Project Eden

Project Eden was founded in the late 1960s by a Castro Valley pediatrician and a Hayward Unified School District administrator who were responding to the escalating drug problems of the community’s youth.

​Since then, Project Eden has provided a wide variety of substance abuse prevention, intervention and treatment services to children, adolescents, adults, families and communities in the Hayward, San Lorenzo, San Leandro, Pleasanton, and Livermore area.

​This facility receives private (foundations) and public (city, county and state) funding to support our services. We also receive donations from community individuals and organizations.

​Our programs have identified an increasing need for services for youth who are already using or abusing alcohol or other drugs, or who are exhibiting behavior which puts them at extremely high risk for abusing alcohol or other drugs. (Such at-risk behavior might include living in a family where a parent or other family member is or has been abusing alcohol or other drugs; having a conflictual relationship with parents; getting bad grades at school; having conduct problems at home and school; getting in trouble with the juvenile justice system; struggling with sexual identity issues; or suffering from emotional problems such as depression.)

​At Project Eden, we run several programs to assist youth, their families and our local communities.

​​Youth Services Program: This program provides psycho-educational support groups in the Union City, Hayward, San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Pleasanton, and Livermore school districts. Students are referred by faculty, staff or themselves for education and counseling on issues such as substance abuse, decision making, depression, anger management and conflict resolution. Our staff also provides crisis intervention, information and referral, and consultation with school staff. We are at the following school campuses one day a week:

• Hayward Unified School District (Hayward High School, Mt. Eden High School, Tennyson High School, and Brenkwitz Alternative High School)
• San Leandro Unified School District (San Leandro High School)
• San Lorenzo Unified School District (Arroyo High School, East Bay Arts, San Lorenzo High School, Royal Sunset High School)
• New Haven School District (Conley-Caraballo High School)
• Pleasanton Unified School District(Valley High School)
• Livermore Unified School District(Livermore High School, Granada High School, and Del Valle High School)

Summer Youth Program: This program offers peer counselor training to youth ages 12 through 18, as well as educational and fun field trips to such sites as the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Monterey Bay Aquarium and Lawrence Hall of Science. This two-week program is offered three times each summer.

Lambda Youth Project: This program provides services to young people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender and are at significantly higher risk of alcohol and other drug abuse, depression and suicide. Since 1992, Lambda has provided a safe, supportive environment for these youth and their friends to meet and discuss the issues that they deal with in their day- to-day lives. A support group for youth ages 20 and under meets weekly. Clean and sober activities such as the Annual Gay Prom and participation in Castro Valley Pride are organized and sponsored by Lambda. Lambda’s Speaker’s Bureau gives the community opportunities to learn from our youth about how to make schools and communities safe. 

​Youth and Family Counseling Program: This program provides the following services:

• ​Assessment: Youth and Family Counseling staff will meet with a teen and his/her family to assess the nature and degree of the problem. This process will involve meeting with the teen individually, with the parent(s), and with the whole family together. A treatment plan will be developed that meets the unique needs of each family.
• Individual Counseling: Individual sessions with the adolescent will provide a safe, confidential place for the teen to establish a trusting relationship with an adult where he/she can discuss the challenges of living an alcohol and drug free life; identify and clarify his/her own goals and how to go about achieving them; and discuss and discover better ways to get along with his/her family.
• Family Counseling: Counseling sessions with the whole family will focus on rebuilding damaged relationships; educating the whole family about substance abuse; helping the family establish clear rules and consequences regarding the adolescent’s behavior; and supporting the adolescent in finding ways to live a healthy lifestyle without using alcohol or other drugs.
• Group Counseling: Group counseling will be offered so that teens as well as their parents/legal guardians can meet and discuss the challenges of substance abuse. Families are taught to support each other in the process of leading healthier, drug –free, and productive lives. As a chemically dependent adolescent move away from a lifestyle that has centered on using drugs, it is critical to establish a new circle of friends who are also trying to be clean and sober. Positive peer group support is critical to the success of a young person making changes in his or her life.
• Parent Support Group: Group sessions for parents or legal guardians that address issues of teen recovery, family relationships, anger management, conflict resolution, effective parenting and co-dependency may be offered as the need arises.

​Fees: Youth Services Program, Lambda Youth Project and Summer Youth Program services are free to all participants. Youth and Family Counseling Program services are offered on a sliding fee scale. There is an initial $40 charge for the alcohol and other drug assessment. We accept Medi-Cal insurance.

​No one is refused services due to inability to pay.

Mass incarceration

Sustainable social enterprise

Mass incarceration

Sustainable social enterprise

Mass incarceration

Sustainable social enterprise