Page 66 - BusinessWest Macrh 6, 2023

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES LISTED ALPHABETICALLY
FACILITY
SERVICES
NEW ENGLAND GERIATRICS
103 Myron St., Suite A, West Springfield, MA 01089 (413) 592-1980; www.negeriatrics.com
RIVER VALLEY COUNSELING CENTER INC.
187 High St., Holyoke, MA 01040 (413) 540-1234; www.rvcc-inc.org
SERVICENET
21 Olander Dr., Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 585-1300; www.servicenet.org
SOUTH BAY COMMUNITY SERVICES
140 High St., Unit 230, Springfield, MA 01105
(413) 495-1500; www.southbaycommunityservices.com
THE UNITED ARC
294 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA 01376 (413) 774-5558; www.theunitedarc.org
VIABILITY
5 Franklin St., Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 584-1460; www.viability.org
WALDEN BEHAVIORAL CARE
100 University Dr., 2nd Floor, Amherst, MA 01002 (413) 582-0100; www.waldenbehavioralcare.com
WEST CENTRAL FAMILY AND COUNSELING
103 Myron St., Suite A, West Springfield, MA 01089 (413) 592-1980; www.westcentralfamily.com
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Comprehensive psychiatric services for residents and their families in long-term living facilities; as consultants to long-term-living facilities and primary-care physicians, NEG clinicians evaluate and treat residents referred to them with a physician’s order; a resident, family, or facility staff member may request services; services are billed directly to the resident’s health insurance; team consists of psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, neuropsychologists, licensed mental-health counselors, and social workers; services are free to facilities that contract with New England Geriatrics
Provides services to individuals in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties; adult, child, and adolescent individual and family outpatient mental-health services and psychiatry with offices located in Holyoke, Chicopee, Easthampton, Springfield, and Westfield; Massachusetts-certified gambling specialists; substance-use services; school-based mental-health services in Holyoke, Chicopee, Easthampton, Amherst, Westfield, and Granby public schools as well as select schools in Springfield, East Longmeadow, Hatfield, South Hadley, and Hadley and on the campus of Springfield Technical Community College; school-based health centers/teen clinics located
at Holyoke High School North, Dean Campus, and Peck School; Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative services; the HIV/ AIDS Project; CONCERN: Employee Assistance Program for local businesses, organizations, and municipalities; programs staffed by bilingual/bicultural professionals
Individual counseling and innovative group therapies for children, adolescents, and adults who are dealing with a wide range of issues, including depression, anxiety, substance-use disorders, physical/sexual abuse and other trauma, relationship and family concerns, school-adjustment problems, pain-management challenges, and obsessive-compulsive disorders; also providing psychological testing, psychiatric care, and medication services; clinics are located in Amherst, Greenfield, Holyoke, Northampton, and Pittsfield
Community-based, behavioral healthcare organization offering a continuum of services including adult behavioral health, substance-abuse counseling, children’s behavioral health, day services, autism services, and early childhood services
The United Arc provides advocacy and support services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families in Western Mass; programs include adult services, positive parenting, family support, and self-advocacy
Accredited by Clubhouse International and driven by a belief in recovery through work, Viability clubhouse programs provide members with a supportive environment to increase their vocational, educational, and social skills; locations include Berkshire Pathways in Pittsfield, Odyssey House in Holyoke, Forum House in Westfield, Lighthouse in Springfield, Star Light Center in Florence, and Tradewinds in Southbridge
Provides a continuum of care for patients with eating disorders; psychiatric inpatient services; medical, behavioral, and nutritional care
Mental-health outpatient clinic providing a variety of services, including geriatric mental health, individual and group psychotherapy, diagnostic evaluations, CANS assessments for MassHealth children under 21, medication management for age 18 and up, consultation with families of elders with dementia, neuropsychological testing for adults/elders, family therapy and consultation; WCFC provides bilingual services, as well as outreach for those unable to make it to the clinic
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Suicide
ed to open that unit.”
