Mental Health Care in East Brunswick, NJ: A Local Guide

Inside East Brunswick, what you can reach for mental health help depends mostly on your age. Children have a Student Assistance Specialist in the public schools and a pediatric outpatient center on Route 18. Residents 60 and older have the township's Department on Aging, next to the library. For adults in between, most of the options we could confirm on providers' own websites are a short drive away, in North Brunswick, New Brunswick and Edison.

Quick answer: Call 911 if anyone is in immediate danger. If nobody is in immediate danger but you need to talk to someone now, call or text 988, which runs 24/7. If an adult may need a hospital evaluation but is not in immediate danger, Middlesex County's designated screening center is Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, 671 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, on its 24-hour line, 732-235-5700. For a child or teen in crisis at home who is not in immediate danger, call PerformCare at 1-877-652-7624 first, any hour. For an adult who needs weekly therapy, the closest option we could confirm is Jewish Family Services of Middlesex County, 732-777-1940, with offices in North Brunswick and Monroe Township. JFS says it accepts Medicaid, Medicare and many insurance plans.

Who answers a mental health crisis call in East Brunswick?

Call 911 if anyone is in immediate danger. That includes a weapon, an overdose, or someone about to act on a threat.

Rutgers announced in November 2024 that the East Brunswick Police Department had joined ARRIVE Together, a program run in Middlesex County by Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care. Rutgers describes it as police officers trained in crisis intervention and de-escalation working with a certified mental health screener and crisis specialist on 911 calls involving behavioral health. In practice, that means a 911 call about a mental health crisis in town may bring more than a patrol car. You can tell the dispatcher it is a mental health emergency.

If nobody is in immediate danger but you need to talk to someone now, call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It runs 24/7.

If someone may be a danger to themselves or others and may need a hospital evaluation, but the danger is not immediate, that is what county screening is for. The state's list (updated October 8, 2026) names two services for Middlesex:

• Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, 671 Hoes Lane, Piscataway: 732-235-5700. This is the county's designated screening center. Rutgers describes its screening service as available to adults. Our Piscataway guide explains what happens there and describes a walk-in crisis program next door.
• Raritan Bay Medical Center Affiliated Emergency Service, 530 New Brunswick Avenue, Perth Amboy: 732-324-5289. Our Perth Amboy guide covers the hospital's program.

For a child or teen in crisis at home who is not in immediate danger, call PerformCare at 1-877-652-7624 first, any hour. For anything life-threatening, PerformCare says to dial 911. Its mobile response team may come to the house within an hour, and the aim is to stabilize things so your child can stay home. If your child should be evaluated for hospitalization, PerformCare says it will refer you to a local screening center.

More on how these lines fit together is on our crisis page.

Student Assistance Specialists in the public schools

East Brunswick Public Schools has a role called the Student Assistance Specialist. The district's staff list shows a Student Assistance Specialist for each elementary school and one for each grade from 5 through 12, at Hammarskjold Upper Elementary, Churchill Junior High and East Brunswick High School.

According to the district, Student Assistance Specialists provide individual and group counseling, teach classroom lessons, and serve as the school's anti-bullying specialist. They also co-facilitate the school's Intervention and Referral Services (I&RS) and 504 committees. So the person who counsels your child is also involved when the school considers interventions or a 504 plan.

A student can be referred by a staff member or a parent, or can ask for help on their own. The specialist's name and extension for each school are posted on the district's Student Assistance page. If you are not sure who to ask, the district's Supervisor of Student Services is listed at 732-613-6796. If you are worried, ask the specialist for a meeting. A meeting puts the concern on the specialist's calendar in a way a hallway conversation does not.

School counseling is a starting point, not a treatment program. If your child needs weekly therapy, a psychiatric evaluation or medication, ask the specialist which outside providers families in your school have used. Our guide to teen and child mental health help in NJ explains the statewide system behind PerformCare.

