Our Programs
Medical & Behavioral Health
Managed Alcohol Program
In partnership with the Department of Public Health, Community Forwards supports the operations of an innovative solution to solving chronic alcoholism in San Francisco. The Managed Alcohol Program (MAP) is designed to support individuals suffering from alcoholism in managing their daily consumption to be able to live a life that is self-sufficient and less reliant on emergency services. This innovative model has shown to be extremely effective, and works within a harm reduction lens.
Sobering Center
The Sobering Center is a 12-bed facility that allows people experiencing the dual traumas of addiction and homelessness to receive the help and care they need to detox themselves. Working with DPH’s medically trained staff, we work with individuals—individuals with nowhere else to go to receive these services—to reach a place where they are safe enough to not harm themselves or others. The Sobering Center reduces the number of emergency room visits its patients make, along with their contact with police and EMS personnel, thus saving substantial city costs, and helps connect its patients with longer term support services as they heal.
While we do not force sobriety, we offer the tools, counseling, and referrals should an individual wish to pursue a long-term solution.
Guest Stories
Adrian* was homeless for 19 years and began drinking as a teenager. When he drank, he became a danger to himself and to others, and was well known to both the police and the EMS workers who responded to his appearances, over and over again.
With no place to take him until he had committed a crime or truly hurt himself, Adrian and the City were locked in a vicious cycle. When Adrian drank he would be shooed from place to place, until he passed out on the street. More often than being helped, he was robbed or arrested.
This cycle was broken when Adrian was referred to The Sobering Center. Each time he woke up in the space, Adrian was safe and in the company of a nurse offering him Gatorade and compassion. After 14 visits, in the company of people he trusted to look after him, Adrian accepted a referral to a medical detox program—and was motivated to complete it. As of today, he’s been sober and housed for over a year.
*True name removed for privacy
Medical Respite
Medical Respite is a partnership between Community Forward SF and the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH). Together we provide short-term residential care that allows individuals experiencing homelessness the opportunity to rest, recover, and heal in a safe environment while accessing medical care and other supportive services.
Medical Respite reduces the number of emergency room visits its patients make, along with their contact with police and EMS personnel, thus saving substantial city costs, and helps connect its patients with longer term support services as they heal. Beds at Medical Respite cost less than 10% of hospital beds per night, which average $3,000 per night.
Guest Story
Those experiencing homelessness can sometimes leave hospitals in casts, on crutches or wearing bandages over severe burns. Paramedics found Jennifer* on the street and took her to San Francisco General Hospital, where she was given treatment for a fractured ankle. But as a homeless HIV+ patient and substance user, she had nowhere to go when released. How was she supposed to survive in her medically vulnerable condition? That’s the question the Medical Respite is designed to answer. The Medical Respite Center serves medically frail homeless people and keeps them safe and receiving proper treatment until they’re well enough to engage with other services.
*True name removed for privacy.
Behavioral Health
Community Forward’s Behavioral Health Team supports all of our programs, in result serving various levels of care. Within each level of care Community Forward SF operates in, there is a need for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach when it comes to clinical services.
The Behavioral Health Team services each unhoused population we serve; individuals with chronic medical conditions, anyone who identifies as a woman or gender non-conforming, old adults, and women living with HIV/AIDs.
This team works within a trauma-informed lens, and is accessible to anyone accessing our services, from our drop-in services all the way to our housing sites. We are unique in that our behavioral health team moves with our guests providing corrective, therapeutic, and effective clinical relationships.
Our Service Pillars
Women’s Services
Community Forward SF helps unhoused women find safety, security, and hope in our Drop-in and Woman's Place Shelter.
Supportive Housing
Community Forward SF runs two permanent housing site, helping our residents transition out of homelessness and into self sufficiency.