Straight & Narrow  

Project Overview

For more than 60 years, Straight & Narrow has served as a cornerstone of behavioral health and recovery services in Paterson, New Jersey, providing a comprehensive continuum of care to thousands of individuals and families each year. Founded in 1954 and now operated by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Paterson, the organization is recognized as the nation’s oldest community-based provider of residential substance abuse treatment. Our work Straight & Narrow advances this legacy by aligning mission-driven care with a purpose-built environment designed to support dignity, recovery and long-term resilience.

Following a devastating five-alarm fire in August 2019 that destroyed the organization’s primary facility, Straight & Narrow committed to rebuilding not only what was lost, but to expanding and strengthening its campus. The result is a new two-story, 54,000-square-foot rehabilitation center constructed on the original site, completing a long-envisioned urban treatment campus. The project consolidates programs previously dispersed throughout the city, restoring operational efficiency after years of disruption shaped by funding challenges, a global pandemic, and a complex public approval process.

Designed to support multiple levels of care simultaneously, the facility accommodates men’s and women’s clinical and outpatient programs, pastoral services, clinical and administrative offices and a self-contained 50-bed halfway house providing structured transitional housing for individuals reentering the community following incarceration. Adjacent to a Straight & Narrow residential building, the new facility functions as a central hub within a broader urban treatment campus, supporting daily movement between buildings and reinforcing continuity of care in an urban setting.

A central design challenge involved thoughtful planning that maintains separation between distinct program populations while allowing the building to function as a cohesive whole. This was achieved through clear zoning, controlled circulation and intuitive wayfinding that supports staff workflow while preserving privacy and safety.

Guided by principles of human-centered design and design for community, the project creates welcoming, non-institutional spaces that support healing while remaining responsive to evolving treatment models. At the heart of the building, a flexible Great Hall accommodates dining, counseling, and community use, serving not only occupants of the new facility but also individuals from adjacent campus buildings, and reinforcing the social connections central to recovery.

Through this transformation, the project delivers a purpose-built healthcare environment that strengthens recovery outcomes, restores operational stability and reinforces Straight & Narrow’s enduring commitment to service. Together, these strategies establish the rehabilitation center as both a resilient care setting and a lasting community anchor that supports healing, stability and second chances for generations to come.

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