A teenager who wants to talk but is not in crisis can call or text 2NDFLOOR at 1-888-222-2228. The state lists it as a 24/7 youth helpline, and the district lists it too.

Children's Specialized Hospital on Route 18

Children's Specialized Hospital, part of RWJBarnabas Health, lists its East Brunswick location at 645 State Route 18 among the sites where it offers developmental behavioral pediatrics, the specialty that evaluates concerns about how a child is developing and behaving. It is an outpatient location, not a crisis service. Scheduling goes through one line, 888-244-5373. Ask when you call whether your child needs a pediatrician's referral and whether your plan covers the visit.

Adults 60 and older: the Department on Aging

The East Brunswick Department on Aging, at 3 Jean Walling Civic Center next to the library, serves residents 60 and older. Call 732-390-6896, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The township says that number is also the one to call if you have a concern about an older East Brunswick resident, so an adult child worried about a parent can use it.

The department's social service and counseling page lists support groups for bereavement, caregivers and people living alone, plus help with Medicare questions through SHIP counselors, and advocacy for benefits such as home energy assistance and PAAD. None of that is psychiatric care. But grief, the strain of caring for a spouse, and living alone wear people down, and a support group is a reasonable first step. If you need more than a group, the adult options below apply at any age, and Jewish Family Services lists Medicare among the coverage it accepts.

Where do East Brunswick adults go for weekly therapy?

The school district's community resource page lists a Catholic Charities outpatient counseling office in East Brunswick with a sliding scale. Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen, lists its East Brunswick Family Service Center at 288 Rues Lane, East Brunswick, phone 732-257-6100. Its counseling page says Catholic Charities accepts major insurance plans, including Medicaid and Medicare, and that fees for people without insurance are affordable and based on a sliding scale. Neither page says which services are offered at the Rues Lane office. Before you go, call and ask whether outpatient mental health counseling is offered there and whether those insurance and fee terms apply.

For an adult who needs regular therapy or medication management, the nearest options we could confirm on providers' own websites are just outside the township.

Jewish Family Services of Middlesex County offers behavioral health therapy for individuals, couples and families, for problems including depression, anxiety, stress, grief and relationship or marriage issues, and runs support groups. Its offices are at 219C Blackhorse Lane in North Brunswick and 1600 Perrineville Road in Monroe Township. Call 732-777-1940. JFS says it accepts Medicaid, Medicare and many insurance plans.

Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care reaches all of its outpatient clinics through one access line. Our New Brunswick guide has that number and explains how intake works. The same guide covers the Rutgers psychology training clinic, a lower-cost option.

If you have insurance and want a hospital clinic with evening hours, our Edison guide covers the Hackensack Meridian clinic on James Street.

If you need a sliding fee, the federally qualified health centers we know of are in neighboring towns. Eric B. Chandler Health Center in New Brunswick is one, but its published service list does not mention mental health, so ask before you count on it. The New Brunswick guide has the details. JRF Community Health Center in Edison lists counseling for teens and adults with a sliding fee, and our Perth Amboy guide covers it.

When you call JFS or Rutgers, ask two things: how soon they can see you, and what it will cost with your coverage. If the first opening is weeks away, book it anyway. If things get worse before then, call 911 if anyone is in immediate danger. Otherwise, call or text 988 at any hour.

If you are paying out of pocket, read therapy without insurance in NJ. If you are not sure whether weekly therapy is enough, our explainer on levels of care walks through the steps above it.

Use the school district's list with care

The district publishes a long community resources page for families, with hotlines, food pantries and treatment programs. It is a useful map of what exists. Parts of it are out of date.

It still lists the old National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number, 1-800-273-8255. The current number is 988. It also gives a Milltown address for Jewish Family Services, while JFS's own site lists North Brunswick and Monroe Township. Before you drive anywhere from that list, check the address on the organization's own website or ask when you call.

For the full county list, see our Middlesex County resource page.