San Francisco Harbor Light Center
1275 Harrison Street
San Francisco, CA 94103-4473
San Francisco County
Contact Person: Captain Martin Cooper
Contact Phone: 415-503-3000
Information: The Harbor Light Center is a live in/work out program for men and women with focus on the underlying roots of addiction through education on substance abuse, providing group sessions and individual counseling while dealing with medical problems, family relationships, preparation for independent living, schooling and employment. Read how the Harbor Light Program helped Dave and Greg transform their lives. 
Needs: Please contact the Harbor Light Center, (415) 503-3500, for more information.
Addicted people living on the streets will do whatever is necessary to get the drugs their bodies crave. The more hopeless their situation, the more desperate they become. Day to day survival depends on getting food and a place to sleep. The coins they beg from passersby often feed the desire to consume more booze. Always vulnerable, they seldom sleep soundly. The longer people live on the streets, the more likely they are to become addicted. Drugs and alcohol are an escape from reality.
According to SF Department of Public Health, every day in San Francisco there are 35 narcotic or alcohol related arrests, 14 reports of domestic violence involving alcohol and 4 suicide attempts related to alcohol or drugs. By the time people reach The Salvation Army’s Harbor Light Center for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, they usually have no job, no insurance, no medical benefits and no place else to go but up. Many have triple addictions. An increasing number have less than a high school education. Many have criminal records. Most have been homeless. The average age is 25-28. Last year 287 (10.5% of the total program) were living with HIV/AIDS.
Starting with Detox
Harbor Light Detoxification offers a clean bed, good food and 5 to 10 days of cold-turkey sobriety -- an opportunity to withdraw from drugs in a controlled environment. If addicts take the next step and are accepted into the long-term program, they have six months to a year to seriously address the issues of recovery. Not every person walks out the door never to drink again. The problems of addiction are more complicated, involving complex answers. But Harbor Light offers a holistic, nurturing, emotional and spiritual safety net, a safe home-base for people to dry out and -- perhaps for the first time in a very long time -- be told their lives are worth something.
Program Goals
To encourage people to develop personal skills and enhance their self-esteem in a place of safety and support. Services include individual and group sessions, classes in life skills, self-help groups, vocational and educational assistance, family relations counseling and social activities. Most of the men and women on staff have been through the program themselves and know first hand the degradation and pain caused by alcohol and drugs. At Christmas and Thanksgiving, all residents participate in preparing holiday meals for delivery to 2500 seniors and disabled. For many, it will be their first clean and sober holiday in years.
Our Mission Statement
The Salvation Army Harbor Light Center is a spiritually based social model program. Comprehensive treatment and professional care are provided in a safe, supportive environment. Individuals and families receive help with alcohol and drug issues that include related social, spiritual and cultural concerns.