History

The late 1960s were a tumultuous period in our nation’s history.

The Vietnam War was still raging, student protests were riveting college campuses, the shock of two high-profile assassinations were a gut-punch to Americans everywhere, and, like today, a wide-spread drug abuse problem weighed heavily on families and communities from coast to coast.

Such was the backdrop in 1969 when, faced with questions and concerns regarding substance abuse in his own congregation, Father Edward Hajduk, a parish priest at Sacred Heart Church in Lyndhurst, asked the Junior Women’s Club of Lyndhurst and president Eileen Becker and Vice President Evelyn Pezzola to undertake a service project to survey the increasing needs of the community.

With the results of their survey in hand, it wasn’t long before Junior Women's Club members found themselves in the office of the County Mental Health Director who suggested they start a community mental health center as a way to begin addressing the problem. Out of a meeting that included concerned citizens, social workers and clinicians, plans were drawn to create a mental health center in southern Bergen County.

From humble beginnings to the most successful community mental health program in North Jersey.

The South Bergen Mental Health Center became a reality in 1969, with many members of the Lyndhurst Junior Women's Club seated on the original board of trustees. Indeed, to this day both Mrs. Becker, Mrs. Pezzola and their families remain dedicated supporters of the agency.

As our service offerings expanded to meet the growing mental health care needs of the community, South Bergen Mental Health Center became Comprehensive Behavioral Healthcare (now CBH Care), which has grown to become the premier mental and behavioral health provider in Northern New Jersey.

CBH Care supports outpatient and partial care consumers at our service locations in Hackensack (adult) and Lyndhurst (geriatric); in addition to outpatient and urgent care at our facility in Westwood. We serve nearly 4,000 children, adults, and seniors every year. We also operate residential facilities in Morris Plains, Emerson, Hackensack, Kearny, Lyndhurst, Rutherford, and Fairview, providing beds for nearly 200 people every night.

In 2019, CBH Care celebrated its 50th anniversary.