free is one of more than 75 programs run by Catholic Charities to serve people across Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth, and Ocean counties, reaching over 120,000 individuals and families annually with mental health, addiction, housing, food, and crisis services.
Project Free’s clinical focus is Intensive Outpatient Programming (IOP), supplemented by standard outpatient services and ambulatory detox support for patients whose withdrawal can be managed without an inpatient stay. Care is delivered through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, individual counseling, group programming, and trauma-informed interventions, with co-occurring mental health conditions, including PTSD, depression, and anxiety, addressed alongside addiction. The program serves veterans, pregnant women, seniors, men, women, Deaf and hard-of-hearing patients, people living with HIV/AIDS, and clients who are court-ordered into treatment.
A distinctive feature is the program’s connection to the broader Catholic Charities network. Patients struggling with addiction often face concurrent challenges, including housing instability, food insecurity, and immigration concerns. Because Project Free sits inside an agency that also runs domestic violence services, housing assistance, food programs, and immigration services, clinicians can connect patients to those resources without leaving the system. The agency explicitly welcomes all patients regardless of faith, ethnicity, or economic status.
Project Free is dually accredited by the Joint Commission and the Council on Accreditation (COA), an unusual quality indicator that demonstrates conformance to both health care and social service standards. Payment is structured around access: Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE, private insurance, state insurance, self-pay, sliding scale, and financial assistance are all accepted. For central New Jersey adults seeking IOP-level addiction care with deep social-service backing, Project Free offers a community-rooted, dually accredited option grounded in more than a century of nonprofit experience.
- Joint Commission and Council on Accreditation dual accreditation for medical detox and outpatient services
- Over 100 years of service experience since 1913 providing medically supervised withdrawal management
- Specialized programs for pregnant women requiring medical detox and ongoing addiction treatment
- Comprehensive insurance acceptance including TRICARE for veterans needing detox services
- Multi-county service area covering Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth, and Ocean counties