Articles, Leading Stories
Crotched Mountain after-school program designed to engage students
By Phyllis Hanlon
This past July, Crotched Mountain School launch-ed a carefully thought out after-school program for its students, designed to engage them physically, emotionally, socially and...
Demand exists for multicultural care
By Phyllis Hanlon
After Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980, which created the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program, three million refugees came to this country. Additionally, 43.3 million...
Law would shift ‘medically necessary’ determinations to clinicians
By Phyllis Hanlon
Efforts to increase coverage for behavioral health services have been an on-going struggle for patients, families and advocates in recent years. Some politicians have stepped...
Ban proposed on conversion therapy
By Phyllis Hanlon
In June, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities held a hearing to consider legislation (S.62/H.1190) that would ban conversion...
Creativity: The path to identity
By Phyllis Hanlon
Museums house innumerable works from masters such as Renoir, Monet, Rodin and Jackson Pollock. But creativity doesn’t stop there. The family refrigerator might feature the...
New Hampshire legislation expands mental health care
By Phyllis Hanlon
On May 11, the New Hampshire Senate unanimously passed an amendment to House Bill (HB) 400, which is intended to significantly improve access to beds for psychiatric patients...
Psychologist shortage: factors affect access to care
By Phyllis Hanlon
The Kaiser Family Foundation issued a report in January citing a significant shortage of mental health care practitioners nationwide. In New England, the “percent of need...
Vacant building in Westborough to become behavioral hospital
By Phyllis Hanlon
Later this year, Westborough will become the site of a new behavioral health care hospital. In April, selectmen in the town gave approval for the construction of a facility...
Office building to become new psychiatric hospital
By Phyllis Hanlon
In April, UMass Memorial Health Care partnered with US HealthVest to build a new 120-bed psychiatric hospital in the Burncoat section of Worcester. US HealthVest currently...
New England battles opioid epidemic
By Phyllis Hanlon
A 2014 Health and Human Services report issued some troubling statistics for four New England states: Massachusetts leads the nation with most opioid-related...