Mental Health Care in Stratford, Somerdale and Magnolia, NJ: A Local Guide

Call 911 if anyone is in immediate danger. For thoughts of suicide or a mental health crisis, call or text 988 at any hour. If someone may be a danger to themselves or others but is not in immediate danger, call Camden County's crisis screening line, run by Oaks Integrated Care: 856-428-4357 (856-428-HELP), 24 hours a day. Our crisis page has more numbers.

Stratford has something most small boroughs do not: a medical campus. Jefferson Stratford Hospital and the Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine sit side by side on East Laurel Road, a short drive from Somerdale and Magnolia. It is natural to assume that a hospital and a medical school next door mean psychiatric care next door. Some of it is there, and some of it is not. This guide sorts out which is which, then covers the teenagers at Sterling High School and the older adults who gather at Stratford's senior center.

Quick answer: Call 911 if anyone is in immediate danger. For thoughts of suicide or a mental health crisis, call or text 988 at any hour. If someone may be a danger to themselves or others but is not in immediate danger, call Camden County's crisis screening line, run by Oaks Integrated Care, at 856-428-4357, 24 hours a day. Jefferson Stratford Hospital's emergency department is open around the clock, but Jefferson's Stratford pages list no psychiatric department; county crisis screening happens at Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital, and Oaks asks you to call first. On the Rowan-Virtua side of Laurel Road, the geriatrics institute lists depression and anxiety among the conditions it treats (856-566-6843), and the CARES Institute offers short-term trauma treatment for children at no cost to families (856-566-6447).

What does Jefferson Stratford Hospital handle today?

Jefferson Stratford Hospital is at 18 East Laurel Road, Stratford. The main number is 856-346-6000 and the emergency department is 856-346-7816. Jefferson lists the hospital as open 24 hours.

Read Jefferson's own Stratford pages and the focus is clear. The hospital leads with spine care, and it lists robotic-assisted surgery, weight management, bariatric surgery, neurology and stroke care. Its clinical specialties page names two programs, bariatric surgery and neuroscience. Its department directory lists the emergency department, social work (856-346-7850) and New Vision Drug and Alcohol Services (856-346-7996). Jefferson says the hospital offers medical stabilization and withdrawal management for adults with substance and alcohol use disorders.

None of those three pages lists a psychiatry or behavioral health department in Stratford. Jefferson's own psychiatry pages place its adult inpatient psychiatric units in Center City Philadelphia and Cherry Hill, and its New Jersey crisis service at Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital. That shapes what you do in a mental health emergency. If there is an overdose, a weapon, a suicide attempt in progress, or someone who will not wake up, call 911. For a psychiatric crisis without that kind of danger, the county's system runs through Cherry Hill, and it starts with a phone call.

Where does a psychiatric crisis go instead?

Camden County's designated crisis screening center is run by Oaks Integrated Care. Oaks says its screening center serves adults and youth in a psychiatric emergency, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Its locations page places it at Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital, 2201 Chapel Avenue, Cherry Hill. Oaks asks you to call 856-428-4357 before you go there.

For an adult who is overwhelmed but does not need a hospital, Oaks runs Mental Health Urgent Care at 2051 Springdale Road, Cherry Hill, 856-254-3800. It serves Camden County adults 18 and older. The hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. No Sunday hours are listed. Oaks offers on-site and telehealth visits during those hours, and it lists self-pay, insurance, Medicaid and a sliding scale fee based on income. When it is closed, Oaks directs people to 856-428-HELP, or to 911 in an emergency. Our Cherry Hill guide describes both Cherry Hill sites in more detail.

What Rowan-Virtua runs at 42 East Laurel Road

Several of the medical school's practices share one building on the campus, 42 East Laurel Road. Three of them matter here.

Psychiatry. Rowan Medicine says its Department of Psychiatry has served southern New Jersey since 1983. It lists general adult, child and adolescent, geriatric, intellectual disability and sports psychiatry. Its psychiatry page does not publish a clinic address or say which office sees which patients. Every appointment goes through one line, 856-309-DOCS (856-309-3627). Ask where the visit would be; Rowan says to ask about telemedicine when you schedule.

Older adults. The Rowan-Virtua New Jersey Institute for Successful Aging is at 42 East Laurel Road, Suite 1800, phone 856-566-6843. Rowan's psychiatry page sends readers looking for geriatric psychiatry to this institute. Virtua's page for the Stratford office lists depression, anxiety and "mental health issues" among the conditions it treats, along with memory loss and dementia, and it lists medication management. Hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its Memory Assessment Program is for patients 55 and older, and the team sends its recommendations to the referring primary care doctor.

Children who have been through trauma. The CARES Institute has its Stratford office at 42 East Laurel Road, Suites 1100 and 1200. A CARES flyer, dated November 2025 in its file name, says short-term trauma-focused treatment is provided at no cost to families, and no insurance is needed. It covers children ages 3 to 18 and their non-offending caregivers, in person or by telehealth, in English and Spanish. Parents can refer directly. Questions go to 856-566-6447, and the referral form is emailed to caresintake@rowan.edu.

