Whether it’s about your visit, the care you received, or our customer service.
Fenway Health’s Behavioral Health (BH) Department would like to share some updates about the way we are able to care for the important needs of our community.
As noted in a recent Boston Globe article, there is a long wait for primary health care and health services throughout the state. This is the result of extremely high demand – fueled in no small part by the COVID-19 pandemic – coupled with a shortage of medical and behavioral health clinicians.
Fenway Health has been significantly impacted by these constraints, with our Behavioral Health team currently facing a 50% shortage in staffed positions. This has led to a significant wait list for our services.
Given these challenges, we have made the difficult decision to take steps to ensure resources are available to better meet the needs of our patients and more quickly move people off the Behavioral Health wait list into care.
We understand that these changes may be upsetting for some patients. They are unfortunately necessary given our current staffing and resource challenges. We do believe that ultimately, these changes will allow us to provide services to many more people in our community who are in desperate need of behavioral health care.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and for allowing us to be your health care home. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please email Monique Willett or Frank Fleming at information@fenwayhealth.org.
Fenway Health’s Behavioral Health team operates under an Episodic Model of care. Episodic care refers to time limited treatment that encourages an individual to actively engage in therapy through dynamic movement. The focus of this movement through care is the building of skills and finding solutions. This works well for those with clear goals and high motivation.
The arc of treatment is made up of three phases:
Beginning PhaseThe beginning phase is focused on identifying clear goals of treatment. As such, treatment planning is essential because it helps the patient and provider focus care in a way that supports clear goals, movement, and resolution. In this phase, the provider works with the client to identify 1–3 areas of focus, noting that not all issues an individual comes to therapy with may be resolved within an episode. The provider outlines structure and mapping around the treatment experience, which includes the setting of a graduation goal in order to optimize sessions and time between sessions. The provider may begin treatment planning with the client by asking clear questions about their goals for care. |
Middle PhaseThe middle phase focuses on learning and implementing skills through a strengths-based approach. This evidenced based approach builds on an individual’s unique strengths and knowledge that they bring with them as experts in their own lives. As behavioral health providers, our responsibility is to support clients as they build skills, increase self-understanding, and conclude each episode of care with confidence in their ability to actively engage in living. |
Graduation PhaseWe actively support individuals to ready themselves for graduation by using active engagement in sessions and skills practice between sessions. We support and encourage our patients to increase their proficiency, confidence and test the sustainability of their efforts in order to create readiness to conclude their episode of care and return to their active living. We believe that doing intentional termination work is an essential part of therapy as often, individuals do not get to experience planned conclusions of relationships. At the time of graduation, folks are educated about their ability to return for a future episode of care if or when they need it. |
While we are working to navigate changes within our system, our group programming has been placed on hold. If you do not see a previously offered group on this page, we hope to be able to offer it again soon. All programming below is still available for you to attend. We are not adding individuals to our existing waitlists.
Please check back in the future, as we will update accordingly.
Fenway Health offers a variety of short-term, skill-based psychotherapy groups and support groups. Years of research demonstrates that group therapy can be just as effective as individual therapy, and in many instances, even more effective. Group psychotherapy is reimbursed by most insurance plans. Our groups promote active engagement, skill building, and improved self-understanding that leads to successful graduation from the group experience.
Whether it’s about your visit, the care you received, or our customer service.
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