Inpatient treatment programs are the most inten-
sive level of treatment for individuals suffering from mental health and addictive disorders. It offers 24-hour care in a safe and secure facility, making it best for patients with severe mental-health or sub- stance-abuse issues who require constant monitoring. The highly structured inpatient environment empha- sizes understanding the signs of psychiatric illness, rapid stabilization, developing strategies to avoid rehospitalization, and discharge planning. Patients in inpatient care programs can work on rebuilding life skills without exposure to negative influences that fuel the urge to continue destructive behaviors.
MiraVista offers inpatient treatment to youth (ages 13-18) and adults who need the extra care. Dr. Negar Beheshti, chief medical officer for MiraVista and Tara- Vista behavioral health centers, told BusinessWest that patients stay five to seven days, on average, at its inpatient facilities in Holyoke and Devens.
“Usually, when people get to a point where they need inpatient psychiatric care, they are at a point where they are not going to be safe in the community, meaning that they have extensive or significant unsafe thoughts of self-harm or harm to others, or they’re
so compromised by their psychiatric symptoms that they’re really unable to function out in the community, and do need that level of care in an inpatient unit,” she added.
Behavioral-health practitioners and nurses are able to provide education around diagnosis, symptoms, coping strategies, and medication while a patient is under MiraVista’s care. Patients are also given one-on- one check-ins with therapists and psychiatrists to dis- cuss their feelings, medications, and concerns.
Beheshti said this setting is also an opportunity for patients to share their experiences with others in the program, and they can learn from one another about different strategies that may or may not work.
“Usually, when people get to a point where they need inpatient psychiatric care, they are at a point where they are not going to be safe in the community, meaning that they have extensive or significant unsafe thoughts of self-harm or harm to others.”
and clinicians, group work, and activities that ground them, but they also have jobs on the farm: working in the dairy barn or mak- ing cheese; tending the gardens, forestry, and grounds; working in the kitchen; and more.
Gould Farm reflects a more holistic approach to mental- health issues, in which
DR. NEGAR BEHESHTI
Reap What You Sow
Gould Farm in Monterey, in the Southern Berk- shires, is a twist on inpatient treatment programs, but on a more long-term scale.
Founded in 1913, Gould Farm became the first residential therapeutic community in the nation dedi- cated to helping adults with mental health and related challenges move toward recovery and independence through community living, meaningful work, and clini- cal care.
In a community of about 90 people, ‘guests,’ as res- idents are called, stay from nine to 12 months to help them get re-accustomed to life.
“People, prior to coming here, kind of lose relation- ships with themselves and others. And this is a way
to step back into that and return to relationships with other people and with themselves,” explained Tamara McKernan, Admissions director and clinician on the farm. “There’s a level of trust here, where people step- ping out of the hospital have kind of had everything taken away, and need to step back into feeling trusted and able to do things.”
During their stay, guests have a structured sched- ule; they do many of the same things they would in any inpatient program, like check-ins with therapists
people develop purpose and learn transferable skills to become more independent.
McKernan told BusinessWest that guests are often referred to Gould Farm if outpatient and/or inpatient treatments, therapy, and medications aren’t working anymore. The sense of community and responsibility helps guests take the next step of gaining control of their life.
In order to destigmatize mental health on the farm, everyone works closely together — even the faculty and staff helping to run the farm. Their families grow up around the guests to make the experience seem more normal.
Words Matter
When it comes to mental illnesses or suicidal ide- ation, part of breaking the stigma is being aware of the words we use.
“Oftentimes, we’ll hear people say, ‘I’m bipolar.’ But it’s not who you are,” Therian said, noting that ‘I am a person that has bipolar disorder’ is more accu- rate. “It’s similar to the way we wouldn’t say, ‘I’m high blood pressure.’
It flips that a little
bit when you look
66 MARCH 6, 2023
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