Older adults in Stratford, Laurel Springs and the Sterling towns

The borough of Stratford runs a senior group out of its Community Recreation and Senior Center, 302 Union Avenue (corner of Union and Kirkwood avenues). The borough says the group welcomes seniors from Stratford, Magnolia, Somerdale, Laurel Springs and Hi-Nella. Most events fall on Wednesdays, three or four a month, such as a lunch or bingo. You must RSVP to each one. Magnolia's borough website points its own seniors to the same center. For questions, call Stratford Borough Hall at 856-783-0600.

A lunch is not treatment. For an older parent who has stopped going out, though, a standing Wednesday on the calendar is a reasonable first ask, and it gives you a chance to see how they are doing.

If the problem is memory, mood or a long list of medications, the Institute for Successful Aging is on the medical campus at 42 East Laurel Road. If your parent cannot leave home without help, such as a walker, a wheelchair or special transportation, NJISA runs a House Calls program, phone 856-566-6989. A doctor or nurse practitioner visits at home, and the program says it has served Camden and Gloucester counties.

For help with services and benefits, call Camden County's Division of Senior and Disabled Services at 856-858-3220. Stratford's senior page also lists the toll-free aging and disability line, 1-877-222-3737.

Where do Sterling High School families start?

Teenagers from Stratford, Somerdale and Magnolia attend Sterling High School, 501 South Warwick Road, Somerdale, 856-784-1333. The district's registration page says those three boroughs are in the district and that Hi-Nella and Laurel Springs send students to it.

Sterling's wellness page says the district has a Mental Health Counselor who works with students on anxiety, stress, depression, self-esteem, anger and grief, and who refers students to outside treatment. The route in is the student's school counselor: if you are worried about your teen or another student, the district asks you to start the referral there. The school also keeps a Wellness Room in the media center for groups and activities.

The same page tells families to call 911 in a mental health emergency. It lists 988 (call or text) and 2NDFLOOR, 888-222-2228, a confidential youth helpline that takes calls and texts 24/7.

At home, if a child or teen is struggling but not in immediate danger, the call is PerformCare at 1-877-652-7624, the state's Children's System of Care line, which answers 24 hours a day. PerformCare's own instruction comes first, though: for a life-threatening emergency, always dial 911. Short of that, PerformCare says it can authorize a mobile response team to reach your home within one hour of notification.

Under New Jersey law (N.J.S.A. 9:17A-4), a teen 16 or older who believes they need mental health care can consent on their own to temporary outpatient treatment, not including medication. For a parent trying to decide whether to call anyone yet, our parent's guide lists the warning signs worth acting on.

Ongoing counseling when cost is the question

Oaks Integrated Care also runs outpatient counseling for children, adults and families. It lists billing as Medicaid, Medicare, some private insurance and self-pay on a sliding scale fee, and lists weekday hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with some weekend availability. Its Camden County offices include 557 Williamstown Road, Sicklerville, 856-740-0589. The way in is the Oaks Access Center, 1-800-963-3377, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oaks says there may be a waitlist for outpatient services.

CAMcare Clementon, 121 White Horse Pike, Clementon, is a community health center. CAMcare says no one is denied care because they cannot pay, and it offers a sliding fee discount based on income and family size. The Clementon site lists hours of Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., plus the first Saturday of each month, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. One number schedules every site: 856-583-2400. Our Lindenwold guide covers CAMcare and NJ FamilyCare in more depth.

For anyone unsure where to start, including an adult child calling on a parent's behalf, NJMentalHealthCares, 1-866-202-4357, answers from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day and helps people find services. It does not handle emergencies. See also therapy without insurance.

Questions to ask your primary care doctor

Many people in these towns will raise a mental health problem first with a family doctor, not a therapist. Rowan's family medicine office is at 42 East Laurel Road, Suite 2100, 856-566-7020, and its pediatrics office is in the same building, Suite 3500, 856-566-7040. Wherever your doctor is, these questions make the visit count.

About screening:

• Can we do a depression or anxiety screening today, and what will you do with the result?
• For an older parent: should memory testing be ruled out first, and would you refer to a memory program?

If you have Medicare, ask whether the visit can include the yearly depression screening. Medicare Part B covers one a year in a primary care setting, and you pay nothing if the doctor accepts assignment.

About referral:

• Do you treat this yourself, or do you refer? To whom, by name?
• Does that therapist or psychiatrist take my exact health plan, and roughly how long is the wait?
• Will your office send my records and the reason for the referral, or do I make the call myself?

About medication follow-up:

• If you prescribe something, when is the first follow-up, is it a visit or a phone call, and who handles refills?
• How long before we expect it to work, what side effects should make me call sooner, and who do I call if it stops working: you or a psychiatrist?

Write the answers down with the date. If the plan stalls between visits, call the office back and ask for the next step by name. And if a medication question turns into an emergency, such as an overdose or someone who will not wake up, call 911.